We're loving trendy micro-pig pets

Paris Hilton and Charlotte Church have one and Victoria Beckham reportedly splashed out £1,400 on two for husband David.

Micro-pigs are the latest celebrity pet and the cute porkers can be house trained, so they can live like a dog or cat.

Even television producers are keen to get in on the trend as ITV's The Lakes is presently following micro-pig breeder Rob Rose, who is on a mission to create the perfect pet piggies.

In Staffordshire Gill Owen at The Piggybarn has a number of the small pigs which, at full size, still only come up to around your knee. The grandmother has seen an opportunity to cash-in on the trend. She has been breeding micro-pigs for three years.

"I adore the pigs and they make excellent pets because they are clean, extremely sociable and easy to train — and because they have hair rather than fur you are less likely to have allergies to them," says Gill, aged 50, who lives in Sandon Road, Stafford.

"Micro-pig breeders have been around for 20 years but it has only been in the last few years that people have thought about keeping them as pets.

"I don't like the term 'micro' because it makes people think they stay as tiny as they are when they're young, but they do end up growing."

Gill's two daughters Kate, aged 27, and Emily, 24, along with grandson Hughie, four, enjoy helping out at The Piggybarn, near Stone.

They have been at the farm since July.

"Hughie is a big pig fan and loves coming down to help out," says Gill, who used to work as a veterinary assistant for Eddie Straiton, who was a TV vet in the 1970s.

"We have a website and people call us up asking to buy one. Since July last year we have only sold 18 piglets but they are becoming more popular. However, most breeders would agree that you have to love the pigs rather than want the money."

Gill says that three years ago she bought a couple of micro-pigs to have as pets at home and she was also considering becoming a pig breeder, so decided to combine the two. There are strict guidelines from Defra that you have to adhere to if you wanted to own a pig and one of those is to have a CPH number.

CPH stands for County Parish Holding and it is needed in case of disease outbreak so the authorities can track who has pigs and where. "You can have any breed as a pet and they can all be house trained but it is just easier to have the miniature pigs at home," says Gill.

"You can never guarantee how big the pig is going to be — it is like with your own children, you can't tell when they are babies how tall they will be.

"We had one customer in Derbyshire who bought two pigs from us from the same litter and while one stayed tiny the other one grew to four times her size."

These must-have pets also come with a celebrity price tag as they cost anywhere from £350-£650 at the Piggybarn with other breeders charging more than £1,000.

Gill says to keep a pig as a pet you need a good-sized garden with a fenced-off area.

However the pigs, which live for up to 20 years, can't be fed scraps from the kitchen — there is special food for them as they have delicate stomachs.

"They like playing with dog toys and enjoy having their tummy tickled and you can get them to adopt good habits by training them," says Gill.

"If you are thinking about getting a miniature pig you need to talk to your family about it — it is no good getting one as a surprise present for someone.

"Victoria Beckham may be able to do it, but it just doesn't work in the real world."

Gill's warning is a useful piece of advice, because there have already been reports about people buying up the pigs only to dump them later.

She always speaks at length to potential owners to ensure they understand exactly what they are letting themselves in for.

Rescue centres in the Midlands have reported a rise of micro-pigs being handed in by families who were attracted them after seeing reports of the Beckhams, interest.

John Beresford, of Brinsley Animal Rescue Centre in Nottingham, which takes pigs in from across the Midlands, said: "It is rescue centres that pick up the pieces of people buying animals on a fad and then giving them up on a whim."

Like Gill, he said micro-pigs can actually grow very large.