That Time I Got Pig Mites
In April of 2026, we added our very first piglets to the farm—three 7-week-old Kunekunes—and man, were they cute.
I was especially excited because I had a pig growing up, and I just knew our 5-year-old, Eli, was going to love them. Some of our other animals can be a little intimidating. The livestock guardian dogs are huge, the goats are pushy… but these piglets? Tiny. Sweet. And they made the funniest little noises.
We got them from a woman who kept them out on land away from her house, so they weren’t exactly cuddly at first. But on our farm, it’s really important that animals have calm temperaments and are comfortable being handled. So naturally, I made it my personal mission to love on them constantly.
And that, friends, is exactly how I got pig mites.
When we brought them home, I gave all three a bath, wrapped them in towels, and held them until they stopped squealing and melted into sleepy little pig piles. They loved it. I loved it. It quickly became a daily routine.
Feed the piglets.
Let them run around.
Then… nap time.
I’d lay a blanket on the couch (because I’m not completely reckless), and they would snuggle right into me while I watched TV or worked on my laptop.
Piggie nap that sparked this whole debacle.
This went on for about five days.
Then I started itching.
Not a little itch. Not a “maybe my skin is dry” itch.
An all-over, what-is-happening-to-my-life kind of itch.
Now, I’ve had allergies forever. I even get allergy shots, so at first I just assumed I was reacting to something new.
But then…
I noticed the piglets were itchy too.
Like REALLY itchy.
Scratching on logs. Rubbing against boards. Throwing their little bodies against anything they could find.
And as I watched Hammy aggressively scratching his backside on a log, it suddenly hit me:
“Oh no… do they have something?”
Farm life will humble you real quick.
Dogs get fleas.
Goats get lice.
So what do pigs get?
Mange mites.
Fantastic.
So naturally, I spiraled.
A little Googling. A little ChatGPT. And the conclusion?
Yeah… it was probably the mites.
Which meant…
I had pig mites.
Cue immediate action.
I ran a bath, dumped in apple cider vinegar and Epsom salt like I was making some kind of backwoods witch potion, and soaked in sweet relief while reevaluating all my recent life choices.
We treated the piglets with ivermectin shots, which also handle mange mites (along with lice and worms). So while I was over here spiraling and questioning all my life choices, they were basically one proper treatment away from being completely fine. We treated them more than once just to make absolutely sure the mites were gone.
As for me? I was prescribed permethrin cream, which did eventually work… but the itching continued a lot longer than you would think. Long enough for me to become completely paranoid that every little itch for the next month was somehow still pig-related. By the end of it, I looked like I had barely survived 21 days on Naked and Afraid and was covered in bites.
Meanwhile, I learned a very important lesson:
Maybe don’t spend five straight days aggressively cuddling brand new piglets before making sure they’ve been fully treated.
Or… do.
But just know you might end up with a story like this.
Because I’m still learning… and apparently, I prefer to learn my lessons the hard way.
To be fair though… they were soooo dang cute.