There is a small white sign hanging on a picket fence in a Redondo Beach yard. In twee script it reads “Hamilton The Pig” – an introduction to Hamilton, the liege of the front lawn, a 100-pound teacup pig that wears sunscreen, eats gluten-free, and has a Facebook following.
In his North Redondo community, Hamilton has achieved celebrity status. Without trying very hard, he attracts paparazzi and, sometimes, he even lifts his neighbors’ spirits.
“One man came here to tell me he just moved from the East Coast and just lost his wife,” said Hamilton’s owner, Chiao Wolf. “He told me the pig is his joy right now. He walks every day just to come and see Hamilton.”
Last year, Hamilton made a guest appearance at Torrance Elementary; the principal had promised to kiss a pig if students achieved higher API scores. They did, and Hamilton got a smooch that was filmed and uploaded to YouTube.
The Wolf family bought Hamilton two years ago.
Chiao’s daughter Haven, 9, had developed severe allergies, forcing the family to re-home its cat of six years.
“I didn’t want to go through getting a goldfish and then a mouse and then a rabbit, so I thought we’d get a pet pig and train him right and he could be our substitute dog,” Chiao said.
After registering with pixiepigs.com, the Wolf family – Chiao and husband David, plus Haven and five-year-old Max – drove up to Hemet and retrieved a seven-week-old piglet, already trained to use a litter-box and sleep in a crate. At first, they named the piglet Kevin Bacon.
But after two weeks, they decided the name was too cumbersome (and perhaps a little crass), so changed it to Hamilton – a name inspired by the pig in the Disney movie Toy Story.
In the first year, the Wolf family fed Hamilton Piggy Chow, but when he was about nine months his belly began to distend in protest.
“So we got him off that food, and now he eats all our leftovers,” Chiao said. “My daughter is gluten-free so a lot of her food expires quickly, and we give it to Hamilton. He’s a gluten-free, vegetarian pig.”
Between April and July, when the apricot tree in the yard blossoms, Hamilton inhales all of its fallen fruit.
“I think his first summer with us, he gained 15 pounds,” Chiao said. To keep the weight at bay – Chiao was told he would be 45 pounds full-grown, but he is twice that – Hamilton walks several times a day.
Every day, he meets new people.
“Sometimes it takes me 10 minutes to go around the block and sometimes it takes 45,” Chiao said. “He has lots of paparazzi and lots of pictures taken of him. He’s all over Facebook.”
The pig’s favorite pastimes include biting toes and playing tag, which he does by using his snout to nudge human opponents. Chiao points out that because Hamilton lacks sweat glands, he doesn’t smell; in the summertime, he has to wear a tank top to keep cool.
To protect Hamilton from sunburn, Chiao slathers him with sunscreen – “a bottle a month” – on sunny days.
“We’re just really happy with him,” she said, watching her son Max poke Hamilton, run away, then laugh gleefully. “Pigs are such great animals.”
Redondo Beach Animal Control confirmed that at least one other Redondo Beach family owns a pet pig.
