Pigs do eat rats. This behavior is a direct consequence of their biological classification and highly flexible feeding habits, making them opportunistic consumers of nearly any organic matter they can find.
The Pig’s Diet: An Omnivorous Reality
Pigs are biologically categorized as monogastric omnivores, possessing a simple, single-chambered stomach, much like humans and dogs. This digestive architecture allows them to efficiently process a wide variety of plant-based and animal-based foods. Their stomach contains a highly acidic environment (pH around 2), which helps break down proteins and activate digestive enzymes.
This powerful digestive system is well-suited to a varied diet and can handle the protein found in small animals. Historically, wild boars, the ancestors of domestic pigs, naturally foraged for roots, nuts, fruits, insects, and small vertebrates. Modern pigs retain this fundamental capacity to seek out protein and energy sources.
Their dentition, which includes incisors for rooting and molars for crushing, supports their ability to consume diverse food textures, including the bones of small mammals. Dietary flexibility means that meat, whether scavenged or caught, is a readily incorporated part of their natural feeding spectrum.
Opportunistic Feeding Behavior
The consumption of rodents by pigs is primarily an act of opportunistic feeding, driven by hunger or the simple availability of prey. In agricultural settings, rats are frequently drawn to pig pens because they offer a consistent supply of food, shelter, and water. This proximity means pigs often encounter rodents in their immediate living space.
While pigs are not obligate predators, they are known to engage in active predation of small vertebrates, especially when their diet is deficient in protein. Feral pigs have been documented hunting small mammals, consuming them whole after a quick, forceful kill. This predatory behavior increases during seasons when other food sources are scarce.
More commonly in a farm setting, pigs scavenge rodents killed by another means, such as a trap, or consume one that is too slow to escape the pen. The act of rooting, where pigs use their snouts to search for food, often uncovers burrowing or slow-moving prey, which they will readily consume.
Health Risks of Rodent Consumption
The practice of pigs eating rats introduces substantial health hazards for the swine herd and potentially for humans consuming the pork. Rodents are known carriers of numerous zoonotic pathogens, which are diseases transmissible between animals and people. Farmers work to prevent this feeding behavior.
One significant risk is Trichinellosis, a parasitic disease caused by the Trichinella roundworm. Rats carry the infective larvae in their muscle tissue. When a pig consumes the infected rodent, the larvae are released in the stomach and mature in the intestines. The resulting new larvae then migrate and encyst in the pig’s muscle tissue, where they can survive for years.
Another major concern is Leptospirosis, a bacterial disease caused by Leptospira species, which rats carry and shed in their urine. Pigs become infected by consuming a contaminated carcass or by contact with feed or water tainted by rat urine. In pigs, this infection commonly causes reproductive issues, including abortions and stillbirths. The bacteria can also be transmitted to humans, causing severe flu-like symptoms and potentially organ failure.