Neighbors Turn Noses Up at Pet Pigs : Animals: “They’re fabulous,” their owner says. But next-door neighbors want the city to have them removed.

Kathy Hartinger sits at her kitchen table in La Habra Heights enjoying the company of her pets. A few cats roam about the house, occasionally stopping to lounge on wooden kitchen chairs. A little white dog plays under the table.

Then a familiar sound comes from the kitchen: “Oooiiinnnkkk! Snort, snort, snort. Ooiinnkk!

“Oh, Miss Piggy,” Hartinger coos. “My little baby girl.” The 130-pound sow, looking quite content after snacking on chocolate candy, emerges from the kitchen, and then with a grunt, plops down on Hartinger’s feet. Miss Piggy’s companion, Elmer, squeals and nudges the dog.

“I’ve had a lot of pets,” Hartinger said, looking lovingly at her two pet pigs. “I’ve had chickens, I’ve had geese, I’ve had horses--you name it. But I’ve never gotten this much enjoyment out of an animal as I have these pigs. They’re fabulous animals.”

But Hartinger’s next-door neighbors in this rural community do not share her opinion. Patricia Caywood and Robert Barrios say the pigs stink. They say they can smell the pigs from their front door about 75 feet away, and they are sick of it.

Caywood and Barrios have asked the city Planning Commission to enforce a longstanding city code that prohibits pigs in residential areas and to make Hartinger and her husband, Gerald, get rid of the two animals.

The issue is on the agenda for the Jan. 16 Planning Commission meeting.

“Don’t get me wrong, I like pigs,” Caywood said. “I have a ceramic pig collection. But I don’t want to live with pigs. I don’t want to smell pigs and I don’t want to hear them squeak and squeal. It doesn’t smell like a nice countryside here anymore. It smells like a barnyard.”

Hogwash, Hartinger said. These are not your ordinary “Farmer John” pigs, they’re special Vietnamese potbelly pigs, she said. They are bred to be pets. And they do not stink, she insists. But as a precaution, the Hartingers moved the pig sty away from their neighbors’ house closer to the alley behind the houses.

Hartinger and her husband said that they will fight to keep their favorite pets, even if it means hiring a lawyer.

“I never thought I would be attached to a pig, but I’ll tell you one thing, it wasn’t hard,” Hartinger said. “They’re comical and they’re fun. Elmer even jogs around the house with me in the mornings.”

Hartinger and her husband purchased the two pigs from a farm in Ohio in August for $3,500 after reading stories about people who had the potbelly pigs as pets. Owners boast that the pigs are affectionate and easily housebroken. They respond to their names and they do not mind being kept in an apartment or condominium.

Adult pigs usually grow up to 18 inches and weigh between 40 and 90 pounds, although Hartinger said Miss Piggy is much larger than normal because she has an appetite for sweets and was overfed when she was a baby. The pigs have a life expectancy of up to 20 years. Unlike livestock pigs that are usually pink, the potbelly pigs have a boarish black coat.

The miniature pigs have been hailed by some as the latest pet rage. Kayla Mull of Norco, Calif., breeds the miniature pigs and says she has received purchase requests from Norway, Japan and Belgium. Prices run from $1,500 for a barrow (castrated pig) to $10,000 for a pregnant sow, Mull said.

The increasing popularity of the pigs is expected to force more and more communities to review their livestock policies. According to Noelia Chapa, assistant city manager of La Habra Heights, the city had prohibited pigs because of diseases. Now vaccinations have eliminated most health concerns.

Hartinger says she expects the Planning Commission to ask her to get rid of her pigs, although city officials say the decision could go either way. If worse comes to worst, the Hartingers say they will sell their house and move elsewhere.

“I’ve had offers to board them over at other people’s houses,” Hartinger said. “But I couldn’t do that. They’re my babies, and I wouldn’t do that to my kids.”