Hi Bushsnuffler
Hogs do tend to spend more time drinking than most people expect them to, but they have tiny little mouths, so probably aren’t getting a huge amount for each lap. But it does normally look as if they are drinking a lot. I don’t feed wet cat/dog food, but wouldn’t want to feed anything that had too much salt in it anyway. It might be something you could check before purchase (i.e. chose one with a lower salt content – I don’t know whether they vary much or not). Quarter to a fifth of a can doesn’t sound an excessive amount of food, to me.
Hogs in the wild aren’t prone to over-eating, although some that are in care (potentially underweight hoglets who are being overwintered) may do. But of course they aren’t getting much exercise. Hogs in the wild can travel up to 2 miles a night (males) and I don’t know about the one there, but the ones here sometimes zoom along at quite a rate! The hog there may have been a last year’s hoglet, in which case it would be normal for it to put on quite a bit of weight. Also, as you say, some are sometimes a bit more skinny looking when they first emerge from hibernation.
But having said that, I have seen some concern mentioned around cat/dog food fat content, but only in one place a while ago. As I recall, the concern was that hogs could potentailly get heart problems, etc. in the same way as humans do as a result of a fatty diet. But the food we put out for the hogs is generally considered to be supplementary to the wild food they can find for themselves, so perhaps is not considered to be a huge problem. But, again, you might want to chose a variety with lower fat levels, if you’re concerned.
That sounds good if the hog is going for a wander between visits. Hopefully it’s still going about it’s normal wild hoggy business as well as taking advantage of the catering at your hog hostelry. 22.00 to 3.00 sounds a decent amount of time to be out and about.
It’s normally considered not a good idea to put a feeding station too close to a hog house, partly due to the potential for attracting predators, but also a female may not like a load of hogs just outside if she had just given birth. But it’s slightly different if it’s under decking as, I suppose there might be a comparatively large area under there. And of course, as you say, the feeding area is a good place to focus your camera on.
Good luck. I hope the hog/s there continue to do well. Happy hog watching.
