my pet pig despawned

I know this may sound childish but whilst playing Minecraft on my switch, I found a baby pig however, i did not have any leads so i trapped it and went back home to go get some leads. It took me probably 3-4 minutes and when i got back the pig was not where i trapped it (although it was very secure) when i was about to leave a pig was stood behind me and i could only assume this was the pig i had befriended all grown-up so i took it home. i named the pig "im reginald not bacon" and he was my best friend. instead of leaving him in my pet house or stables, i kept reginald in my house. reginald has been with me since last night which is several minecraft nights. just a couple minutes ago i went outside to fight some monsters and when i came back there was no sign of reginald, just his friend pig, bean bag (i dont like her she's very dull). i searched everywhere in my house. there was no possible place reginald could've left (and he would never leave he loved it in my house) even so, i searched everywhere he could've gone, i checked every pig for a name tag but he was no where. i can only assume he despawned  I hope that maybe animals dont despawn in the future. the same thing happened with my horse on the same world. the horse was called diamond because they had diamond armour but when i went to show my mum, diamond was gone. I wasn't that upset like i am about reginald because reginald and i were close, diamond just happened to be the first horse in sight. anyways, the point is animals shouldn't despawn!! 

also idk what the version thingy or security level is 🤷‍♀️

 

• reginald's best friend