Domestic varieties of guinea pigs

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A long-haired lilac, orange and white Satin Peruvian Guinea pig
A long-haired lilac, orange and white Satin Peruvian Guinea pig

Domestic varieties of guinea pigs come in many breeds which have been developed since the arrival of the guinea pig in Europe and North America. These varieties vary widely in hair and color composition.

Contents

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[edit] Breeds

The most common breeds found in pet stores include:

  • The English Short Hair, also called American and known in Europe as the Self breed, which has a smooth, glossy, short coat.
  • The Abyssinian, which has a rough coat made of cowlicks, crests, and swirls called rosettes. The number of rosettes on an Abyssinian varies, but eight or more are required in a show quality animal.
  • A White Crested (known in Europe as the American Crested) is similar in appearance to the American but has a white rosette at the top of the head (crown).
  • The Peruvian is a long-haired breed with hair falling in all directions (even over the face, which may make it hard to tell the front from the back). Show animals are required never to have their hair cut, and uncut coats may grow up to 20 inches in length.[1]
  • Another long-haired guinea pig is a Silkie (known in Europe as a Sheltie). Very much like a Peruvian, but with no hair in front of the face.
  • A rarer long-haired breed is the Texel which has long hair like the Peruvian, but this hair is curly.
  • The Coronet breed is similar to the silkie but has a rosette on the top of the head, similar to a crested.
  • The Teddy is a breed with short, fuzzy hair all over its body that should stand straight out and be "kinky".

In total there are thirteen breeds of guinea pig recognised in the United States, most of which also come in a satin, such as Peruvian Satin, or American Satin. A satin is a cavy whose hair shafts are hollow, and whose hair is therefore extremely shiny. Each of these breeds comes in a number of colors and patterns.

[edit] Breeder Association Standards

All over the world there are clubs and associations dedicated to the showing and breeding of guinea pigs.

[edit] North America

The American Cavy Breeders Association, a subsidiary of the American Rabbit Breeders Association, is the governing body in the United States and Canada. Each club publishes its own Standard of Perfection and determines what breeds are eligible for showing.

ACBA describes the standards for accepted breeds as:

  • Abyssinian: The ideal Abyssinian cavy has 10 rosettes, one on each shoulder, four across the back, one on each of the animal's hips, and two on the rump. Highly desired is a harsh textured coat that stands on end in ridges.
  • American (AKA Smooth Coat): The American cavy has consistently short, smooth hair.
  • Coronet: A Coronet cavy has longer hair, like the Silkie, along with crests like a Crested.
  • Crested: The Crested is similar to the American, but has one rosette on the top of the head. According to ACBA standards, the Crest must be white, with no other white hair present on the animal.
  • Peruvian: A Peruvian cavy has long hair like a Silkie, but the hair flows over the body from the center. When viewed from above it looks like an oval, and the front of the pig cannot be distinguished from the rear.
A tortoiseshell and white Texel guinea pig
A tortoiseshell and white Texel guinea pig
  • Silkie: A Silkie has long hair, sometimes much longer than the pig's body itself, that flows back over its body. When viewed from above it forms a teardrop shape.
  • Teddy: A Teddy guinea pig has short, rough hair that stands on end all over the body.
  • Texel: A Texel is like a Silkie, but with curls. The curls should ideally be tightly wound corkscrew curls.
  • Merino and Boucle: Merino is the curly equivalent of a Coronet and a Boucle is the curly equivalent of a Peruvian. These breeds are not yet accepted according to ACBA regulations.

[edit] Australia

In Australia the governing body for the showing of pedigree cavies is the ANCC (Australian National Cavy Council). Alternative names given to breeds of cavies are:

  • Alpaca: A curly coated Peruvian. Hair grows over face like a Peruvian.
  • Merino (also known as the English Merino): A longhair cavy with a crest in between the ears on the centre of the head.
  • Peruvian: A Peruvian is a longhair cavy, which has only two rump rosettes which push the hair forward over the face. When viewed from above the coat should be a perfect circle.
  • Rex (Teddy in the US): a rough coated cavy, with short, wiry hair. This cavy comes in all colours.
  • Selfs: This category includes all short hair cavies of one colour, e.g. self black, self red, etc.
  • Sheltie (Silkie in the US): Longhair cavy, the coat of which should be even all around. It should not form a tear drop, but rather a circle.

[edit] Coat Vareties

Cavies come in many colours, including Black, White, Red, Buff/Cream (blonde), Chocolate and Beige. The term "marked" is used for cavies that have a white base with patterns of one or more different colors dispersed around the body. Other colors include:

  • Agouti coloured cavies have a hair tip and root that are different colours, much like someone whose roots are showing from dyeing their hair. Golden Agouti has a red tip and black root, Silver Agouti has a white tip and black root and Dilute Agouti can have a variety of different combinations.
  • Baldwins are a newer hairless variety in which the young are born fully-furred, but lose their hair over the first month of life, and are usually considered to be completely hairless.
  • Brindle cavies have two different colours of hair intermixed throughout the body, usually black and red.
  • Dalmatian cavies have white hair and black spots. Dalmatians also have a unique eye colour — blue with a red rim.
  • Dutch cavies have white lower bodies and black upper bodies with a streak of white down the center of the face.
  • Parti coloured cavies have two or more colours on the body, often white and another colour. An ideal parti cavy has several patches of each color on its body, evenly distributed so that the animal has an equal amount of each color no matter what angle the animal is viewed from.
  • Roan cavies have white and one or more coloured hair intermixed throughout the body.
  • Skinny pigs are a hairless variety of cavy with sparse hair only on their heads and feet.
  • Tortoiseshell coloured cavies are black and red.

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1]

[edit] External Links