How Many Guinea Pig Breeds Are There?

The question of pedigree is a difficult 1 to answer. Just as with domestic cats and dogs, there are a lot of several breeds of guinea pigs, but not all are recognized by governing organizations. In North America, the American Cavy Breeders Association holds power, whilst the UK has its British Cavy Council. There are a few additional such bodies, but to the ordinary pet keeper those points do not especially matter. What most folks want to know when asking about guinea pig breeds are the unique descriptions and aesthetic characteristics.

There are about a dozen or so named breeds. For the reason that lots of of these breeds have "ideal" characteristics in contrast to the natural variability of actual characteristics, confusion might arise. For the sake of argument, we will skip most of the talk on rosettes and focus on the hair length and characteristics as the main points of differentiation.

The body shapes of guinea pigs are comparable across all breeds, in contrast to with dogs and cats where one breed can look vastly several from an additional. Colors can vary also, and colors are not especially associated with most guinea pig breeds.

The first on our list is the Rex. The Rex's hair is short and fuzzy, and stands on end uniformly across its entire body.

The Teddy looks type of like a teddy bear, due to its dense, fuzzy, erect coat. The coat is moderately lengthy, enhancing the huggable appearance a lot like the stuffed toy it is named right after. This breed is fairly popular, specially with younger pet owners.

The Abyssinian is a further typical breed. Its hair varies in length across its body, standing up in clumps or ridges. This creates a messy but rather amusing appearance that lots of pet owners like.

The Peruvian is the original lengthy-haired Cavy. The hair falls like a curtain all around, even in front of the face, and can grow longer than 20 inches (50 centimeters). Trimming and grooming are essential for the greatest appearance. Such additional maintenance reduces its popularity as a pet, so it is far more well-known as a show breed.

The Silkie or Sheltie also has lengthy hair, except it tends to flow backward, and in no way falls forward onto the face like the Peruvian.

Texels are strongly similar to Silkies, except for the addition of corkscrew curls. Mild grooming is required to maintain the curls from tangling.

There are a few somewhat rarer breeds too, like the following:

· The Alpaca is a curly coated Peruvian. Quite a few of these are very first-generation Peruvian hybrids.

· The Crested breed has a singular rosette on the head, giving it the eponymous crest.

· Coronets are lengthy-haired like Silkies, but with crests like the Crested.

· A Ridgeback is genetically similar to the Abyssinian, but with a far more uniform coat, with the exception of a ridge of hair running down the spine.

· Abbyruvians or Sheba Mini Yaks are also fairly comparable to Abyssinians, but with longer hair. The hair tends to curl up and clump, giving rise to the nickname "Poor Hair Day" Cavy.

· There are also hairless guinea pig breeds, but they require a distinct set of care conditions, and as such are not well-known as pets.

There are even even more breeds, but these are the most well identified ones. Make sure to maintain your eyes peeled!