Breeds

Here you can find a brief guide to the different guinea pig breeds. There are now more than twenty-five different breeds of guinea pig as over the years skilled breeders have taken guinea pigs with slightly different colours and marking and bred them together. However, there are a number of cross-breeds and mixes are breeds which make just as good pets as the pedigrees.

Marked guinea pigs have two or more colours and are found in short, long and rough haired and even hairless guinea pigs.

Selfs
These guinea pigs are all one colour (solid colour) and have a smooth coat. They are availible in a range of colours, from golden to chocolate, cream to black and each colour is regognised as a separate sub-breed.
 

Long Haired
The most well known of these is the Peruvian variety. They have very long silky hair, usually down to the floor and covering their face. They require constant grooming and a lot of time to keep their hair clean and as such are not recommended as pets for children.

The Sheltie and Coronet are similar to the Peruvian, however the Sheltie has its hair growing away from the face and around the body. The Coronet is like a Sheltie with a crest on its head.
 

A coronet guinea pig

An English guinea pig

Short Haired
Short haired guinea pigs have short, smooth, and silkly/shiney hair. They do not need the same amount of grooming as the long haired varietys but regular grooming is needed to prevent their coat from getting matted and to help keep it clean. There are many variety of the short haired guinea pig for example the English Crested where the crest on the head is the same colour as the rest of the body, which can be a range of colours.

The Agouti most resembles the native South American cavy. It has a speckled effect throughout the body as a result of different colours on each individual hair. They are found in gold, silver, salmon, lemon and cinnamon.
 

Hairless, Skinny and Baldwin
As their name surgests, hairless guinea pigs have no or little hair. They are mainly found in Armerica but are likely to be seen in Europe and the rest of the world soon.

The Skinny guinea pig has wiry, frizzy hair on their head, face and paws and sometime have hair on the backs and rest of body too but generally look hairless and skinny, hence their name.

The Baldwin guinea pig is completely hairless. Babies are sometimes born with hair but this usually falls off as they grow.