'Guinea Pig Breeds?' You may think 'Is there more than one types of guinea pig?', well yes of course! In fact there are thirteen different breeds of guinea pigs! But that is not all... nope, in addition to the breeds, there's also many variations of colour in cavies which makes each guinea pig very unique!

Because there are many breeds, only a few are commonly used for pets. Sadly most of them were found undesirable by the breeders or only bred solely for good companionship.

The most popular types are the Short Hair, Abyssinian, Peruvian, and Sheltie Breed also known as Silkie in America. The first three are commonly used in competition.

Nearly most of the guinea pig breeds have a satin variant gene "Hollow hair shafts", which give the cavies' coat a special gloss and shiny look. This, however with evidence can cause severe bone problems, including Osteodystrophy and Paget's disease.

Merino, Alpaca, and Texel have 'Rex gene' which gives them a coarse, crimped coat.

Now more to the point, here is the list of the breeds:

Most Common Breeds

Abyssinian

They are one of the most popular and recognizeable guinea pig. The main distinguishing feature of their coat pattern are that it has 'cowlicked rosettes' of hair (fur shaped in whorls). The texture of the coat are rough and coarse.

Peruvian Breed

They have long hair that grows continuously all over its body, this can be up to twenty inches (50 cm). The hair falls down over the face and back end, which makes it difficult to make out which end is which. Peruvians have a tendency to chew their coats, which is a normal behaviour, known as 'barbering'.

Rex Breed

They have short, rough, and fuzzy hair that stands on end all over their body. This breed are responsible for the 'Rex Gene' which produced other breeds of guinea pigs, such as Alpaca, Merino, and Texel.

Sheltie/Silkie Breed

They are very similar to Peruvians but have long hair that flows back over their body, not forward over their face. When viewing them from above, their body will look like a teardrop shape and does not have a central part.

Short Haired Breed

Also known as English and American Guinea Pig breed and are the most popular. They have short, straight and smooth hair which resembles their relatives and ancestors in Cavia Genus. Their nose are wide and curved, known as 'Roman Nose'.

Teddy Breed

They look similar to the Rex breed although their fur is soft and fluffy. Because of the moderate length of the Teddy's hair, they resemble a soft toy so therefore they are often called as Teddy Bear Guinea Pig.

Texel Breed

They are one of the new breed of Guinea Pigs. They came from cross breeding of a Rex and a Silkie. Instead of long straight hairs, they have curly hair. The hair on their face are shorter and they do not have a fringe.

Rare Breeds

Abbyruvian / Sheba Mini Yaks

They have partially long haired, very much like a cross between Abyssinian and Peruvian. Their long hair sticks out with a bit of curls.

Alpaca

They looks like Peruvian with curly hair.

Coronet

They look like a cross between Sheltie and Crested as they have longer hair but with a crest on their head.

Crested

They look very much like Short Haired Breeds, but with a crest on their head which is normally white but can be any colours.

Merino

They look like Coronet but has curly hair

Hairless

They only have hair on their noses, feet, and legs, while the rest of the body are hairless. They are very rare.

Ridgeback

They are similar to the Short haired, but with hair ridge running along their back.

Although I may have explained the differences between each breed, that is not the only thing that is different about them. They also come in many different colours, although only a maximum of three colours appear on each individiual cavy. The colours are grouped into 'Black Series', 'Red Series', and White.

The 'Black Series' consist of the following black, chocolate, lilac, and beige. Meanwhile in the 'Red Series' they includes red, orange, buff, cream and white.