The guinea pig is considered to be a good pet. It is considered as a social animal, it hardly bites and it can be tamed as well. A guinea pig is approximately 10 inches long and about 2-3 pounds. It has a round and stout body and no visible tail. It has a life span of about 5-7 years. It lives in a cage preferably with ramps and low plastic shelves.

It must have a nest made of hay inside the cage for bedding purposes. It must have a nest box or a hiding place like a cardboard box or an upside down plastic pail or tub. A variety of toys like some crumpled papers, wood blocks, paper bag or plastic balls may be placed in the cage for the guinea pig to play with. Exercise balls and wheels are avoided because the body of the guinea pig is not appropriate for such activity and the risk of injury is always possible. The food consists of a diet rich in vitamin C to make it healthy and strong.

There are many guinea pig breeds such as the following:

1. The Satin American breed or also known as the English Cavy is the most popular guinea pig breed. Its coat is short and shiny almost flat to its body form.

2. There are the less common known guinea pig breeds with the long-haired kinds such as:

a) Texel guinea pig has a long curly body coat and is considered a high maintenance kind of breed.

b) Coronet guinea pig is also long haired but has a distinguished single rosette on the middle of its forehead.

c) Merino guinea pig which has long curly hair with a crest on its head.

d) Alpaca guinea pig which has long curly hair that grows over its head.

e) Abyssinian guinea pig has a hairy body coat that is made up of swirls of hairs that gives it a dishevelled look. The hair is in multiple layers of swirls called rosettes and the hair radiates from a symmetrical pattern from the body. The hair is described as coarse and thick.

f) Peruvian guinea pig has long, smooth and straight hair that grows over its head. Its hair usually parts down its back and hair grows several inches longer down its body. It needs a lot of grooming and trimming maintenance to keep its appearances cleans enough to look at. Silkie or Sheltie has long, shiny and silky hair that grows backwards from the head. To distinguish it from the Peruvian, the hair of the Sheltie does not part down its back.

3. The hairless guinea pigs which are of two varieties:

a. "Skinny pig" with very little patches of fine hair on the paws and some parts of the body.

b. Baldwin guinea pig which has some hair when it is younger but then becomes totally hairless as it grows older.

There are a lot more breeds of guinea pigs. Just for purposes of information, the guinea pigs were used for laboratory research purposes. But, time has been kind to these guinea pigs and they are now accepted as good family pets in most parts of the world.

Anthony Jorgensen

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