recognized cavy breeds

THE 13 RECOGNIZED CAVY BREEDS
The American Rabbit Breeders Association is the parent organization
of the American Cavy Breeders Association

The first cavy came from the wilds of the Andean mountains of Peru and it had a short,
smooth coat with brown/black ticked fur. Since then, mutations occurred which have
resulted in a longer coat or in some cases a coarser coat. This is where our different
breeds come from.

The different breeds are broken down into categories of color called variety.
Therefore, within each breed are many different varieties.

The cavy first came into the United States about the mid 1700's and became popular in
the show ring around the last part of the 19th century. At that time, there were only three
recognized breeds: the American, which has a short, smooth coat, the Abyssinian, which
has a short, rough coat and the Angora, which has a long, smooth coat.

The Aby arrived in England about 1861 and is among the oldest recorded breeds. It is defined as
being cobby shaped with a pattern of ridges and rosettes. A rosette is a swirl that radiates evenly from
a pin-pointed center with each rosette being separated from the next by an erect ridge of hair. There are
four rosettes across the saddle area, two across the rump, two on each hip and two on each shoulder.
They, like the other breeds, come in a variety of colors. It is desirable to have a rough texture to the
coat to make the ridges stand firm for good division of the rosettes.

The Aby Satin has the same appearance and standard as the Aby, only with the added
beauty of the satin sheen. The satinization of the coat makes it harder to maintain the
rough texture and in England is not desirable because the judges often frown on it's soft
coat. It was recognized as the eighth official breed by the ARBA in January 1986.

    This breed is the oldest and most popular of all the cavies. When it first arrived into the UK, it was
named the "English.”
    After being brought to the United States, its name has since been changed to the "American,”
(despite the fact that in the rest of the world it is still known as the English).
     It has a short, smooth coat, is well rounded and even from shoulders to hips. In essence, the perfect
pig looks as solid as a brick with rounded corners. It has a slight bump on the back of it's neck known as
the crown. It's nose is slightly rounded (Roman), not sharp and straight.
    Although it comes in many different varieties today, the original color of the wild cavy is brown, ticked
with black. As they have been bred over the years a number of color mutations have occurred which is
why we have so many different ones today.

The satin coat started from a mutation in the American cavy back in 1976 and the American Satin
became the first satin breed to be recognized by the ARBA in January of 1984. Just about any breed
can be satinized, meaning, you can make their coat have a radiant sheen. The reason it looks so
luminous is that the hair shaft is hollow, which causes it to reflect light, consequently giving it an
intense look. The Satin breed must follow the same standard as their counterpart.

Many people unwittingly refer to the Teddy cavy as the Teddybear because of the
Teddy Bear hamster. Actually, its name is simply Teddy. It has a coat that is dense,
wiry and resilient to touch much like that of the Rex in England. It started as a
mutation in an American tortoiseshell/white back in 1967 and did not take breeders
long to start raising them. They are genetically different from the Rex (although they
do look alike) and breeding a Teddy to a Rex will result in short, smooth coated
babies. Since the Teddy is a mutation that breeds true, it cannot be made from
crossing other breeds. It became the fifth recognized breed in 1974 and is currently
the most popular in the United States today.

The Teddy Satin was the eleventh breed recognized by the ARBA in
January of 1990. It has all the qualities of the Teddy, but one major
difference is satinizing the coat causes it to become softer. Although
the standard does allow for a softer coat, many breeders have noticed
that judges will choose the harsher over the softer.

This breed originally came from Claire White of Masquerade Stud in England around the mid
1970's. They were originally called the Crested Sheltie but its name was changed in 1979 to
Coronet. It was developed by crossing the Sheltie (a Silkie) with an American Crested. On
the other side of the ocean, (in the United States) around the late '70's and early '80's,
Coronets were being developed from several sources. The Pankratzs of California were
developing them from pet quality crested Americans with longer rump hair, which were in
turn bred to top quality silkies; and also from Jennifer Lin of Washington. After all this time,
the Coronet was finally recognized by the ARBA on February 1, 1998. It has long soft
flowing fur with a crest on the top of its head. It is often described as a silkie with a crest
and can be shown in a variety of colors

The Peruvian first appeared in Paris in 1886 and is the ancestor of longhaired guinea pigs. It
arrived in England about the end of the 19th century and in America about the beginning of
the 20th. It was known as the Angora up until the mid-1930's when its name was changed to
Peruvian. It has dense, silky fur with a pair of swirling rosettes on each hip that causes the
fur to grow in the opposite direction, flipping it up over the head. When completely groomed
out into its show coat, it can look like a circle of fur without knowing which end is the front.

The Peruvian Satin was recognized as the 10th official breed in
January of 1988, by the ARBA. It has all the appearance and
qualities of the Peruvian with the added splendor of the satin sheen.

Around 1932, this breed had mutated from Peruvians because they were born without
rosettes. When the Angora had its name changed to Peruvian, the Silkie was tossed aside
and forgotten. It was re-introduced to the ARBA in 1980 and has since made a full
comeback.
The Silkie coat is straight with no curls or rosettes and it should be very dense and soft. The
nose is shorter than other breeds and it has a mane that grows from the back of the neck,
sweeping over the body, covering the part down the middle of its back. The silkie is judged
mainly for its coat and comes in many varieties.

The Silkie Satin was the ninth breed recognized by the ARBA in
January of 1987. The Silkie Satin has all the features of the Silkie
with the added beauty of the satin sheen to the coat

The Texel was created by Masquerade Stud in England, back around 1980. By crossing a Rex boar
with Silkie sows, it eventually yielded curly pigs with long fur. This approach took eight years to develop
the Texel we see today. When it was brought into the United States the amount of animals was limited
so new blood was needed to keep the line going. Instead of starting from scratch (which was a long
process to get the coat at a nice length), the Texel was crossed with a Silkie and then back to the Texel.

It has a short body with a well-rounded head and long fur with flowing ringlets all over including the belly.
Its coat should be dense, yet soft to the touch. Its fur does not matt as easily as other longhairs do.
Babies look like an ordinary Rex at birth, but start to grow their long fur at about 8 to 10 weeks.
Since the Rex and Teddy are genetically different, crossing a Texel with a Teddy will produce smooth
coated babies making it wise not to introduce Teddies into the line. The English version of the Texel
has tight, kinky ringlets while the American version has large, dense curls. The reason for this
difference is because in England, they advocate brushing of the Texel, but in the US, brushing is cause
for disqualification at cavy shows. The Texel became recognized by the ARBA in 1998.

The White-Crested is sometimes known as the American Crested because it looks like
an American with a white crest in the center of its forehead. It was the fourth breed
officially recognized by the ARBA in January of 1974 and is perhaps the most challenging
to work with. No white hair, except for the crest, is allowed to be present on the rest of
the cavy. You will seldom see a large entry of this beautiful breed at the show table
because some breeders have difficulty getting 1 in 50 show quality animals. The
White-crested breeders have introduced Satin into this breed, although Crested Satin is
not recognized by the ARBA. However, it is recognized in Canada, (if you wish to raise
and show them you can join a Canadian group).