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The Skinny pig or skinny is an almost hairless breed of guinea pig. Skinny pigs typically have hair on their muzzles, feet, and legs, but are hairless over the remainder of their bodies. Some have a thin covering of fuzzy hair on their backs as well. A healthy Skinny Pig has skin that is mostly smooth, with some wrinkling around the legs and neck. The body is full with no appearance of spine or ribs. Skinnies can come in a variety of skin colors and patterns, including "Dutch", "Brindle", and "Himalayan". The term "skinny" is used for hairless guinea pigs either because it colloquially refers to the exposed skin of the animal, or because it describes their thinner appearance due to their lack of hair.
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The modern breed of skinny pig originated from a cross between haired guinea pigs and a hairless lab strain. The hairless strain that it is most likely related to was a spontaneous genetic mutation that was first identified at Montreal's Armand Frappier Institute in 1978, in a colony of Hartley lab guinea pigs. In 1982 they were sent to Charles River Laboratories to be bred for laboratory use and are commonly used in dermatology studies today.
Hairless guinea pigs are not significantly different physiologically from regular haired guinea pigs, although they need to eat more to maintain body heat. The optimal temperature range for a hairless guinea pig is 68 to 79 °F (20 to 26 °C), which is slightly higher than the optimal temperature range for the haired guinea pig.
Their sensitive skin has a similar appearance as human skin, but has the same needs as normal guinea pig skin. Exposed skin is vulnerable to sunburn, other injuries and fungal infections unless precautions are taken. Skinny pigs gave also been found to have an increased risk of some eye diseases when compared to haired guinea pigs. Skinny pigs should be housed indoors, and they are usually kept with nesting materials such as a blanket or cloth bag for heat conservation. The breeding protocol for Skinny pigs requires outcrossing to haired carriers at least every other generation. This is an important step in the breeding process, which makes them a poor choice for novice breeders. Skinny pigs are born nearly hairless and must maintain the same level of hair through their life.
"Werewolf" is a slang term for skinny pigs with more hair than usual, which extends over the face and onto the neck and shoulders. Werewolves typically gain and lose fur based on hormone levels, especially hormones related to pregnancy.
The gene causing hairlessness in skinny pigs is a recessive gene. Breeding a skinny pig to a standard haired guinea pig will result in offspring that all carry one copy of the gene, but none will express hairlessness. These offspring are generally called skinny carriers. Breeding two skinny carriers together will result in averages of 25% of offspring being skinny pigs, 50% of offspring being skinny carriers and 25% of offspring being regular haired guinea pigs that do not carry the gene. Since the chance of producing a skinny pig is low, and because it is not possible to visually tell the difference between a haired guinea pig that does carry the gene and one that does not, this method of breeding is not recommended. Haired skinny carriers remain haired their entire life and look like a normal guinea pig despite carrying the hairless gene.
There is a second type of hairless guinea pig called the Baldwin guinea pig, however its hairlessness is the result of a completely different recessive gene. Breeding a skinny pig with a Baldwin guinea pig will result in offspring that all are haired and carry one copy of the gene for skinny pig hairlessness and one copy of the gene for Baldwin hairlessness.
Even though the skinny is a relatively new breed among pet owners and cavy fanciers, it is gaining popularity in Canada, Europe, Scandinavia, and Russia as well as in the United States where it was introduced into the pet trade in the mid-to-late 1990s.
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