Guinea Pig varieties are divided into "groups".
A) Self Group - varieties in which the hair shaft is all one colour from tip to base and the guinea pig is only one colour.
1)Beige - light brown, with matching ears and footpads with pink eyes.
2)Black - deep rich black with black eyes
3)Chocolate is the colour of bittersweet chocolate or dark unsweetened bakers
4)Lilac is a light gray with a purple cast; the pink or dark eyes may or may not have a ruby cast
5)Red-eyed-Orange(REO) is reddish orange (ears and food pads much match) and have ruby eyes
6)Red - Irish Setter colour; the ears and footpads should be dark in colour but not black; dark eyes
7)White - china white with pink or dark eyes with or without a ruby cast.
8)Cream - palest of colours, more of an off white; if cream is too harsh in colour it is called brassy.
B)Agouti Group - made up of varieties that have a hair shaft with two different colours (a tip colour and a base colour) and ticking. Ticking is the longer hairs (called guard hairs) dispersed throughout the coat. They are the same colour as the base colour of the rest of the coat but have a black tip. These coloured hairs are evenly intermingled over the body of the cavy except for the belly. The belly has no ticking. The narrow back of hair from the chin to the genital area matches the tip colour.
1)Gold Agouti - Black base with red tip; ticking is black and belly band is red.
2)Silver Agouti - has a black base with a white tip; black ticking and the belly is white
3)Dilute Agouti - is made up of any combination of base colours and tip colours
Tip base colour
Cream Beige
Orange Black
Red Chocolate
White Lilac
C)Solid Group - composed of varieties in which there is more than one colour of hair, and or the hair shaft is more than one colour. The colours blend together to make a distinct apperance, and the cavy is a combination of colour from nose to rump.
1)Roan - even distribution of white hair with any other coloured hair; if there are any patches you must make sure the roaning cover 75% of the body.
2)Brindle - inter mixing of black and red hair; brindling must cover 60% of the body
3)Golden Solid - same as above only no belly band
4)Silver Solid - same as above only no belly band
5)Dilute Solid - same as above with no belly band
D)Marked Group - make up of varieties with specific patterns of coloured patches.
1)Broken - Cavies that have 2 or more colours distributed in patches over the body and head; each patch must be distinct from the other, and each colour must be at least a silver dollar or loonie in size; other patches maybe larger or smaller.
2)Dalmation - a white cavy with spots; eye colour must match the spots
3)Dutch - must have a white colour chest, forelegs, blaze and foot stopes; the rest of the guinea pig may be any other self or agouti colour
4)Himilayan - must be white with black ears, nose, feet, and pink eyes
5)Tortise Shell(TS) - Red and black with dary eyes; each color must cover at least 1 / 4of the body.
6)TortiseShell and White(TSW) - Patches of red, black and white; the ideal is that he is divided down the back with coloured patches alternating from side to side; the eyes are dark.