Shaved Guinea Pig Baby Hippo

There's an image that's been making the rounds on Facebook recently which you may have seen:

That's also not how you spell "guinea pig."

That's not a shaved guinea pig, by the way. That's a breed of guinea pig called a skinny pig. Skinny pigs originated as a crossbreed between a laboratory breed called an IAF Hairless and another breed called a Teddy in the early 1980s. It is a misconception that skinny pigs are somehow less healthy, although they do require some special care. The right temperature for skinny pigs is 75 - 79°F, a little higher than ordinary guinea pigs prefer. Skinny pigs need to eat more food in order to maintain their body temperature. Cozies are also important for skinny pigs to maintain their body temperature. You may want to use coconut oil on your skinny pig's skin once a week. Skinny pig skin can be sensitive, so some prefer to be pet on their heads where they have hair. Skinny pigs should not be confused with Baldwins, which are another hairless guinea pig breed.

If you happen to see someone post this image on Facebook, make sure that they know that this is a skinny pig. Long-haired guinea pigs like Buffy do need an occasional trim, but as the Metropolitan Guinea Pig Rescue pointed out, "it would be a truly torturous thing to shave a guinea pig this close."