Guinea Pig Shows or Cavy Shows in the UK

The governing body for the Guinea Pig Fancy in the UK is the National Cavy Club..  More detailed information on upcoming cavy shows can be found in Cavies Magazine or contact your local cavy club.  If you know any cavy breeders, then they will also be available to advise you on where to find a cavy show in many cases.  If you do an Internet search for guinea pig shows you' should extend that search to include cavy shows as most of the 'cavy fancy' refer to guinea pigs as cavies.

What happens at a guinea pig show or cavy show?

If you want to enter your guinea pig into a guinea pig show or cavy show you need to contact the Show Secretary in advance for a Show Schedule.  Classes are organised by breed, sex and age with age classes "under 5 months", "5 - 8 months" and Adult.  Breed classes are judged on type as well as fitness and cleanliness. There are also pet classes which are judged on fitness, cleanliness and friendliness.  Guinea pigs showing any sign of illness or parasites are disqualified.

The cavies are placed in small individual pens for the day and the pens normally only contain a bottom layer of shavings. 

If you do not want your guinea pig to be on shavings you will need to take some alternative bedding and a way of disposing of the shavings.  You also need to take a water bottle and a way of fixing it to the cage, hay and food for your guinea pig for the day.  Show pens are much smaller than the usual cages recommended for guinea pigs.

Guinea pigs are taken from their pens by Stewards when it is time for their class to be judged and returned to their pen once the judges have made their decision. 

If a guinea pig wins it's class, it will often be recalled to the judging bench to be considered for an even better prize.  For example, all plain coloured cavies are known as Self cavies, Self Black, Self Lilac and so on.  The winners of the Self Black, Self White and other Self classes go on to be judged against each other to find the best Self.

Guinea pig shows are pretty friendly places and newcomers are welcomed.  Most shows sell refreshments and have a raffle of things members have brought to raise money for club funds.  Everything stops for the judges lunch and adjourning to the local pub by various groups of members is not unheard of. 

If you are interested in showing pure bred guinea pigs then ask the secretary of the show to point out breeders of the breed you are interested in.  At the start of a show the cavy exhibitors are busy Penning their pigs so the best time to talk to them is after that and at a time when their cavies are not being judged as  they'll probably want to watch the judging.  They may have arranged to meet fellow cavy breeders for lunch so check before hand that it is a good time to speak with them.

Preparing for a guinea pig or cavy show

Your guinea pig or cavy should be clean and well groomed with no parasites such as static mites or running lice in the coat.  You should get your guinea pig used to being in a noisy place and being handled by other people. 

Check the breed standards for specific classes before preparing your guinea pig for a show.  Some breeds, like Rex and Abyssinian, are supposed to have harsh coats and many shampoos will soften the coat.  During summer months you should take care that your guinea pig does not get over heated in the car as heat exhaustion can kill.

Show organisers - sign up as a cavy show in our directory

If you are a cavy show secretary or organiser, please consider signing up for a free web page in our free searchable Directory which can link to your site.  We also have a Classifieds section where breeders can your members can look for lifts to shows and arrange transport for sale animals.  If you don't have a web site, or simply want one on this cavy shows site, then tick the box on the Membership Application Form when you sign up for your free Directory page.  We'd also like you to add your show dates to our Events Calendar.  Contact me for a password and user name so you can edit your events if you need to.

Free site on www.guinea-pig-shows.co.uk

If you organise cavy shows you can have your own free mini web site on this site, www.guinea-pig-shows.co.uk, which you can edit yourself at any time.  The advantage of having a site on www.guinea-pig-shows.co.uk is that search engines look for the words people search for in the web site domain name.  This index page has also been optimised for search engines looking for cavy shows.

Find guinea pig shows using our directory

If you are looking for a guinea pig show, then please search our Directory.

The images used on this page are copyright Bivoir Cavies and used with permission.