BRITISH CAVY COUNCIL

Minipli Guide Standard

Promoted to Guide Standard 1st January 2023

Updated 1st January 2024

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Standard of points

Fringe and Chops: The fringe should be curly and cover the face, with the length going no further than the end of the nose in an adult.
Chops should be curly or crimped and have a slightly fuzzy, harsh feel, be short, and be of an appropriate length for the age of the pig and the length of the coat; never of a length to reach the board.
Whiskers to be curly.
Head, Eye & Ear Head to be of good size, bold and broad. Muzzle of good width and rounded at the nostrils.
Eyes to be large, bright and bold and set with good width between.
Ears to be large and drooping, and set with good width between.
Coat Appearance The coat to have an abundance of corkscrew curls covering the body.
The undercoat should be crimped and rexoid, and should be even all round.
Two rump rosettes should be present at the rear.
There should be no evidence of a parting in the coat down the centre of the back.
The coat should not be combed or brushed out.
The coat should appear to have a layered effect. 
The belly coat should be thick, woolly and curly.
When adult, the body’s top lengths of coat should just reach the board.
Coat Feel of which Coat density to be full and dense in all areas when assessed nearer the body, where the undercoat supports the topcoat.
Coat Density The density should be even all around.
There should be no breaks in coat or thin areas near the body.
Coat Texture Coat texture to be soft and springy, with a rexoid feel.
Presentation To be clean, free of grease and unmatted.
The ringlet curls are not to be combed or brushed out.
Judges must be able to run their fingers through the coat to check for coat quality and presentation, being able to pull their fingers up and out through the coat without encountering tangles, knots or matting.
The curly coat should form a domed effect with some ringlets standing erect.
Body To have short, cobby body; thick-set, with good width across shoulders.
To be fit and of good substance, with plenty of firm flesh.
To have good size appropriate to age.

N.B. Any Full Standard for this breed is likely to be based on those for the Rough Longhair breeds.

Specific requirements

The Minipli may be shown in any colour or combination of colours.

The Minipli must be shown with no central parting on a board of appropriate size. This should be large enough to give an outline of the coat shape and be covered in natural-coloured hessian. The coat must not be cut.

Guidance notes

The Minipli is a semi-longhaired cavy broadly in the Peruvian model (having a forward-growing coat, chops and two rump rosettes), but with significant differences.

In particular, the coat should not continue to grow throughout the life of the cavy but rather reach an intermediary length whereby it just reaches the board. The top coat and undercoat on sides may extend onto the board by up to 25mm in adults.

A younger cavy‘s coat is generally very slow to develop, the coat will stand erect. A 5 month old cavy’s coat will be approx. 2” to 3” in length.

On a young cavy, slight crimping will be visible at the ends of the coat but curl formation can be seen at the roots of the coat. The coat is very dense and can have a fuzzy appearance until the curls/crimping starts to develop. The curls will not necessarily have a ringlet formation until the cavy reaches the age of 5 months.

The slower the development of the curl, the shorter the coat is likely to be in an adult.

A dense coat is required to support the erect corkscrew curls desired in an adult Minipli. Therefore, those u/5 Minipli with the denser and fuzzier coats will likely have the better coats when adult.

The Minipli’s coat is its most important feature. The coat is a mass of corkscrew curls moving from the rear to the head in the case of an adult. Younger cavies, will present with an erect coat, resembling a dome. The overall appearance, when viewed from above, should be of a rounded cavy that looks neat and tidy.

The coat texture should be soft and springy to handle, no stretching of the curls by the judge should be required to make the curls divide on each side or down the body.

The coat must not be combed or brushed in any way at the judging table, either by the exhibitor or the judge.

Specific disqualifications

Specific faults

Wash 2: Designed by Simon Neesam for the British Cavy Council © 2020