skinny pigs, where did they come from?

[bridgetb125]

I keep hearing about how unhealthy they are, etc. How were they started? And why were they bred to be not as healthy as haired guinea pigs? I am curiuus because I have 3 of them. They were all rescues. I only know how old one is.

 

[VoodooJoint]

From what I understand Skinny Pigs were breed for use in immunology studies. They were bred to have weakened immune systems and the hairlessless makes them easier to inject, operate, disect amd do skin tests on.

This lab in Canada, I believe, credits itself with creating these unfortunate creatures http://www.criver.com/about_charles_river/contact_us/

I have heard that hairless pigs sometimes show up as anomalies in regular breeding but I believe it was labs, and money hungry hobby breeders, that ran with breeding them on purpose.

 

[Sabriel]

Skinnies were bred in a lab to test immunity and skin disorders. They were bred for low immunity. They are also a deviation of the teddy breed, so they have all the problem that teddies have, in addition to thier own problems.

Skinnies also need extra care. They need a heat source to keep them warm, they eat more and make more waste.

They were first bred in Canada of all places. Why on earth do we keep breeding hairless animals?! 0.o

Edit: Voodoojoint beat me to it

 

[Lyndsay]

I guess my guess of lab breeding was correct.... .gulp. I'm canadian, how sad is this, sometimes I wonder what goes through lab peoples minds... poor creatures...

 

[Lyndsay]

I took a quick glance through that site, and I couldn't find anything on Skinny Pigs, but look at this... almost like they are trying to make it sound ok what they are doing....:http://www.criver.com/site_assets/images/humane1.bmp