Sphynx cats with wool: are they there, what are they called and why is this happening?

The appearance of hairless sphinxes in the last century frightened and delighted people. Many did not understand how you can fall in love with a bald cat. After all, this animal should be soft and fluffy, pleasant to the touch, a real antidepressant.

Some twenty years have passed, and the attitude towards the Sphinxes has changed. If this breed is started, then they expect a complete absence of wool. The Internet is replete with indignations such as: “I bought a Sphinx, and his fluff grows, what should I do? Maybe he's not a sphinx? "

You don't have to do anything - just love the animal. Sphynxes are different, and the presence of hair on some species is normal.... To understand whether sphinxes have wool, we will give a description of some species of this animal.

At the end of the eighties of the last century, the first naked cat was born in Rostov-on-Don. The Don Sphynx breed originated from her. In the Don breed, baldness is due to the presence of the dominant Hbl allele in the genotype. There are four main groups of this species: naked, flock, velor, brush.

The name speaks for itself - kittens are born without a hint of wool. Moreover, they may lack mustache and eyebrows, as well as sensitive hairs on their paws. The skin of such animals resembles rubber or plasticine, it is warm, sticky, with a lot of folds on the head and body. Babies can be born with their eyes open, as happens in humans.

The thinnest elastic skin does not yet have a final color.The future color of the animal (blue, black, spotted) can be recognized by the pads on its paws. Some individuals overgrow with sparse wool in winter, but in spring it disappears.

Kittens are born with a barely noticeable down on the entire surface of the skin, like peaches. The tactile sensations from touching their skin are very pleasant and unusual, cats resemble plush toys. By the age of two, the hairline becomes thinner, the bulbs die off, and the animals become completely bald.

Velor, like flock, only visually looks bald - taking a kitten in your hands, you feel a soft fluff all over your body, like a pile on a velor fabric. Unlike flock, on this type of animal the pile is longer and thicker, especially on the muzzle, paws and tail. At the same time, the top of the head remains completely bald. Having stroked the baby against the grain, you can see how quickly his even hair is restored.

Velor kittens are divided into types according to the state of their coat. Lightweight - has a minimum hair length of two millimeters. On the legs, they are thicker than on the body. Some kittens have coarse hair, others soft. There is no hair on the top of the head.

Point - The coat is distinguished by a relatively long pile (four millimeters) on the muzzle, tail and limbs. Points appear in winter, then their expressiveness decreases.

Downy look - the cat is completely covered with delicate wavy, rather long hair. In addition, the animal has a surprisingly cute tail.

Brush translates to "bristly". The wool of these animals really looks like an old brush - hard, sparse and twisted. There are animals with a bald head, neck and limbs. This species is used to maintain the population, but they have no value for the breeder, and they cannot wait for titles at exhibitions. Brush are good as a parent for the continuation of the species. The fact is that you can not cross two hairless individuals - this leads to mutations and stillborn kittens.

Brush can shed hair by one and a half years, but this does not apply to the dense appearance. His coat is so thick that the skin cannot be seen through it. The tail has grown especially well with it, as well as a lot of hair on the paws and chest.

The history of the Canadian Sphynx began twenty years earlier than the Don Sphynx, when in 1966 a bald kitten was born to a domestic cat in Canada. Such phenomena have occurred before, among different peoples, but babies without wool were considered a mutation and were discarded. Only the Canadian kitten interested breeders and became the progenitor of a new breed, which is called Sphynx all over the world. In Russia, the word "Canadian" was added to the name, so as not to be confused with the Don and St. Petersburg.

Unlike the Don, the mutation of the Canadian species is expressed by the recessive baldness gene. Most often, even in adulthood, sphinxes retain thin remnants of fur behind the ears, on the tail, limbs or on the nose.

Cats without hair, with a lot of folds, look like aliens. They are all called sphinxes, and not everyone knows that this breed has its own species, which are different from each other. Canadian and Don Sphynxes are endowed with the following differences:

• species have different genes for hair loss (dominant and recessive);
• Canadian Sphynxes are always covered with a barely noticeable down, and the Don Sphynxes can be absolutely hairless ("rubber");
• Canadian individuals are endowed with large round eyes, and the Don ones have an almond-shaped cut of the eyes;
• Canadians have no mustache at all;
• in the Don species, the tail is of medium length and thickness, straight and rather strong, in contrast to the Canadians, in whom the tail is weak, thin with a point at the end;
• Don individuals have a strong torso and a strong muscular system, in contrast to the underdeveloped musculature of the Canadians.

The breed was bred in St. Petersburg in 1994. Baldness is based on a recessive gene. The progenitors of the species were the Don Sphynxes. This breed is distinguished by an elegant slender appearance, an elongated muzzle with oval eyes and huge, set apart ears.

In addition to animals without wool, Piterbolds, like the Don Sphynxes, have varieties of individuals with a woolen coating: brush, velor, flock, straight-haired. Let's dwell on the last variety, since the previous species were considered in the review of the Don breed.

The species is based on the selection of Siamese and Oriental cats with sphinxes. These animals lack the gene for baldness, they have a normal coat and mustache. The coat is short, close to the body, oriental type. The color of the Peterbald often repeats the color of its ancestors - the Siamese and Oriental group.

The appearance of new wool on an animal of this breed, or, conversely, its disappearance after the growth of woolly kittens, is associated with many factors. There will be no definite answer. The reasons may be as follows:

• hairiness is sometimes affected by vaccinations;
• hormonal manifestations of an individual associated with bearing kittens;
• poor selection of feed;
• weather;
• castration.

If the brood has ideal parents, but one of the kittens was born with hair, do not forget that he had great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers who awarded the baby with hair.

• The hypoallergenicity of sphinxes is a myth. Even in the absence of hair, the body of overly sensitive people can react to sweat and salivation of the animal.
• Sphynxes stand out among the feline family not only for their fantastic appearance, but also for their canine character: kind, loyal, attached to their master.
• Cats of this breed easily get along with any pets, but if they were allowed to choose companions, they would prefer sphinxes.
• Sphynxes have great heat transfer, so they like to eat solid food - only a fast metabolism saves them from obesity.
• Before the breed became known, the owners tried to treat the mutated hairless kittens for lichen.
• Cats love to sleep with their owners under the covers, resting their heads on the pillow.
• Sphinxes are able to sunbathe and sweat like humans.
• Representatives of this breed live up to fourteen years, although there are cases when pets lived up to nineteen years of age.

Sphynxes are unusual animals, they have a distinctive appearance, good intelligence and friendliness, that is, everything that is needed for an excellent pet and a good friend.

You will learn more about Sphynx cats with fur in the following video.