Sphynx Cat

A Sphynx cat is a feline breed that was created in the early 1960's, through selective breeding. They appear to look hairless, with the same dimensions as any other cat. They are not truly hairless, as their hair is very fine, and their markings will be those of other cats (tabby, tortoiseshell etc.).

Sphynx Cat

In Canada, 1966, Elizabeth, a black and white domestic shorthair cat had a litter of kittens. In this litter was a tiny hairless kitten, named Prune. People were amazed that an ordinary cat had produced such an anomaly, that Prune was mated back to his mother, where half the litter were hairless, half shorthair. These kittens formed the foundations of the Sphynx breed all over the world, alongside other hairless kittens. Because of such a small gene pool, outcrossing (breeding an animal that is not closely related to the other) was necessary, which lowered the chance of health issues within the kittens. The four main breeds used to achieve this outcrossing were the Cornish Rex, American Shorthair, Domestic Shorthair, and the Devon Rex, which was most successful, as the Sphynx gene is recessive, but it dominant to the recessive gene Devon Rex.

American Shorthair 

Devon Rex

Domestic Shorthair

Cornish Rex

Sphynx Cats appear to have no hair, when in fact the hair thickness ranges on all of them. The 'ideal' set by breeder is for the skin to feel like the fuzz on a peach. Many describe the skin to feel like a suede hot water bottle, some say it has the texture of butter. All of the markings on a Sphynx cat are different, just like other breeds. The pigment may become stronger after sexual maturity, or stay the same throughout the cat's life. Their skin seems to sag on the skin, giving them a highly wrinkled look similar to that of a pug.



Association, C. F. (2009) Breed profile: The Sphynx. Available at: http://cfa.org/Breeds/BreedsSThruT/Sphynx.aspx (Accessed: 4 November 2015).