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They just love to be
around their human friends – In fact they demand to always be
around you.
The Sphynx hates being alone, they need company all
day long whether it’s human or another cat or a small dog. I
always say that they are like lap dogs in a cat form. When they
are not helping you with your daily chores, they are on top of
you or all over you. They are definitely not the kind of cat
that you just see when it is feeding time.
When visitors come, they are the first to meet them at the door
and they will take the conversation over, if you let them. If
your visitors are not cat lovers, you will have to put them
away, as they will only leave the visitors laps when they do
some acrobatic tricks to show off for them. Do not be
surprised when one of them disappears and returns with a toy
mouse to play with, in the middle of the conversation.
The Sphynx gets to know their names very quickly and will
come when called – they just love to play hide and seek
and you can entertain them for hours with playing fetch.
If taken on car rides from an early stage in their lives, they
get to love to ride around with you. Just make sure that no one
sees them, as it may cause some unwanted accidents!
“It looks just like E.T., Smegol, Yoda or a space man”,
"Oh,
but they are ugly”, many would say when they first see a Sphynx,
but after spending some time with a Sphynx, their wonderful
personality and soft warm naked bodies, will soon change their
minds.
The Sphynx does have various looks and although they still meet
the standard, not one of them looks the same as the next.
They appear naked,
but the Sphynx is not a totally naked cat.
Their bodies are covered with a soft down that is almost
imperceptible to both the eye and the touch. A feeling of
resistance may be felt when stroking the skin of some cats. The
texture of the skin has been compared to peach skin, a suede hot
water bottle, a horse’s warm muzzle or a heated chamois.
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Tortie Female
Kitten 3 weeks old |
They have some very fine hair over the
bridge of their noses and on their feet. They may also have
some fine hair on their tail, at the back of their ears and
scrotum. Some of them get some fuzz when the weather changes
and some of them get fuzz when their hormones change,
(Females in heat and so on) which is normal.
Their bodies are warmer to the touch than
other cats, but in fact their body temperature is no higher.
The skin is very wrinkled in kittens.
Adults should retain as many wrinkles as possible,
especially on the head, but should not affect the cat’s
normal function. |
Sphynx have huge ears, large eyes and prominent whisker pads and
cheekbones. Generally they lack whiskers, but some of them have
a few very short ones. They have a rounded abdomen, which makes
them look as if they just had a big meal. The tail is long and flexible. Their paw
pads are thicker than in other breeds, giving the impression
that they are “walking on air cushions.” Their toes are long and
are often used like little fingers. These cats are of medium
size and the males can be up to 25% bigger than the females.
They come in all colours and patterns.
Never leave your Sphynx or any cat for
that matter on it's own in the bathroom or near the bathroom,
when running your bath. Always run the cold water first and
then the warm water, so that you never have a very hot bath at
any time. Many Sphynx has burned themselves severely or even to
death, by jumping/falling into a hot bath. This happens more
often than what one thinks, so be very careful when running a
bath.
The Sphynx is an indoor cat only, as it gets burned by the
sun -
same as we do. They may only go outside under strict supervision
of their owner, when weather permits. This does not bother them,
as long as they have a companion and lots of toys and sufficient
space to run around in the house.
People often think they do not need grooming, but this is not
true. The Sphynx is actually a high maintenance cat. Because it
lacks fur/hair, the oils that all cats excrete through their
skin are not absorbed into the hair, so the oil lies on the bare
skin and attracts grime. They become dirty quite quickly and
need a bath frequently. The claws and ears also get dirty very
quickly and have to be cleaned weekly to keep it clean.
Surgically declawing your kitten is cruel and should never ever
be done.
Sites to view on declawing.
Due to their hairlessness, the Sphynx almost never gets ticks or
fleas. If they do get the occasional tick or flea, you can spot
it right away and deal with it.
The first thing everyone ask when they see a Sphynx is: “Don’t
they get cold” If it is too cold for you, it will be to cold for
them, but if you are comfortable in your house, they will be
too. These cats are very smart and they will pop under the
blankets when it is getting cold, or find a warm human body or
dog or cat to curl up with. They know how to look after
themselves.
The Sphynx is not a hypoallergenic cat. If you are allergic to
the protein in cat’s saliva, you will be allergic to the Sphynx
as well. However, some people who are allergic to cats do
tolerate the Sphynx better.
The Sphynx is a very robust breed with few health or genetic
problems, with a normal life span. Spasticity (Hereditary
Myopathy) and HCM (Hypertrophic Cardiomayopathy) are two genetic
problems that are found in this breed. HCM is the bigger
problem. Sphynx breeders all over the world are working very
hard in trying to eliminate HCM from the breed, by scanning
yearly and eliminating positive cats from their breeding
program.
Some sites on HCM to view:
Because of their name, many people think the
Sphynx originated
from Egypt. This is not true. A CFA judge, David Mare, named
them in 1973. They made him think of a famous Egyptian cat
statue in the Louvre that looks somewhat to what the Sphynx
looks like. He thought of words for Egyptian things and the
sphinxes in Egypt came to mind. Although the sphinxes are not
really cats, it made a wonderful name.
The Hairlessness of the Sphynx is due to a natural spontaneous
mutation in the domestic cat and has been seen in litters around
the world. In 1966, in Toronto Canada, a naked kitten was born.
His siblings were normal coated kittens. This kitten "Prune",
his mother "Elizabeth", and a few other bald mutations
discovered later, were the basis of the early Sphynx breed.
Most of today's pedigreed Sphynx spring from two females, Punkie
and Paloma, who were rescued from the streets of Toronto, Canada
and sent to Dr. Hugo Hernandez in Holland in 1980. As there was
no whole Sphynx male available in Holland, a white Devon Rex
male, Curare van Jetrophin, was used in the breeding program.
The offspring from these breedings were sold in Holland and
France and are the foundation of most of our present day
breeding Sphynx.
During the late 1990s cross breeding between domestic short hair
and other cat breeds has produced a wider gene pool and allowed
the modern Sphynx to exhibit most of the eye and color patterns
available in many of today's cat breeds.
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