History of the Sphynx Cat

The Sphynx is known to be a complex and exotic breed, its history reaching back the early 1900s. Sphynx kittens, also known as hairless cats; began to show up many places across the world. The first recorded Sphynx Kitten was discovered in 1966. A domestic cat had given birth to this hairless kitten in Toronto, Canada. Thus concluding why the term “Canadian Sphynx Cat” was established. Earlier than this, Hairless kittens were reported in such places as Mexico, Australia, London, and France.

Ryadh Bawa began a breeding program for the parents of this new hairless cat shortly after. When heard of, the CFA(The Cat Fanciers Association) set aside and granted a new breed and colour status for this new discovery. This was soon retracted in 1971, due to infertility issues with the breed.

In 1975, another hairless kitten was born by another domestic cat. It was overlooked until the year after, another hairless kitten was born. Both of these kittens were sold to a breeder by the name of Kim Mueske in Oregon. She had used these kittens to develop the breed of cat we know today as the Sphynx.

As time went on, more and more hairless cats were discovered across the world. In 1978, Shirley Smith an Ontario Breeder found three hairless kittens in her neighborhood. In 1983, she sent two of the three hairless cats to Dr. Hugo Hernandez. He soon after chose to breed these cats. The descendants of those kittens are the foundation of the Canadian breed found today.

The lack of hair on the Sphynx comes from a recessive gene in their genetic makeup. They appear to be completely hairless yet all have some form of hair covering their entire body, a type of down barely visible to the human eye. The texture of a Sphynx can be compared to that of suede. In the breeding of the Sphynx, it takes two chromosomes from each parent for this trait; or “genetic mutation” to repeat itself upon an unborn kitten.