I'm not up on my felinology, so I can't be sure exactly what breed of hairless cat this is. I'm guessing it's a Sphynx (please correct me if I'm wrong).
This breed is very new: the first recorded instance of the mutation (for the American and European breed's purposes) was found in Minnesota, US, in 1975. The second instance in Toronto, Canada, in 1978 (there must be something in the water at the American-Canadian border). Thus was the breed born (and soon to be bred).
If you are allergic to pet dander, this hairless cat might be the animal for you. If you like warm, oily skin, this cat might be the pet for you. If you like bathing cats and cleaning their ears out, this might be the beast for you. If you enjoy being pointed at by your neighbors, this might be just what you're looking for.
Thanks for the photo, Steve.
Photo source: DailyDigitalPhoto.com
Aug 19, 2008
The Cat for You
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13 comments:
Uck... I am allergic to cats, but I'd rather deal with the itchy eyes and Benedryl than have that face staring at me before morning coffee. *shudder*
It kinda looks like Hugo Weaving...
--TwoDragons
Hahahaha! Love the last paragraph.
You know... I saw the title and I was expecting the four-eared cat.
Actually, these are horrible cats for people with allergies. Dander, which is what most people are allergic to, is a mixture of dead skin cells and dried spit. Sphynx have no fur to hold all that debris on them so it's just flying around willy-nilly.
Except for those that kill mice on farms and the big ones in the wild (and in jail), all cats are worthless and should be "phased out" of existence in a merciful way.
You know, if he only had another pair of ears, he'd be well-nigh perfect.
Sphinxes really aren't all that oily anymore...the past 20 years have been spent trying to breed that trait out of them. That said, yeah, they are crap for allergic people, but they feel like a warm, waxy peach!
It could be an extremely bald rex cat. But the ears look wrong for that. I never realized how wrinkly cats actually are until I saw my first sphinx. The best hypo allergenic cat may be a devon rex, but there is no real cat that people aren't allergic to... yet.
I'm not a huge fan of hairless cats, but this one's expression is priceless. He is NOT amused.
Might be a Peterbald.
Since I noticed your geographic locale and your conviction regarding the oiliness of Sphynx cats:
there's a fantasy/sci-fi bookshop in San Francisco's Mission District named 'Borderland Books', who have two sphynxes as their shop mascots. They're quite well-socialized to dealing with strangers.
Sure, they're pretty durned gargoyle-like, but they are, at least, not going to take your fingers off at the elbow.
And they're not oily: they've got a very short coat and I think that light glinting off that is what you're viewing as oil. Really, they feel like, well, suede hot-water bottles.
With wrinkles.
And ribs.
Man, I wish I got into the city more often.
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