The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : Get to Know the Sphynx: The Naked Aliens of the Cat World The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : Get to Know the Sphynx: The Naked Aliens of the Cat World

Monday, October 22, 2018

Get to Know the Sphynx: The Naked Aliens of the Cat World


Sphynxes love everyone; while they seem to enjoy human attention, they love the company of other cats, dogs, even little gray aliens.

Back in 1974 singer Ray Stevens recorded “The Streak” about well, streakers. For the under 50-crowd, streakers are people who pranked by shedding their clothes and running through crowds. They put it all out there for everyone to see. Stevens could have written his entertaining ditty about the Sphynx, a unique, hairless breed of cat who looks like the product of mating between a domestic cat and an extraterrestrial gray.

Almost a decade before Stevens wrote his song, a black and white cat in Toronto had the same idea. In 1966, Elizabeth, a Domestic Shorthair, gave birth to a bald kitten named Prune. While rare, the birth of kittens in the buff have been reported all over the world as early as 1830.

A breeding program began around Prune. To increase the depth of the gene pool, breeders of the bare-naked kitties outcrossed their domestic no-hairs with American Shorthairs, Domestic Shorthairs, and Devon Rex. And the rest, as they say, is history. In 2002, Sphynx were accepted by the Cat Fanciers Association for competition in the Championship class.

Personality
Alien or not, Sphynxes love everyone. They seem to prefer human attention but enjoy the company of other cats, dogs, little gray aliens, everyone. It’s a good thing they have so many friends. These kitties need help staying warm and will get cold easily without blankets or sweaters.

Being cold-natured, they enjoy a nice warm lap and burrowing under the covers. These little extroverts will also curl up with up with the dog if they get chilly. As innovative as they are, they’re not a great choice for homes with thermostats that hover at 68 degrees.

To read more on this story, click here: Get to Know the Sphynx: The Naked Aliens of the Cat World






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