The origin of
a unique natural mutation that has created a breed of hairless
cats (the second such officially recognized breed in the world) can be
traced back to 1987 in the Russian city of Rostov Na Donu.
A small, funny-looking female kitten was found on a city street; it had a
sparse wavy tortie-colored coat. By the time the kitten was a year old
it has shed most of its fur. The kitten was found by a Mrs. Kovaleva who
named it "Varya" and has decided to keep it. When of
age, Varya had on several occasions mated with common tomcats and her
each resulting litter contained offspring that have similarly become
bald by their first birthdays. They were given away and their
further fates are unknown.
This nameless wonder of nature could have
eventually disappeared without a trace were it not for one of
Varya's daughters named Chita being acquired by a wonderful woman named Irina Nemykina.
.
Typical!
Nemykina's Myth Cattery has undertaken the task of
establishing the breed, which was subsequently named Don Sphynx.
The appearance of the genetic mutation in the first offspring resulting
from the mating of hairless females with common longhair males has
allowed a theory that, unlike the earlier established Canadian
Sphynx which is determined by a simple recessive allele, the
Russian mutation is that of a dominant nature. Rather, it would be
correct to describe this as the product of an "incomplete"
dominance of Don Sphynx's mutated gene which is the determinant of the
presence of the fur in cats (similar to the manner of incomplete
dominance of Canadian Sphynx's hr gene as it relates to Devon Rex's re
gene). In both instances the offspring of the first and their subsequent
generations that fail to possess the homozygous hairless gene have only
partial fur coverage,
Naturally, the presence of the dominant gene has significantly
simplified the job of establishing Don Sphynx's breeding program
and has enabled the breeders to obtain specimens of good quality from
even the first
generations of litters. As the breeding process progress, there
has gradually accumulated a growing number of homozygous animals, i.e.,
those possessing the chromosomes with the mutant allele inherited from
both of their parents.
"Vitjas Mif" is a kitten from the third litter
of the first Don-Sphynx-Cattery "Mif".
Those heterozygous animals that retained their fur even into adulthood
were gradually eliminated from further breeding. Initial belief that Don
Sphynxes become fully hairless only upon reaching one year of age is now
considered outdated; it appears that more and more litters are now
comprised of
kittens that are completely hairless at birth. In 1997, following seven
years of organized breeding the breed standard was established and
registered by both WCF and TICA.
Everything that I have read about Canadian Sphynx's "uncatlike"
character and temperament can also be said about the Don Sphynx. They
are incredibly affectionate, friendly and trustful; they are gluttons
and love to sleep.
Also of note is their unusual ability to withstand emotional stresses.
Initially the Dons' coloration was not known for its variety - it was
mainly black, blue-tabby, and blue and black. Actually, even at
present Nemykina's Myth Cattery only possesses black and
black-tabby Sphynxes. The Russian
city of St.Peterburg has become the center of development of
multi-colored Sphynx specimens. Breeders Komarova and Marchenko
have succeeded in creating the animals in a variety of colors:
tortie, white, harlequin, red, bi-color, and colorpoint. To
accomplish this, they have used both the non-pedigree cats of
interesting colors and the old-type Russian Blues as well as other
breeds.
My cattery Abrakadabra located in Germany has cats from both the Rostov
and St.Peterburg lineages in a variety of colors and patterns.
I personally love both the purebred and non-pedigree cats. The sphynx,
however, is something very unique. It seems that nature has created
these cats especially for the human contact - lack of fur gives the
impression of
touching not an animal, but a being that is one step closer to the
human race.
Nina Kovaleva-Feinstein
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