The Sphynx breed

Sphynx breed is a loving and social cat breed

Sphynx are from Canada and it is a breed that is over 50-years-old and born as a natural mutation. The Sphynx started when hairless kittens were born in a litter of a domestic cat. The first Sphynx was brought to Finland in 2000.

Sphynx - appearance and character

The Sphynx is a medium-sized cat breed, the skin looks hairless, but it is covered with thin fur and the skin feels velvety soft in the hand. In addition, the sphynx can have hair on the face, ears, paws and tail. It is hoped that the Sphynx has wrinkles on the head and shoulders, but so that the wrinkles do not cause any health problems. The body must be strong and a lanky, slender and graceful body is considered a fault according to the breed definition (Fife). The chest should be wide and the abdomen should be full and rounded, but the cat should not be fat.

Character - active and curious

Sphynxes are curious, outgoing, active and involved cats. A sphynx is happiest when it has a playmate, fortunately sphynxes are not very selective about their company. They get along quite well with different animals, such as dogs. Sphynx also get along great with children. Sphynx are so-called fun-loving, entertainers who prank to get your attention. Boredom, on the other hand, may manifest as problematic behavior like in all animals. Sphynxes are agile and fast cats, so you should get climbing trees and other permitted playgrounds at home. Activity often comes as a surprise to people, and if the sphynx is your first pet, it can be quite a terrifying experience. There are no dull days with the sphynx. Jumps are agile and flexible, leaps can be very long or high. Sphynxes are very sociable, social and love to be involved in everything with their person. They go almost everywhere at home and can also be hung on the shoulder. Sphynxes may calm down a bit when they get older, but at least for the first three years they have enough energy than a small kitten. The owner of Sphynx is rewarded with a top class partnership that is hard to find anywhere else. After all, these cats are loyal, devoted pets who love you endlessly.

Due to the lack of whiskers and hairlessness, it might be argued that the sphynxes would be clumsy and the balance would be worse than normal. Sphynxes have adapted to hunt and balance without whiskers. Balance comes from the inner ear and they adapt to life without the whiskers. There is no visible scientific research to indicate that they would be clumsy or unable to function without whiskers or furr. There are no valid scientific studies to prove otherwise. Anyone who sees a sphynx in person will notice how agile and balanced they are.

Below is a link that has a lot of information about the sphynx:
Why Sphynx Cats Should Not Be Banned

Health - basically healthy cat breed

The Sphynx is generally a basically healthy cat breed. However, the most common disease in the breed is heart disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM for short - a disease that thickens the heart muscle, causing the heart's volume to decrease and the heart to be able to pump less blood to the body. HCM is not only a heart disease found in sphynxes, but it occurs in several breeds and in abundance in our domestic cats as well. However, HCM is found quite a lot in sphynxes, so breeders try to prevent the use of sick cats in breeding with regular heart ultrasound examinations by a heart specialist. HCM can be inherited from parents to offspring, but a cat can get it even without a family history, for example as a result of another disease.

The Finnish Cat Association requires sphynxes used in breeding to undergo a heart ultrasound examination by a heart specialist before boarding. The result is valid for 6 months for those examined under 1 year old and 12 months for those examined over 1 year old.

In Finland, Hannes Lohi and his team have conducted a large and comprehensive health survey for cats (Health and Behavioral Survey of over 8000 Finnish Cats, 2016), in which over 8000 cats participated and over 200 of them were sphynx. Based on the research, it can be concluded that the sphynx breed is not any sicker breed than any other breeds. The Sphynx is a fundamentally healthy cat, and we have to continue working on it to keep it that way.

The research can be read HERE