Hairless cats are not a new race. The pictures of them came to us through ancient pictures. These animals were admired and idolized already at that time.
The old Aztecs believed in the supernatural strength of the cats which was given to them, as they believed, by the gods. The cats lived in temples and helped people to be closer to divinity. In Egypt these cats were favoured by the Pharaohs and therefore lived in palaces.
Within the last century individual representatives of this race were now and then sighted in most diverse parts of the world. However nobody has seriously tried to breed this race so they almost disappeared.
Thus in the year 1992 the first experimental standard of the race was written. In the following year the race was presented for the first time on an exhibition.
In the year 1994 the standard was accepted and recognized as foundation-stone of the race. Since then the standards was several times changed and the characteristics was described more exactly.
And so a new fast spreading race whose actual origins lay back in centuries was developed.
General: |
Medium sized with a strong building of bones. The skin is very gentle, silk and warm. Strongly visible sex organ - Dimorphismus. These cats are very active and at the same time very tender and people-loving. |
Head: |
the head has a wedge-like form with exactly marked cheek bones and brows. The eyes open very early, at the 1-3 day. The eyeball form is to be recognized very clearly. They are medium size, have a rather oval form, are diagonally assigned and not completely opened. The colours can be different. The forehead is flat, provide with many vertically folds which are running apart horizontal over the brows. The nose is middle long, straight lined with a hardly recognizably line to the forehead. The lip is not very long, with a little bit suggested pinch, light rounded off. The determination of the bite depends on the condition of the tear-teeth. If the tear-teeth are a little bit longer, you can see them under the lip. The whiskers are very thick but they can break off shortly or are missing completely. |
Body: |
the body is strong, muscular, medium size and gives a very nice warmth. Stable building of bones, straight-lined shoulder-blade with proportional legs and long, mobile toes. The tail is long, strong and flexible. |
Skin: |
the skin is elastic, "superfluous", and because of that many folds develop in the part of the head, neck and upper-body. Kittens can be a little bit hairy. At the cheeks and ears can be more hair than on the body. They are not always born hairless but they have to become so in their second year. |
Color: |
all colours are permitted, however the expert's assessment is different except from the Tabby-colours. |
Shortcoming: |
to the shortcomings belong - too short, round or too narrow skull; small, deep set ears, round eyes; short, weak body, short or incorrect shape of a tail; low settings of the body; front bite from 2mm. A disqualification takes place in the case of a value idiom of the lid or a front bite starting from 2 mm. |
The character of don-sphynx is possible to explain with one sentence: they are little children without any sign of aggression. This breed loves and admires their human co-inhabitants. Their affection to the people can be sometimes even a little bit importunate. Hardly the owner sits down on the sofa - the cat is already there, jumps on the lap and starts 'his song'. Don sphynx are very curious and need action so they are always there where any action is. To strangers they are first somewhat careful, however the curiosity overtakes rather quickly and they are ready for acquaintance. Children are the best play comrades. Bites or scratches are out of question. Dogs, cats, guinea pigs or hamsters are accepted very fast to their best friends, presupposed friendship.
Don sphinx are very clever and sympathetic, they always guess the mood of their fellow owner. If the owner wants to play - they always go with, but if he in a bad mood don sphinx will disappear unnoticed. When you return home, you can be sure that home awaits you your faithful friend ready to spend a lovely evening together.
Don Sphynx is one of the cat-race, that do not require special treatment. However there are couple of tips:
1. In the ears of your pet a tar-similar substance can appear, which is yellow to intensively black colour. This is however normal and requires no veterinary treatment. The more hairless the cat is therefore faster this secretion is produced. The animal is not disturbed by this, from the aesthetic point of view this secretion should be removed regularly. (do not be surprised, the ears may hang for a while after that).
2. It is well-known that this race differs from other cats by its long sable-claws from birth. Before an exhibition it is not necessary to cut the claws; some do it regular. Do use for this procedure special claw cutters! Don't use traditional scissors or nail-cutters for it; in the worst case you may cut a part of the paw. For this procedure you better regard the paws with daylight. Then you can see the more exactly where the nerves pass and where the safe part without nerves is. If you have doubts, then better cut less. Alternatively you also can use a small file. If you still did cut off too much so that it started bleeding do not worry. It is sufficient to dry the wound with a cotton ball. You don't need to do anything else, however it may happen that the cat loses confidence in you and next time you may have problems with this procedure. For the first couple of times you can ask someone to help you. One person can hold the animal and second spreads the 'fingers' so one can cut the claws. If you already got some practice you may then try it on your own. The claws of a cat regenerate very fast, therefore repeat this procedure every 7-10 days. Many owners make this only before an exhibition. It is possible to leave them if your pet doesn't ruin clothes or furniture.
3. Sometimes the skin of a Sphynx separates a hormonal welding secretion, which changes the colour of the skin in the course of the time. When very intensive sweating one should bathe the animal more frequently. For these cases use they at the best baby shampoo or special dog and cat shampoo with mink oil, shampoo with wheat germ oil, Lezithin or lanolin. If you should bathe the animal, you must pay attention to the fact that it does not catch a cold. If it should get water into the ears, dry them with a cotton ball.
4. The eyes of a Sphynx do not have eyelashes, that's why dust and dirt can easily get inside. Therefore the eyes of the cat produce a lot of tear liquid. This secretion collects itself in the eye corners. Sometimes the outlet can smear the eyelids. If they are transparent to brownish-red color, it has to be regarded as completely normal. If they should go yellowish, greenish or milk-white, you should show it to a veterinary, in particular if the secretions become very aqueous or "tears-roads" appear at the lip of the animal. Many of the Don Sphynx have a close eye slot, as if they squint their eyes because of the light. That is also not a reason for excitement. In this case remove the tear remainders and/or dust best with a cotton ball, which was soaked before in eye drops. Beware not to affect the eye! The dust/dirt or a foreign body is removed from the lids and from the corners of the eye. If nevertheless something remains in the eye, just wait. The animal should blink a couple of times and the foreign bodies should shift into the corner of the eye. You should not do this procedure more than one or two times a day. The "Brasch" and "Velours" cats don't need to undergo this procedure, because they usually produce no excessive tear liquid.
5.Often arising problems are - (Mitesserpunkte) on the rod of the cat. This is not only a problem of the naked cats - You can just see it quite better without hairs. Allegedly the black points signal the production of testosterone during the sex maturing. A mail cat suffers much more from because he produces substantially more testosterone than a female cat. For the prevention of the (Mitesserpunkte) one uses cleaning agents or antibiotic ointments. If inflammations are present, seize to simple unperfumed shave-crème, it helps to stop the inflammation. If the Kater not purchased for the breed, it is anyway more meaningful to castrate it. It reduces or even eliminates the problem. If otherwise the (Mitesserpunkte) do not ignited the animal, does not suffer from it, do not consider it simply!
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