Canadian sphynx – 4th category in FIFe, 5th in WCF
kod EMS: SPH
- Origin: Canada, USA, Netherlands
- Character: friendly, sociable, hyperactive
- Size: medium, males visibly larger than females
- Weight: females 3-4 kg, males 4-6 kg
- General appearance: muscular, should not be delicate
- Head: Skull slightly rounded contours, slightly longer than wide. Profile slight to moderate stop at bridge of a straight nose. Very prominent cheekbones. Muzzle strong rounded, firm chin. Whiskers whole or broken, coarse.
- Ears: Shape: large, broad at base and open, slightly rounded tips. Interior is totally hairless. Slight amount pf hair allowed on lower outside edges and on the back of the ear. Placed upright, set at a slight angle on the head, not flaring.
- Nose: delikatny stop w profilu; czubek podkreślony delikatnym zakrzywieniem w dół
- Eyes: Lemon shaped, large, slanting to outer edge of ear. Slightly more than an eye width between eyes. Color ideally to conform to skin colour.
- Body: Medium long, hard and muscular, not delicate. Full rounded abdomen, but not fat. Broad rounded chest.
- Legs: Length in proportion with body, medium long. Hind legs slightly longer than front. Front legs widely set. Medium boning, firm muscular. Paws oval with long, slender, prominent toes. Pads thicker than in other breeds, giving the cat the appearance of walking on air cushions".
- Tail: Slender, broader at the base and tapering to the tip. Length in proportion to body. Lion tail (puff of hair on top) acceptable.
- Coat: Texture appears hairless, may be covered with short, fine down. Chamois-like, a feeling of resistance may be felt when stroking the skin of some cats. Wrinkled skin desirable especially around the muzzle, between the ears and around the shoulders, although wrinkling should not be so pronounced that it affects the cat's normal functions. Short, soft, fine hair is allowed on the feet, across the bridge of the nose and cheekbones, at the back of the ears, the scrotum and the tip of the tail.
- Colour: All colors varieties and patterns are permitted, including those with white. Any amount of white is permitted.
- Activity: very active, especially at kittens age
- Susceptibility to diseases: it does not tolerate drafts and cold. The breed is exposed to HCM.
- Length of life: 14-16 years average
History of the CANADIAN SPHYNXS breed (December 2017)
First sphynx- hairless a boy named Prune was born in 1966 in Toronto, Canada, in the litter of a short-haired female Elizabeth. It was the result of a spontaneous genetic mutation - a recessive gene that inhibits the natural development of the hair coat. It was not the first hairless mutation, at the end of the 19th century, a breed called the "Mexican hairless cat" was bred for a short time.
The Prune kitten was crossed with his mother (backcrossing) which resulted in another hairless kitten. This cat, together with others found later, gave rise to the creation of a new breed of hairless cats.
After buying these cats in 1966, initially called "Moonstones" and "Canadian Hairless", Mr. Ridyadh Bawa, a graduate of science at the University of Toronto with his mother Yani, a long-time siamese cat breeder, and Mr. Kees and Mrs. Rita Tenhove, have developed a cat breed, which was later renamed "Sphynx". Bawa and Tenhove were the first breeders able to determine the autosomal recessive nature of the Sphynx gene to obtain hairlessness, and to effectively convert this knowledge into a successful breeding program with kittens that were able to reproduce. Tenhovie initially managed to obtain a temporary race status granted by the Cat Cats Association (CFA), but eventually it was annulled in 1971, when the CFA Council stated that the race had neither a uniform standard nor a correspondingly wide gene pool.
The current Sphynx breed in North America and Europe comes from naked kittens naturally conceived by short-haired domesticated (DSH) babies born in several litters in the mid-1970s on the Milt farm and Ethelyn Pearson in the United States, the city of Wadena, Minnesota.
Two hairless females, born by a short haired girl Jezabelle: Dermis and Epidermis, born in 1975 and 1976, made a significant contribution to the creation of this breed. Both were sold to the breeder Kim Mueske from Oregon, who used them to create the breed. Georgiana Gattenby from Brainerd, Minnesota, also worked with Pearson's kittens crossing them with Cornish Rex. Later hairless kittens were found in Texas, Arkansas and Minnesota.
Almost at the same time (1978) Siamese cat breeder Shirley Smith from Ontario, Canada, identified three hairless kittens from three different litters of a black and white female DSH cat each time with another male. The first of these Bambi cats - a black and white male born in 1978, was neutered and eventually settled with Linda Birks (kennel Aztec, Waterloo, Ontario), where he died in 1997 at the age of 19. Two more female kittens, Punkie and Paloma born in 1979 and 1980 were sent to Dr. Hugo Hernandez in the Netherlands to be crossed with the last surviving male descendant of Prune. One of the cats conceived, but she lost her litter. By that time, one of the other males had been castrated, he had never been interested in mating with any of the kittens. The breeding program of these pioneers expired after this time with the final cats in the Bawa lines: Mewsi-Kal Johnny, Mewsi-Kal Starsky (Hugo Hernandez, the Netherlands) and Prune's Epidermis (David Mare, California), were unable to create balanced lines before the change in the early the 80's. As a result, no contemporary sphynx cat can be identified with Prune. Without male Sphynxes, Dr. Hernandez crossed cats with white Devon Rex with a short coat named Curare van Jetrophin. This crossword was misplaced because it caused health problems. The first breeders had rather vague views about the genetics of sphynxes and encountered a number of problems. The genetic pool was very limited and many kittens were dying. There was also a problem with cats who suffered from convulsions.
Descendants of these cats, along with the descendants of cats from Minnesota and Oregon, became the basis of today's Sphynx breed. Modern sphynxes have their roots in the second line of cats from Canada and Minnesota.
A close cooperation of breeders from the United States, Canada and the Netherlands quickly expanded the initially small breeding material. The breed was initially called the Naked Canadian cat, with time the sphynx - a synonym of the Canadian sphynx (sphynx-sphynx canadian SPH).
Because FIFe recognized the American sphynx type as a breed standard, breeders from Europe increasingly began to import genetic material from America to bring the offspring closer to the FIFe standard. For many years, European and American felinologists conducted selective breeding of hairless cats and in this way the breed we know now. The first sphinx was accepted for registration by the American The Cat Fanciers Association (CFA) in February 1998. In competitions in the championship class, The Cat Fanciers Association (CFA) appeared in February 2002.
Currently, the Canadian Sphynx is a race with a wide genetic pool. Outcrossing is still allowed using the guidelines set out in the "standards" of each association around the world.
Sphynxes in Poland
The first Canadian sphynx was registered in Poland in 2002. Cat born 20/02/2002 was named Zineddin Zidane Jumandin. He belonged to the breeder Anna Surowiecka, the president of SKR WCF. In 2006 he was awarded the title of EC.
The first sphynx was born in Poland at the ICF Arvon kennel at the beginning of 2004, his name was Amenophis and he was the son of Ilona Jumandga, who was imported from Russia. In 2005, the breeder imported a red male named Kipling from the renowned Belgian kennel New Taj-Mahal which was the first Sphynx imported from the west and for a long time the only one in Poland with a red coat. Kipling passed out in December 2005 for pancreatic cancer. The next import was the tortoiseshell female Buena Vista van de Leyendecker from the Netherlands. The breakthrough of 2006/2007 abounded in further imports: tortie & white bi-color Magic Magnolia cat imported from the Russian cattery Merloni and a male from kennel New Taj-Mahal named Balthasar.
Breed size:
Sphynxes are not numerous in Poland compared to the number of Main Coons or British cats, but this does not mean that the genetic pool is too small. Threats associated with small numbers are obviously an increase in % inbreeding in the breed, and hence the risk of transmitting or strengthening genetic defects. Thanks to the proximity of Russian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian and Belorussian breeders, in which countries sphynxes are very popular, the inflow of fresh blood is considerable and many breeding cats are imported to Poland from those regions. It is more difficult to bring sphynxes to breed from other continents. Unfortunately, I was unable to determine the level of inbreeding in sphynxes in Poland. Collecting materials, I was surprised how little information I could give the clubs. Even the question about genders of the cats registered in particular club appeared to be too difficult to answer for our major feline clubs.
In 2016 583 sphynxes were registered in Felis Polonia. This means that the race is not large, although every year the group of devotees and sphynx owners is growing.
Other bald breeds
Peterbald and the Don Sphynx are also classified as bald cats. Both these breeds are younger than the Canadian Sphynx, dating back to 1966. While the Don sphynx contributed to the creation of the Peterbald race, neither the Don sphynx nor Peterbald had any contribution to the development of the Canadian sphynx breed.
Donskoy's Sphynxes (Don Sphynx) as a race were born in Rostov-on-Don and are not related to the Canadian sphynxes. In 1987, Elena Kowalewa found a four-month-old cat with fluffy tortie fur. She took her home and called her Varwara. After four months, Varvara quickly fell out of its coat. Veterinary treatment did not help, Warwara almost completely turned up. At first, no one was interested in such an unusual creature, and the attempts to show Varvara at cat shows ended in the derision of judges and other people. But when Warvara's children, who were also losing their hair, came to the world, they realized that it was not a sick animal. Elena's friend, Irina Niemykina, decided to try to breed a new breed and succeeded. The sphynxes in Denmark are muscular, elegant and move with grace. They have enormous, high-set ears, large almond-shaped eyes, charming, fan-shaped wrinkles on the head and membranes between fingers like ducks and vibrators that Canadian sphynxes do not have. Their smooth, bare skin is delicate, soft and hot to the touch. Donskoy Sphynxes are born covered with a delicate down, which they lose during the first year. A distinctive and unique feature of the sphynxes of the country is also the fact that kittens open their eyes after 1-3 days.
Race Peterbald (St. Petersburg sphynx) was founded in St. Petersburg in 1994 as a result of the experimental breeding of an oriental cat named Radma von Jagerhov (world-wide short-haired champion) with the hairless Sphynx of the name of Afinogen Mith. The first two litters were 4 kittens: Mandarin, Muscat, Nezhenka and Nocturne from Murino, and it is from these four cats that the lines of all Peterbalds originate.
At present, the breed is developing towards a modern oriental and siamese type, for which the characteristic features are, for example, an elongated muzzle, a wedge-shaped head with large and at the same time broad at the base of the ears. These cats have a slender and delicate body on long and slim, but strong limbs, ending with filigree long-fingered feet.
The above text was written by me. I forbid copying it without my consent and reference to the source.
Bibliography:
Health
In the Canadian sphynxes, defects that appeared at the initial stages of breeding were eliminated. Currently, the most important health problem for sphynxes is HCM- hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, heart disease associated with its dysfunction, which changes the size of the chamber or chambers and changes in myocardial contractility. Although there is no official order to perform tests in sphynx cats towards HCM, responsible breeders perform an echo test every 1 - 1.5 years. This is the only reliable study. There is no HCM genetic testing for the sphynx breed. Breeders must therefore study their breeding cats and exclude from the breeding those that will fall ill with HCM. The owners of the offspring of sick cats should be informed about the results of the tests, so that they can also examine their cats and, if necessary, implement the treatment early enough. A responsible breeder reports the results of his cat's tests to the base PawPeds and works with other breeders to spread knowledge about the disease and the risks it brings.
In Poland, echo tests for HCM is performed by dr Rafał Niziołek, the only veterinarian with permission to register tests' results into the PawPeds database, the other specialists are doctors Dr. Urszula Bartoszuk-Bruzzone and Dr. Urszula Pasławska.
Breeders consider HCM to be the most important problem in the breed, because the background of HCM formation is unknown to the end, which may be genetic, but it may also arise due to nutritional errors (eg. taurine deficiency in the diet) or environmental influences. There is also no method to cure HCM, the disease can only slow down.
Other reported problems associated with the race are the sensitive digestive system and the tendency to allergy.
Sphynxes do not like drafts and the optimal ambient temperature is 22 degrees Celsius.
How long can sphynxes live?
| Sfinks | 15-20 lat |
Domestic cats usually live up to 12-18 years (average life expectancy), but some cats can live up to 20-22 years.
The average life expectancy of some popular cat breeds is given below:
How Long Do Cats Live? Life Span of Popular Cat Breeds
- Current Guinness record for the oldest cat in the world belongs to Creme Puff, who was born on August 3, 1967 and lived until August 6, 2005 - survived 38 years and three days.
- In 2017, the Nutmeg cat died, which survived 32 years.
- In 2018, another oldest cat in the world celebrated its 30th birthday - Rubble (United Kingdom, Exeter).
source: https://www.koty.pl/najstarszy-kot-swiecie-obchodzi-urodziny/