What Is the Origin of Hairless Cats?

All hairless cats belong to a specific breed of cat, called the Sphynx. Sphynx cats look totally hairless, but many have a thin coating of soft, downy fur that feels like peach fuzz. The Sphynx breed was achieved by breeders working for more than 30 years with rare cases of kittens born hairless, to create the healthy, strong Sphynx cats of today.

  1. First Known Origins

    • In the early 1900s, a book about cat breeds mentioned a New Mexico cat fancier who had a pair of hairless cats. These cats were called the Mexican Hairless, and their origins are thought to be from around Albuquerque, where Native Americans most likely discovered and sold them. The modern Sphynx breed is not descended from the Mexican Hairless cats.

    20th Century Development

    • In the mid-20th century, more specimens of hairless cats were found around the world. A Siamese cat in France gave birth to hairless kittens in 1950, but breeders could not reproduce the hairless feature in subsequent generations stemming from those cats. Hairless kittens were also born in Morocco, Australia, North Carolina and Canada; however, none are related to the Sphynx breed of today.

    Minnesota Hairless

    • In 1975, a Minnesota farm cat gave birth to a hairless kitten, and another one a year later. These kittens were sold to a breeder from Oregon, who successfully developed the hairless breed. Hairless cats were crossed with other types of cats to fortify the genetic makeup of the hairless variety. The descendants of the Minnesota hairless kittens provided the foundation for the modern Sphynx breed.

    Canadian Hairless

    • In 1978, three hairless kittens were found in an alleyway in Toronto, Canada. The breeder who found them sent two to a skilled breeder in the Netherlands, who crossed the kittens with other cats and successfully developed a hairless breed. All Sphynx cats today are the descendants of either the Canadian hairless kittens or the Minnesota hairless kittens.