Peterbald
about the breed
Breed history: The Peterbald breed was originally produced in St Petersburg, Russia by experimental mating of a Donskoy male with an Oriental female in 1993. The original founder ofthe breed is Olga Mironova. Donskoy and Peterbalds are completely different breeds from the Canadian Sphynx. The gene that causes the hair loss in the Peterbald/Donskoy is a dominant gene whereas the one that causes the Sphynx to be hairless is recessive.
Temperament: Extremely loyal with a sweet and affectionate nature. Peterbalds are intelligent, talkative, social, interactive, energetic and playful. Peterbalds easily become attached to humans and love to spend time close to their owners. They are known for playing fetch, greeting guests at the door and following their humans around the house.
Size: medium-sized cat with a long, lean body shape, tight abdomen, and wedge-shaped head with extra large ears. Adult females weight 2.5-3.5 kg; adult males weight 3-4.5 kg.
Hair type: Peterbald comes in five coat variations, including:
– Naked: Completely hairless or very fine short hair on the face and extremities. These cats typically exhibit a soft, warm almost elastic skin that may feel sticky to having a soft silk like feel.
– Chamois: These cats typically exhibit a suede or peach fuzz texture that is dry to the touch andnvery soft.
– Flock: These cats typically exhibit a velour/velvet, fine to slightly dense coat that is soft without any guard hair.
– Brush: These cats typically exhibit a sparse wiry coat irregular in texture. Skin may be seen through the coat, it may be dense, wiry, short, wavy or kinky. Brush ranges from 5mm or longer and should not feel or look like a normal coat.
– Straight: These cats exhibit a “normal” straight haired coat. These cats DO NOT carry the gene for hair loss and will never lose the coat that they are born with. It is important to note that these descriptions are points along a continuum from completely naked to fully brush coated. The coat a Peterbald is born with can change over the course of their life. Within their first two years, they can experience hair growth, hair loss, or a change in fur texture.
Grooming: Keep the nails trimmed and ears cleaned. Hairless might require bathing and more often ear cleaning.
