The foundation female of the two Russian Hairless breeds {known as the Don Sphyxn/Don hairless/Donskoy and the Petersburg Sphynx/Peterbald} was a blue tortie cat named "Varya", who was rescued by "Irina Kovalyova". At the time it was thought that Varya was seriosly ill, as she appeared to have lost almost all of her coat. After long term treatments with antifungal medication Varya didn't appear to be getting any better. In fact, despite otherwise good health, Varya continued to lose what coat she hasd. It soon became obvious that Varya was not suffering from a disease at all, but was a result of a new genetic occurrence.
In due time [appr. 1989] Varya was mated to a nieghboring male cat. A healthy litter resulted and what do you think? Several kittens in the litter were hairlesss!
One of Varya's kittens {a blk female by the name of Chita} went to the cattery "Myth" {owned by Irina Nemykina} where the cultural breeding of Russia hairless cats had begun. The first breed to be established was the Don Sphynx.
There was not any cat club in Rostov-on-Don in these days, so Irina kept her stud books herself. Of course, they were far from precise, yet very helpful from a genetic standpoint. According to these documents it was determined that the new gene for hairlessness is dominant to the gene for normal coat lengths. This was evident because when heterozygous hairless cats were mated to normal coated cats, a number of hairless kittens always resulted in the litter. The hairless cats of Myth Cattery were bred exclusively to European Shorthairs and Domestic Shorthairs.
The foundation cats which resulted from the first outcrossings to European Shorthairs were, of course, heterozgous for the gene for hairlessness. Since the breed is relatively young, we are still working towards developing more homozygous lines. In some litters a number of straight haired kittens cuntinue to be born along with the bald kittens.
First mating of Don Hairless cats with Oriential/Siamese cats were started in St. Petersburg, Russia and in Moscow, Russia in 1993. These types of breedings {Peterbalds} were unpopular in Moscow, but they became very popular among St. Petersburg breeders.
Note: The first Peterbald was born in 1994
They were the results of outcrossing a very classy tortie Oriental female {Radma von Jagerhof} with a brown mackerel tabby Don hairless, male {Afinogen Myth}, whose bone structure was a bit light, but who had a wedge-shaped head. All in all, he was a good choice for breeding with Oriental cats. This male was also mated with Russian blues. The litters from such matings were considered to be Don hairless, but some of the kittens were elegant and used to make Peterbalds. And they have become the founders for deloping Peterbalds throughout Russia.
Donskoy {Don Sphynx} in USA May,2001
Sherri Mossop brought Donskoy to Michigan, USA in 2001 to Possom's Cattery.
In 2002 Sherri Mossop of Possoms Creek was the first ever to Exhibit the Donskoy in a USA cat shows.
Mid-Michigan cat fancier/CFA the Don was the first ever seen.
The Don is now being breed in USA and now is being seen in Canada.
And spring of 2005 we will bring a few new Don Queens from Russia. For our Sunny. Here in USA we call the Don Sphynx, "DONSKOY" not to get the Don Sphynx mixed up with the American or Cananda Sphynx.
Thank you, Sherri Mossop AFF pres. WCF member |
Powered by Bravenet
