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In 1987 a female brush coated kitten was found in a small town
called Rostov-on-Don in Russia. She was the foundation female of
the two Russian Hairless breeds known as the Donskoy/Don Sphyxn/Don
hairless and the Petersburg Sphynx/Peterbald. A blue tortie kitten
named "Varya", who was rescued by "Irina Kovalyova". At the time
it was thought that Varya was seriously ill, as she appeared to
have lost almost all of her hair 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 hair coat she had leaving only hairs on her legs and
tail with a little fuzz on her face. It soon became obvious that
Varya was not suffering from a disease at all, but was a result of
a new genetic hairless gene.
When [appr. 1989] Varya was old enough she was mated to a
neighboring male tomcat. A healthy litter resulted but several
kittens in the litter were born with the same hair type as Varya!
One of Varya's kittens {a blk female by the name of Chita} went to
the cattery "Myth" {owned by Irina Nemykina} where the first true
breeding of Russia hairless cats had begun. At Myth cattery, Chita
was bred to a European short hair cat that was the foundation
breed of the first established Donskoy Sphynx.
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There was no cat club in Rostov-on-Don in
those days, so Irina kept studbooks for 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.
In the summer of 2000 Sherri Mossop of Possoms Cattery in
Warren, Michigan USA started looking into a hairless breed of
cat. The American Sphynx was the only breed of hairless cat
she was aware of. While surfing the yahoo classifieds, she
came across an advertisement for rare Sphynx cats. |
This is our "Possoms Kinky Gal"
and her first litter. She has 3 hair type in this litter.
Skin Bald, Velour and a Brush coateds. |
Sherri replied to the ad, only to find out the ad was for a
Donskoy Sphynx. She was told they were very rare, came from Russia
and were better than the American Sphynx due to their dominant
hairless gene. The Sphynx is still a relatively new breed of
hairless cat. With out knowing the Donskoy Sphynx was any
different than the American Sphynx, Sherri Mossop purchased her
first Don Sphynx “Egor”. “Egor” is better known by his American
name, “Stepan Out of Possoms”.
On her way home with her new cat, Sherri proceeded to look over
Stepan’s paper work. What she found to her surprise was all the
paper work the breeder had given her on Stepan was written in
Russian from a club called World Cat Federation (WCF). She had
never heard of WCF. Upon arriving home, she began to surf for the
WCF club. She found the club operated out of Germany. She became
acquainted with those in the WCF and a friendship developed
between her and the Vice President. She made every effort to learn
all about the WCF and how it was ran.
Very impressed with the Donskoy Sphynx, Sherri Mossop started to
look for other Dons in USA. None was to be found. Stepan stood
alone as the only Donskoy Sphynx in the USA. It was not until a
year later she found some living in another state. They were all
either spayed or neutered.
With the knowledge that Stepan stood alone as the only whole
Donskoy Sphynx in the USA, Sherri Mossop began to talk to breeders
in Russia. She wanted to learn all she could about bring this new
hairless breed to the US. She found the true name of the breed to
be Donskoy Sphynx. It was later 1998 that the name was shortened
to Don Sphynx.
Sherri Mossop was fascinated with the breed, the more she learned
the more she wanted to know. She had gathered a lot of
information, and wanted to share the information she had gathered
and help teach other breeders in the USA about the breed. She
started a Donskoy Federation of America Club. It was a tribute to
the Donskoy Sphynx here in the USA.
In the Year 2001, Stepan Out of Possoms started showing up at
Mid-Michigan cat shows. He was the first Donskoy to attend a CFA
cat show.
In the Year 2002 the Donskoy was accepted in the TICA registry as
the Don Hairless. The Don Sphynx had its name changed.
In the Year 2003, Stepan’s offspring, attended CFA and TICA shows.
They were shown in the HHP classes and did very well. Since then
there have been few others being shown HHP in California.
In the Year 2004, the Don Breed group really started to grow. Now
there are 4 USA breeders and 2 Canadian.
In the Year 2005, Don Hairless Breed Club was formed. This year
Sherri Mossop turns the breed club chair over to Evelyn Jacobs a
Canadian Donskoy breeder. Together they stayed strong about the
Fact that the Don hairless in TICA was really a new bald breed and
that the True Russian name is a Donskoy. So a Donskoy members vote
was taken and as a group we were able to get TICA to change the
name Don hairless to Donskoy for those who wanted to stay true to
the Russian breed.
Donskoys are quite elegant and sturdy with strong boning. Males as
a rule are generally larger than females. The Donskoy is a very
intriguing, unique, softhearted and social cat of medium size with
soft hairless wrinkled skin that feels hot and velvety to the
touch. The Donskoy is very active, friendly and highly
intelligent. The Donskoy is very good-natured and gentle, easy to
groom and handle as a result of their loving and amiable
disposition.
Distinctive attributes: Donskoy’s open their eyes early. The
Donskoy can be born with its eyes open; other Donskoy’s will open
their eyes within the first three days of its life. Sleepy eyed,
contented is the Donskoy look.
Hairless cats are therefore at high risk for teeth and gum issues,
and owners need to use vigilance and regularly check the teeth and
gums. Additionally, for very obvious reasons, Hairless cats are
more likely to get sunburns and chills.
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