On a recent trip to NC to visit my parents, we couldn’t help taking volumes of pictures of their sphynx S’Belle, who is a sister of my sphynx, Siobhan. (David took the opportunity to dress S’Belle up like Miss Monroe, and take a few shots of her loveliness).
I’ve always thought that S’Belle is the most beautiful and sleek one of the litter, because she looks like a little Clydesdale horse. She has fluffy tufts of white hair on her feet, and she is sleek and slender (very much unlike Siobhan, who has quite the pot-belly).
Something we’ve noticed, however, is that every time we see S’Belle, she’s got more hair! Already she had more than Siobhan. She started off having a very bushy tail, and the white fluffy feet as I mentioned. But she also exhibits another odd hair-trait that seems to be unique to the sphynx breed. Periodically, she will get hair wings on the sides of her body. Siobhan gets them, other sphynx I know of get them, it’s just a very odd and funny looking abberation that occurs every year. But this visit, we noticed something brand new that just takes the cake.
S’Belle has developed chest hair, and I’m thinking it’s the coffee. As you can see from the picture on the left, it’s fluffy white chest hair that were she wearing a wife-beater, she could comb it up and over the top and fit in perfectly with some of the inhabitants of a few unnamed Raleigh suburbs.
So I started looking back through some pictures that we have taken of her in the last couple of years, and I discovered that this odd hair phenomenon has not been limited to chest hair, or wings. She actually went through a phase where her entire body was covered in more hair than is normal. Here are a couple shots of hairy S’Belle.
The picture on the left shows her very hairy paws and tail, while the picture on the right shows her body covered in quite a bit of fluff. Siobhan doesn’t exhibit nearly the same type of body hair, in fact, aside from the wings, her hair is limited to the back of her ears, and her tail. Now every so often she will get oddly shaped wing hair, but it’s still hair on her sides, never on her chest. So I’m still going with the coffee answer. Notice below…no chest hair. Maybe it’s because she drinks tea instead of coffee.
[ratings]
January 22nd, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Heath, I know nothing about this breed of cat, but I’m fascinated. How can you have a cat without cat fur? Were these specially bred or naturally occurring? Do people who are allergic to cat hair know about this?
They’re lovely animals, and clearly very intelligent and far-seeing. How did I miss this? Your pictures are very cool.
Marianne
January 22nd, 2007 at 9:17 pm
it’s a naturally occurring breed, the most recent bloodline starting in canada as a mutant from a barn cat. but the breed was around back in egyptian times as well, no idea what happened to it in the mean time.
this is not the same as the pets that are now being genetically engineered to be allergen-free - and those have hair.
the sphynx, and the manx are two popular breeds for people with allergies, it doesn’t eliminate, but does minimize the dander.
sphynx are quite magnificent…they behave very little like cats, and very much like little children…they are very dependent, social, friendly, and have a child-like personality.
January 23rd, 2007 at 6:54 pm
All those wrinkles make them look old and very wise. Of course, the same might be said of me, I hope. An alternative interpretation would be terrible. . .