Petersburg Sphynx - Peterbald

Your life will turn upside down after you meet a Petersburg Sphynx or a Peterbald. "What is this? A dog? A monkey? An alien? What happened to it? Did you shave it? What an ugly creature!!! What a cutie!" These are just several of thousands of questions and comments that the owner of a Peterbald will constantly hear. However, these friendly, courageous and completely on you reliant elves will capture your heart for good. When they put their long paws with nearly human toes around your neck and look into your eyes with absolute devotion, you can hardly resist them.

They are capable of "taming" even the biggest non-lover of cats after one stays in their company for merely a few minutes. We even have a joke that this is the cat for the ones who do not like cats.

The basic distinction from all other breeds is that these cats adore people. The saying "I am a cat and I walk wherever I want" is not for them; a better one is "I am where you you are."

This pet is your companion. It needs being talked to and communicated with. You will be surprised how intelligent and incredibly understanding of your moods they can be. The most interesting fact about these felines is that if there is only one Peterbald at home, it will identify itself with the surrounding environment, e.i. if it lives under one roof with a dog it will start considering itself a dog and if it lives surrounded by people it will think of itself as of a human being. That is why buying a Peterbald is big responsibility, since one must accept it as a full member of one's family; otherwise this sensitive and reliant pet will be very unhappy! On the other hand, if you do accept this cat into your family, you will have acquired the best friend.

PETERSBURG SPHYNX OR PETERBALD (PBD, PD)

Image by Ideal Cat

The standard was confirmed on 16 February 1995 by the Selection Feline Federation (СФФ). Additions and amendments were adopted on 6 July 2002 during the 5th conference of the International Feline Experts Board.

The breed was produced by introducing a dominant mutation of hairlessness into the Siamese and the Oriental felines' genotype. The breed was descended from the cats raised by Olga Mironova (St. Petersburg); these cats were, in turn, created by crossbreeding a Don Sphynx Afinoguen Myth with an Oriental cat named Radma vom Jagerhof. One of the first generation cats named Mandarin iz Murino was given as a present to the cat breeder and international category judge Olga Abramova, who continued to work on the cat at the International Feline Centre [Международный Фелинологический Центр (МФЦ)] �Felis" in Moscow under the leadership of Inna Shustrova. In St. Petersburg a Nokturn iz Murin line is being produced.

• General characteristics: the body is hairless, warm and soft to touch but simultaneously strong and graceful. These felines have long body, long legs and long tail and a bone structure standard in the Oriental category of cats.
• Type: dry, strong.
• Head: narrow, wedge-shaped with flat cheekbones and a flat forehead. The muzzle is prominent but not sharp with a distinctive whisker break and whisker pads giving a squared appearance to the muzzle. The length of the occiput is almost equal to the length of the muzzle. Vertical wrinkles on the forehead take horizontal pattern above the eyes. The whiskers are curly; adult cats may have broken whiskers or no whiskers at all. Eye lashes are missing. Complete hairlessness is desirable.
• Colours: all colours are acceptable. Expertise is carried out according to the colours.
• Notes: kittens are born hairless or with the Cornish Rex type wavy coat and hairless forehead. Whiskers are always curly (this is the most distinctive feature of the Peterbalds born to heterozygous cats); hairless kittens may have no whiskers at all. They open their eyes about two to five days following birth.
  Cats that preserve noticeable scattered coat until after a year's time belong to the inner cateogory called brush. The ones who preserve coat only on the points (distant parts of the body, namely tail, legs, muzzle and the ear base) comprise a category called brushpoint. Completely hairless heterozygous category of Peterbalds preserves a hardly noticeable coat, which feels like "yesterday's shave" to the touch. Heterozygous Peterbalds are similar to rubber toys with elastic, easily stretching skin called gummy.
• Disadvantages: short, round head, small or erect ears, round or bulging eyes, short body, short or wrongly ending tail, a body fully covered with hair, underdeveloped chin, malocclusion no more than 2mm (with normal occlusion at the canines).
• Defects: fallen lids, malocclusion more than 2mm, over bite, kinked or fractured tail.
• Crossbreeding: Oriental cats (the Siamese, the Orientals, the Balinese, and the Mandarin-Javanese). Repeated crossbreeding with the Don Sphynx as well as with any other breeds (accept the above mentioned ones) is strictly forbidden.

Peterbald breeders

• Ideal Cat

Peterbald pictures

• Ideal Cat