The Donkoy Cat

The Donskoy The Donskoy originally comes from Russia, where Elena Kovaleva rescued a kitten in 1987 from being abused. Due to stress the kitten started losing its hair. This hairless cat later on gave birth to kittens who soon after birth started losing their hair. Irina Nemikina who is a professional cat breeder took a kitten and bred a new breed of hairless cats which she called the Don Sphynx. In TICA registries it is known as the Donskoy.

This different cat breed is truly different in looks! The Donskoy is an elegant, active, social and people-orientated cat. This hairless cat gets along well with other pets and should never be without a companion - be it human or another pet.

The Donskoy comes in 4 different coats types in a variety of colors. A dominant hair loss gene causes the Donskoy's birth coat to fall out. The coat types include flocked, velour, brush and rubber bald. The flocked variety is born with a thin coat that falls out and the result is skin that feels like a chamois cloth. The velour variety is born with hair, but with a bald spot on top of the head. They also lose their hair over time and become completely bald. The brush variety only loses part of their hair over time. The coat is soft, wavy and wiry with bald areas on the head, neck and back.

The rubber bald variety is born bald and stays bald. The Donskoy usually grows a winter coat that appears as fine hairs on the chest and on the end of the tail. Once spring starts, they will lose this hair again. This cat breed's skin is similar to human skin in that it sweats when it is hot and can get sunburned. As the Donskoy's skin is very sensitive to sun, you should take care not to let the cat get sunburned. These hairless cat breeds are better suited to a warm, dry climate.

The Donskoy is medium-sized and strong boned. The front legs are shorter than the back legs, but are still in proportion with the body. They have very long and slim toes with a thumb, this gives their paws the appearance of being like monkey hands.