Donskoy

The donskoy, also called don sphynx and Don sphynx, is a breed of cat originating in Russia. This cat is characterized by its coat without hair.

The discovery of the donskoy dates back to 1987 when a teacher, Elena Kovalena, picked up a kitten in her town of Rostov-on-Don. As she grew older, the kitten lost all of her hair, despite veterinarians' attempts to treat her. Elena Kovalena called the kitten Varvana. It is this cat that is the origin of the breed. A few years later Varvana gave birth to her first litter. There were both hairless and hairless kittens. Those born with fur began to shed it as their mother had. The new owners of these kittens thought they were in poor health and did not want to keep them. It was then a breeder who recovered one of the kittens and, totally seduced, decided to make a breed of it. The gene responsible for the absence of hair being dominant, it was not difficult to fix the breed by crossing it with Europeans, Persians or Siberians. The donskoy has also been crossed with Orientals, taking advantage of its dominant gene to create a variety of naked Orientals. The breed was first recognized by the WCF in 19975 the LOOF, the FIFé and the TICA only recognized it at a preliminary stage, that is to say that the donskoys cannot participate in exhibitions. Donskoy remains very rare. In 2008, France only listed 14 throughout the country.

The donskoy is described as an active, affectionate and intelligent cat. They would be very sociable with both humans and animals. However, these character traits remain perfectly individual since they are above all functions of the history of each cat, regardless of its breed.