Historical notes about Sphynx
Ever since the ancient age, the nude kittens appeared as a spontaneous mutation (due to the recessive hairless gene) in litters of the normal domestic cats in various parts of the world. The primary specimens that people can climb, were Nellie and Dick, two cats acquired by a couple of New Mexico in 1902, which were the last ones of a cat tribe belonging to the local Indian people.
The first reliable attempts of breeding had started in Canada, Toronto, just in 1966, when two kittens born from the cats of the street, were found outside and were taken in the house to survive a cold winter, because without coat they wouldn’t be alive.
After, in 1978, a dutch breeder Hugo Hernandez began to select this race with two nude cats, the direct descendants of the nude Canadian cats, their names were Punkie and Paloma and these two cats were the founders of the stunning European line of “Canadian Sphynx” currently recognized.
