Outcrossing

Outcrossing Sphynx with healthy domestic cats is very important. This insures that there is genetic variety in your cat’s pedigree. Just like any specialized animal, a lot of inbreeding had to happen (in the beginning) in order to achieve the traits that make a Sphynx unique; in this case, hairlessness.

With inbreeding come genetic flaws that can eventually lead to severe birth defects and lethal diseases. Outcrossing to widen the gene pool cuts down on this greatly. Luckily, Sphynx were not inbred to death, and are a very strong and healthy cat. They are prone to very few genetic problems.

Breeding a Sphynx with a domestic shorthair (DSH) or American shorthair (ASH) does two things: it brings in healthy genetic diversity and it also allows breeders to introduce colours/patterns/markings that are not common to the breed.

Many breeders don’t want to bother outcrossing because it is time consuming as it takes several generations to produce hairless kittens. A Sphynx bred to a DSH will produce only furred kittens (these are called F1 kittens). When one of those are bred to another Sphynx, you will get F2’s and you may get some furred and some hairless. When a hairless F2 is bred yet again to another Sphynx, you will finally get all hairless kittens. So you see where time and money come in. However, it is so important to keeping our breed healthy.

When I have developed my look and lines a little further, I will be outcrossing with Domestic Short Hair. These furry kittens will be offered at a discounted price and possibly just for the cost of spay/neuter if you buy a hairless Sphynx from me. Even though some of the kittens will be furry, they generally still have the wonderful Sphynx personality. These cats do so much better when growing up together that I also give a discount if you want to buy litter mates, or kittens born around the same time.