The Canadian Sphynx--or as the Daily Mail calls them, "the world's most miserable looking cats"--was a champion competitor in Romania's International Feline Beauty Competition. The competition took place this past Saturday and though more than 200 breeds were entered, it was this naked kitty that caught the eyes of publications around the world.
"The Sphynx cats were well-represented, even though they are often thought of as the ugliest cat breed because of their prune-like skin and disproportionately big eyes," an article in the Daily Mail says.
"Despite their exotic name, the Sphynx cats actually originate from Toronto, Canada. They came into existence in the sixties after careful breeding using hairless cats."
Further research indicates that these cats were discovered in Roncesvalles in 1963 when a domestic cat gave birth to a hairless, or naked, cat aptly named Prune.
The International Cat Association (TICA) reports that this cat was then bred with others in an attempt to establish a new breed. Between 1975 and 1978, several naked cats were found in Toronto and Minnesota. They were bred with the Devon Rex, a similar cat with minimal hair. TICA has considered them a recognized breed for 20 years and reports that there are several thousand of these cats now registered in the world.
Additional information online credits Ridyadh Bawa, a science graduate from the University of Toronto, and his mother Yania, a breeder of Siamese cats, along with Kees and Rita Tenhoves as early breeders.
Other top contenders at the beauty competition included the more traditional Russian Blue, ragdolls, and the Norwegian Forest Cat.
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Original source: The Daily Mail