Donskoy Cats & Donskoy Cat Breeders

The Donskoy is a Russian breed with the foundational cat being discovered in the city Rostov-on-Don in Russia in 1987.  The cat, named Varvara, had lost all of its hair, and later gave birth to both haired and completely hairless kittens. Like their mother, the haired kittens lost all of their hair as they grew.  They were considered unhealthy and were given away.  Irina Nemikina, enthusiast and professional cat breeder rescued one of the kittens and in several years generated a completely new breed of Russian cat, a hairless one which she named--the Don Sphynx.  Don after the river  Varvara was found beside and Sphynx because it was hairless. 

It is not related to the better known hairless breed of cat the Sphynx, whose characteristic hairlessness is caused by a recessive gene, whereas the Don hairlessness is caused by a dominant gene.

The Donskoy was first officially recognized by World Cat Federation (WCF) in 1997, and by The International Cat Association (TICA) in 2005.

Donskoy Personality

Donskoys are very active and an extremely friendly cat.  They are inquisitive, soft-hearted and dedicated to their owners. Donskoy are extremely affectionate with a frisky nature and an irrepressible curiosity, showing a lively interest in their surroundings, and love to make up and play games  Their coats are warm and soft to the touch making then wonderful to hold and cuddle.   Donskoys seem to have the impression that anyone entering the home is there to see them, and their social nature extends to other animals to which they will offer companionship. These highly sociable cats need company and should not be without a companion pet. 

Traits

Donskoy are elegant and sturdy with strong boning. They are medium-sized with soft hairless wrinkled skin that feels hot and velvety to the touch. Their skin is excessively elastic, with pronounced wrinkles on the cheeks, jowls and under the chin with vertical wrinkles separating their ears and running down the forehead spreading into horizontal lines above the eyes. Wrinkles are also found at the base of the neck, in the breast area, at the base of the tail, on the front and undersides of the legs, down the sides of the body to the underbelly and groin.

The Donskoy sports 4 different coats types in a variety of colors. All but one coat usually results in hairlessness. The Donskoy carries a dominant hair loss gene that causes their birth coat to fall out if they have one. Their coats include Rubber Bald, Flocked, Velour and Brush. The Rubber Bald is born bald and remains that way throughout its life. The Flock coat appears hairless and has the texture of a soft chamois. The Flock coat can disappear and the cat can become bald. Velour-coated kittens are born with a bald spot or Monk's cap on the top of the head. Their wool-like coat becomes wiry and disappears gradually within the first year or so with some residual hair remaining on the face, legs and tail. The Velour can also completely lose their coat and become bald over time. The last coat is Brush and only a portion of their coat is lost over time. Their coat can be bristly, soft, wavy, and often wiry on their whole body with bald areas on the head, upper part of neck or on the back. The Donskoy is unique in that it can grow a winter coat (fine wool on the chest and hairs on the end of the tail) and will lose it when the weather warms. Their skin is similar to human: it sweats when it is hot and it gets sun burnt.

Males as a rule are generally larger than females. The Donskoy is medium to medium-long in length, dense, muscular, strong-boned, with wide breast and croup. They have a deep groin-line with a well-rounded abdomen called a fatty belly where fat accumulates in the winter. Their body is almost pear-shaped. They are hard and muscular, not a delicate cat. The male has stud jowls, a thicker neck, wider shoulders, and a broader head than the female. The male is more muscular and gets significantly larger than the female. The front legs are shorter than their back legs yet are in proportion with their body. They have oval feet with long slender toes. Toes are very long, slim and distinguished with thumbs that bend inward rather than downward on the front paws giving the appearance of slender hands (monkey fingers). Webs separate the long toes. Their tail is medium long, straight and tapers from body to rounded tip.

Reference: TICA -Donskoy 

Check our listings for Kittens for sale here and click on the links to our breeders below to go to their profile page.  You can also click here to search for Registered Donskoy Breeders by location.