Singapura Cat Picture

The amazingly large eyes in relation to the head size is a bit surprising in this excellent Singapura cat picture by Sakura Ishihara on Flickr. The picture is titled:

シンガプーラのジジちゃん in Japanese (I think!). Sakura is a cat photographer.

Singapura cat

I actually took the extreme liberty to adjust the photograph; fading the edges away a bit and darkening the highlights a bit too.

I have never seen a domestic cat with such large eyes in relation to head size before. With respect to the breeder, it looks a little exaggerated. I am not sure if there are health issues.

You can see an American show cat photograph by the professional cat photographer Helmi Flick on this page and a lot of detail about this cat breed, the smallest cat breed, on this page.

The history of the Singapura is clouded in mystery and a bit scandalous. No that is too strong a word but the big question is: is this cat breed "manufactured" (hybrid selective breeding etc.) or was it discovered in the drains of Singapore? The Singapura is quite a rare cat breed.

Sphynx Cat versus Don Sphynx Cat

Overview

I am writing about two fairly rare cats here. I would expect that there are not that many people within the entire cat keeping population who keep either of these cat breeds. Of the two, the Sphynx is the better known. In fact you will find that the Don Sphynx is not mentioned in most of the books that you can buy in the West about cat breeds. If an author of a book about cat breeds writes about hairless cats, it is the Sphynx that is featured.

One reason for this is that the history of the Sphynx is part of the history of North America, while the Don Sphynx is Russian. Although there is a lively cat fancy in Russia, the largest cat fancy and largest domestic cat market place is North America. Therefore cats get discussed more in North America. Also more books about cats are written in English and therefore more widely circulated. Accordingly the Sphynx becomes better known. Although in Russia, a somewhat closed-off society still in 2012, no doubt the Don Sphynx is what people first think of when they think of a hairless cat.

Appearance

Straight off, you probably would not see a difference between the Sphynx and Don Sphynx. I struggle to find real differences. My personal view is that a person thinking about adopting a hairless cat need not be overly concerned with the fine differences in appearance between these two cat breeds.

Referring to the breed standards tells us that they are very similar. The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA), in the general section of their breed standard, says that this is a medium sized hairless cat that is warm to touch with a skin texture that is "soft peach or smooth nectarine". They say the cat is "sweet tempered and amenable to handling" and has "surprising weight for its size".

In America, TICA recognise the Don Sphynx (AKA "Donsky", another name for the breed) under preliminary new breeds .  They have a breed standard. However, I'll refer to the general description of the breed standard of FIFe, which is a European cat association. The author says that, "The Don Sphynx is a solid cat, soft and warm to the touch. The specific feature is hairlessness".

As I said there is almost nothing to tell them apart in general. Note: the hairless coat of the Donsky takes four forms. "All but one results in hairlessness". So one version is not hairless. You will find that hairlessness in cats does vary. It is the same with the Rex cats which also have a mutation that affects the coat. However, I am sure your breeder will ensure that you cat is hairless as demanded in the breed standard.

History

As mentioned, the cats' history is the real difference but one that is not hugely relevant. The Don Sphynx is essentially Russian and the Sphynx North American. The history of the Sphynx is a bit confused so I want go over it in detail here. Suffice to say that the Sphynx is a selectively breed cat that started life as a mutated random bred cat discovered in Minnesota, America in 1975 and in Canada in 1966 and 1978 (source: Legacy of the Cat). The mutation that causes hairlessness in cats is not that unusual as can be seen. It just so happened that a breeder decided to create a cat breed from that mutation. 

The Don Sphynx has a similar history but in a different part of the world; a mutated random bred cat was picked up by a breeder in Rostov-on-Don in Russia in 1987. Rostov-on-Don is in western Russia near Europe. In fact that part of Russia is considered European.

Genetics 

This is another major area of difference between these cat breeds. A recessive gene causes the hairlessness in the Sphynx while it is a dominant gene in the Donsky. That should make breeding easier for the Don Sphynx and there should be more hairless cats of Don Sphynx type roaming around Russia.

However, I don't think the genetic reasons for the hairlessness are of importance to people who wish to adopt a cat. The genetics of a cat (its "genotype") is the concern of cat breeders not cat caretakers.

Three Valuable Savannah Kittens

A picture of three valuable Savannah kittens. I say valuable because these are special cats. They are at the very top end in terms of quality and when they grew up they no doubt went to great homes with, I hope, cat caretakers that are of equal quality!

Three classy Savannah kittens - Photo: Michael at PoC.

Anyone is free to use the picture under a creative commons license provided it is used "as is" and a link and credit given. In fact you can hot link to this image because it is a direct link from Flickr and Flickr lets you use their website as a server. This by the way is the Flickr page. These darlings where being socialised at A1 Savannahs. There were born and raised at A1 Savannahs.

You can see how the coats change. The coats of these kittens are undeveloped. The contrast has yet to develop as have the spots. Servals have deep, rich spots and the objective of the Savannah cat breeder is to mimic that. This is not the same objective as the Bengal cat breeder.

As I said, these kittens are expensive. Why is that? Well, it is hard to breed savannah cats that have a high percentage of wild cat in them. These are rare cats and keeping servals (the wild cat parent) is difficult and expensive too. Servals, though, are relatively gentle medium sized wild cats and sometimes domesticated. Personally I find them a little intimidating to be next to if they are semi-wild. There are only a few breeders who do this successfully.

The famous Magic is probably the epitome of what the Savannah cat breeder is aiming for:

Real Calvin and Hobbes Picture

This is the real life Calvin and Hobbes. If you have seen the well known video, I apologize. This is a still from an outtake of video material made with a Flip camcorder - not bad quality under the circumstances.

I don't think there is anything approaching this on the internet. It was taken some time ago but is still worth publishing. I have been meaning to do this for a while. The boy is Andreas, the son of Martin and Kathrin Stucki and the cat is the famous, Magic, at one time the Guinness World Record largest domestic cat and a female F1 Savannah cat. They had a great relationship as is clear from this picture and the videos. Both Andreas and Magic were raised by Martin and Kathrin at A1 Savannahs, Ponca City, OK, USA.

Calvin and Hobbes: Fiction and Reality. Montage: Michael at PoC.

If anyone wants to use this montage they can but please link back to this page and provide a credit: "Montage by Michael at Pictures-of-cats.org (PoC)".  I don't expect anyone will! You will also have to justify publishing the cover of the book as has Wikipedia. I have adopted their arguments.

Note: I adopt the arguments of the Wikipedia authors in justifying the publication of the Calvin and Hobbes book cover in the illustration above. The real Calvin and Hobbes picture is taken from a Flip camcorder video by Kathrin Stucki of A1 Savannahs, Ponca City, Oklahoma, USA.

A bit about Calvin and Hobbes: Calvin is the precocious 6 year old boy and Hobbes the tiger. To Calvin, Hobbes is alive and humanized (here goes..anthropomorphized..). To other people Hobbes is simply a stuffed tiger. I guess imagination can take you there. And it gave the author and artist, Bill Watterson a medium through which he expressed some of his principled ideas.

Calvin had alter egos. In his mind he was someone else.  His parents were standard, middle of the road, middle class Americans; a foil against the exotic Calvin.

Bill Watterson was a bored and frustrated advertising executive. His mind took flight and he had the courage to get out and create the now famous Calvin and Hobbes. It was a tough road at the beginning it seems as his work was first rejected. Isn't it always that way?

Sokoke Cat Picture

A rare Sokoke cat picture by Helmi Flick. There were ten adult breeding cats in the USA in 2008. That makes this one of the rarest purebred cats on the planet. Helmi took a great picture. The choice of background is perfect as it emphasises the glorious "bulls-eye" tabby pattern, plum in the middle of the body. The head of this cat breed reminds me of the Bengal, quite small like the wild leopard cat. It certainly has a wild look. However, this is a purely, 100%, domestic cat. It is not a wildcat hybrid. That is what I have been told. I found the origin and history of this breed interesting and exotic and to be perfectly honest, I don't believe it! I know that sounds a bit brash and harsh but that is what I feel about the history, which is that stray/domestic/feral hybrid cats from the east of Kenya where discovered in the late 1970s and then exported to America, where they were refined through selective breeding. This purebred cat is named after the Sokoke Forest in Kenya (see map - you can zoom back). Read more....