Do Sphynx Cats Shed? The Truth About Hairless Cats and a Clean House

Short answer: barely, but not never — and the trade-off nobody mentions is that you swap fur for oil.

Do they shed?

Most Sphynx cats are covered in a fine down rather than being truly bald, and that down does turn over, so you may find the occasional short fine hair on dark clothing. What you will not get is tufts on the lounge, drifts under the bed, or the seasonal coat blow that coated breeds deliver twice a year. Compared with a coated cat, the difference is dramatic.

Donskoys vary more. Some are completely bald, some have a suede-like covering, and the brush-coated type keeps a wiry patchy coat that does shed. Coat state can also change with the seasons in that breed.

What you get instead

Skin oil. In a coated cat, fur absorbs and distributes it. In a hairless cat it sits on the surface and transfers onto whatever the cat touches, which is everything. Left alone it shows up as faint tan marks on light bedding, on the arm of the sofa, and on the shirt you were wearing when the cat sat on you.

This is completely manageable, and it is the reason our cats are so often dressed even when nobody is taking photographs.

Keeping a clean house with a hairless cat

• Bathe on a routine — every one to three weeks for most cats, adjusted to your cat’s skin.
• Dress them in cotton. A singlet catches the oil before your furniture does, and washing a singlet is trivial.
• Washable everything. Cat beds with removable covers, throws over the places they sleep, and a rotation so there is always a clean one.
• Wipe-downs between baths. A warm damp cloth over the body takes thirty seconds.
• Wash bedding more often than you used to, because they sleep in yours.

Does less shedding help allergies?

Not as much as people hope. The main cat allergen lives in saliva and skin, not hair — hair is just a carrier. Less carrier in the air can mean lower everyday exposure, and some allergic owners genuinely do better with a hairless cat, but a Sphynx is not hypoallergenic and no honest breeder will tell you it is.

The verdict

If your reason for wanting a hairless cat is a fur-free house, you will be delighted. If you were hoping for a cat that requires no cleaning at all, adjust the expectation: the work moves from the vacuum to the washing machine, and there is a bath in your calendar for the next fifteen years.

Meet the cats behind the advice

Everything here comes out of running a household of Sphynx and Donskoy cats — meet the queens, studs and kittens, or send us an enquiry if you have a question we have not answered.