Sphynx Cat Colours and Patterns — Including the Ones With Hair

A hairless cat still has a colour. The pattern is in the skin — pigment shows through as clearly as it would in a coat, and in some ways more so, because you are seeing the markings drawn directly on the cat.

The colours you will see

Sphynx cats come in essentially the full domestic range: solid black, blue, chocolate, lilac, cinnamon, fawn, red and cream; white and bicolour; tortoiseshell and blue-cream; smoke; and the pointed pattern seen in Siamese-type cats, where the extremities are darker than the body. Skin tone gives the whole thing a slightly muted, suede-like look compared with fur.

Patterns, drawn on skin

Tabby markings — mackerel stripes, classic swirls, spots and ticking — appear as pigment patterns on the skin, so a tabby Sphynx really does look drawn on. Bicolour and van patterns show as crisp blocks of colour against pale skin. Tortoiseshell can be the most striking of all: instead of the fine mottling you get in fur, tortie skin often shows bold patches, which is why our Diva reads as blocks of colour rather than a blend.

Why some Sphynx cats have hair

Because the Sphynx gene reduces coat rather than abolishing it. Most Sphynx are covered in a fine down like the skin of a peach, and fuzz commonly persists on the face, ears, feet and tail — the bridge of the nose is almost always slightly furry. Some individuals carry noticeably more, particularly as kittens, and some grow patchy fuzz in cold weather and lose it again when it warms up.

Kittens are often fuzzier than the adult they become, so a coat at eight weeks does not tell you what the cat will look like at two years. None of this is a defect; it is the range the gene produces.

Donskoy coat types are a different system

Because Donskoy hairlessness is a dominant mutation, the breed produces distinct types: rubber-bald cats with no covering at all, flock cats with a fine suede-like layer, velour cats born with a coat that thins as they grow, and brush cats that keep a wiry patchy coat. Seasonal change is common. If a hairless cat’s coat appears and disappears through the year, this is usually why.

Does colour affect anything practical?

Only sun exposure. Pale and white skin burns more easily, so a light cat in a sunny window needs shade, a sun shirt, or both. Beyond that, colour is aesthetics — and with these cats, half the aesthetic is what they are wearing over the top of it.

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.