Sphynx

The Sphynx looks engineered in a lab, but it is an accident of nature. The breed traces to a hairless kitten born in Toronto in 1966, and breeders worked to build a healthy line around that single mutation. The result is a cat that is famous for what it does not have.

It is not truly hairless. A Sphynx is covered in a fine down like the skin of a peach, warm and soft to the touch, with a body heat you feel at once. Big bat ears, a wrinkled face, and large lemon-shaped eyes give it a look that people either adore or find startling.

That bare skin needs care. Without a coat to absorb them, skin oils build up, so a Sphynx needs regular bathing and warm spots to curl into. It feels the cold and will burrow under blankets or against your neck.

The personality is the real reason for its rise. The Sphynx is an attention-seeking extrovert, energetic, clownish, and relentlessly affectionate, the cat most likely to greet your guests and supervise your every move. It is often called the most dog-like cat of all.

A Sphynx is high-maintenance in surprising ways. With no coat to absorb them, skin oils build up and leave a waxy film, so most need a wipe-down or a bath every week or two, along with regular ear and nail cleaning. They burn energy fast and feel the cold, so they seek out sweaters, sunbeams, and laps.

In temperament it is pure extrovert, demanding, comic, and devoted, the cat most likely to wake you for attention and least happy left alone. The breed can carry the heart condition HCM and a skin and gum disorder, so good breeders screen, and the cat needs warmth, calories, and company to thrive.