Peterbald | Cat Breed Information & Facts – Pictures

Peterbald is a hairless breed of graceful and elegant cats originally from St. Petersburg. Thanks to their friendly and docile nature, the Peterbald cats have won universal love and respect.

The most “alien” of all hairless cats, Peterbalds are active, playful, brave, smart, self-centered, extremely affectionate.

Cats sheet Peterbald

Peterbald cat photos

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Physical characteristics

From the Sphynx cat, the Peterbald cat inherited the dominant “baldness” gene and the corresponding “hairless” types. And from the Oriental, he has big almond-shaped eyes and huge wide ears. The body of the Peterbalds is slender, graceful and muscular; unlike the Sphynx cat, it does not have a large round belly.

The average weight of the Peterbald fluctuates between 3 and 5 kg.

Cats-characteristics-Peterbald

Character and behavior

  • Head: narrow, wedge-shaped, with flat cheeks and forehead, strong muzzle, not sharp, for example a slight pinch. Vertical creases on the forehead, diverging horizontally above the eyes. The chin is aligned with the tip of the nose. Straight line of the profile.
  • Ears: large, not wide at the base, slightly apart.
  • Eyes: almond-shaped, set obliquely, green or blue.
  • Body: long, dense, muscular. Deep groin line. The limbs are long, slender, but with strong bones. The forearms are straight. The legs are oval. The fingers are long, mobile.
  • Limbs: The legs of Peterbald cats are long, slender and perfectly straight. The legs of the animal have the shape of an oval, with flexible, so-called “monkey” toes.
  • Tail: long, straight, whip. On the last third of the tail there may be residual hair.
  • Skin and coat: In an ordinary Peterbald, the skin should be soft, hugging the body slightly, forming many folds on the head and a little less on the body. By inheritance from the Don Sphynxes, the breed received the hairless gene, so the classic Peterbald is, in fact, a hairless cat, in some cases with a sparse and short coat.
  • Colors: all.

Character and behavior

First of all, we can say that the Peterbald breed is a very curious and quick-witted cat. They are cheerful and active, enjoy various games and generally enjoy spending time with people. They are very satisfied with human warmth, attention and care, they partly need these things and can even experience mental suffering if they do not receive feedback from their loved ones. After all, the Peterbalds themselves are very affectionate and loving.

Despite the innate high level of energy, activity and playfulness, they are extremely rarely harmful and sometimes love peace. Perhaps their character is positive in all respects, but everyone can bring up their pet not quite correctly, developing negative qualities in it, so to speak, in their own image and likeness.

Due to the developed intellect, the Peterbald quickly understands what the owner expects from him and will not go against the grain just for his own assertiveness. Often expresses emotions through voice and purring.

These cats treat children well, perceive strangers quite positively and can get along with almost any pet, if they do not experience unreasonable aggression and negativity. But, in this case, the Peterbald can be surprisingly bold and fearless – be sure to consider this point. Changing places for the Peterbald can be difficult and the adaptation process can take some time.

Health

The price of an exotic appearance is the genetic diseases of pets. Peterbald cats have few:

  • The most dangerous disease is congenital underdevelopment of the thymus. This organ is responsible for the growth and development of the whole organism and for the immune defense. With its underdevelopment, the animal dies in infancy;
  • In animals of blue, blue-cream, tortoiseshell color, gingival hyperplasia may appear (also a genetic disease);
  • Signs of skin diseases can also sometimes be seen on a pet. Be careful and avoid traps in time;
  • Respiratory illnesses are common among Peterbalds. Your pet must not be cold!

Life expectancy

The life expectancy of Peterbald cats is 12 to 15 years.

Care

Peterbald cats are very practical to keep at home: they do not have wool, but they themselves are peaceful, accommodating and clean. They need a large living space, as well as warm houses and sofas (even special deck chairs attached to central heating batteries have been invented for them). Peterbald cats will definitely need clothes made of light hygroscopic fabric, sewn with seams, and knitted items (yarns without acrylic, without lurex and without loops and other knots).

History of the breed

Peterbald is a 100% breeding “product” obtained as a result of crossing the Oriental cat and the Donskoy. The first experiment to create a new breed branch was carried out in 1994 by Olga Mironova, a St. Petersburg felinologist. As a result of planned outcrossing, four hybrid kittens were born: Sissy from Murino, Nocturne from Murino, Mandarin from Murino and Muscat from Murino. It was these cats that were entered in the herd books, as the official ancestors of today’s Peterbalds.

The recognition of the felinological associations “petrika” received relatively quickly. In 1996, the SPF gave the go-ahead to breed the St. Petersburg Sphynxes, and a year later TICA joined it, approving the abbreviation PD for the breed. In 2003, the animals were recognized by the WCF, giving them their own abbreviation – PBD. It is worth making a small clarification here: despite the successfully passed standardization and the official breed status, the branch of Peterbalds remains developing, which means that obtaining its reference representative from breeders is only in the plans. Nevertheless, since 1997, mating between Don Sphynxes and “Petersburgers” is officially prohibited.

As before, and now, breeding specialists do not set as their goal the breeding of exclusively hairless cats, more concerned about the extremalization of their external characteristics. So, the ideal Peterbald in the understanding of felinologists should be close to the oriental type of appearance, that is, combine the maximum of the breed features of the Siamese and Oriental. Moreover, the amount of wool on the animal’s body practically does not affect its value, both in breeding and financial terms. An exception is the straight-haired variety of the breed, but more about it later.