Meezer Monday: Pointed Sphynx

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Merlin:

Since I've had some questions about Pointed Sphynx, I decided I would provide you all with some information about Pointed Sphynx today.

Pointed Sphynx have the same colour pattern as Siamese, Himalayans, and other pointed breeds. This pattern is known as the Himalayan pattern. Pointed Sphynx have Siamese somewhere in their ancestry - it is where the pointed colour pattern comes from. For many years, Sphynx were cross-bred with other short-haired breeds to establish the breed and develop a wide gene pool.


I am a Seal Point and White Sphynx. That means my points (face, ears, legs and tail) are Seal Point in colour, and I have white patches interspersed throughout. You can most easily notice my points on my nose, the bridge of my nose, and the edges of my ears. Unlike many Sphynx, my ears are essentially naked, so there isn't a lot of colour there (most Sphynx have fur on their ears, so the points are more noticeable there). The colour of the fur on the bridge of my nose isn't a dark seal point colour because of the "and white" portion of my colouring. So my nose colour, and the fur on the bridge of my nose, is a mix of seal point and white colouration.

Since I'm still a kitten, the points on my legs and on my tail are very subtle. If you look closely, you can see that there are slightly darker than the rest of my body. It's hard to see in photos though. The points on my legs and feet are most noticeable when you can contrast them with the white patches (which are pink skin in a Sphynx). You can see this in the photo below.



The CFA Breed Standard has this to say about Pointed Colours in Sphynx:

POINTED PATTERN: point restricted colors show little or no color contrast between body and points in the mature Sphynx. Although born very light in color, the pointed Sphynx will darken and appear solid in color as an adult. Eye color: vivid blue. Nose leather and paw pads: appropriate to coat color. The pointed pattern may be combined with ANY other pattern (except mink) and ANY colors, e.g. lilac-silver lynx point and seal-tortie point with white (shown in the Bi-Color Class).

I hope this helps you understand a little bit more about the pointed colour in Sphynx. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

P.S. Some have commented that Merlin's colouring is sort-of like a snowshoe Siamese. Well, sort-of. Unlike a snowshoe, his white patches are found in various places across his body, not just restricted to certain areas. For example, Merlin has a strip of white across the top of his front shoulders / behind his neck. His sire and dam were also "and white" pointed Sphynx, with his dam being a red point and white, and his dam a blue point and white.

Tags: Meezer Monday, Pointed Sphynx, Sphynx, Canadian Sphynx, Canadian hairless, cat, hairless cat, hairless kitten, kitten, Sphynx kitten