Information about Outcrossing &
Photos of our Sphynx Outcrosses

WHY OUTCROSS? 
While the Sphynx are generally healthy cats,  a carefully designed outcross program introduces new gene pools and thereby should increase the overall health of the Sphynx breed. The Sphynx gene pool is still limited due to the fact Sphynx are still considerably rare (there have only been a small handful of naturally born naked cats). Outcrossing should be done by those with years of experience and carefully done as outcrossing is still tricky. While many believe that outcrossing is the answer, the true ramifications of outcrossing will not be known for years to come. In our cattery we have noticed a very big difference in the overall health of our outcross kittens vs. our kittens from two Sphynx parents with full pedigrees (with no outcross cats in the immediate pedigree).  

The gene for the hairlessness is recessive. The first generation of the Sphynx outcrosses are all normal haired, but carrying for the bald gene. They also have the wonderful Sphynx personality!! They are simply Sphynx with hair! Coated kittens also cost less then a naked Sphynx. If you are considering adopting a Sphynx - please consider getting a less expensive companion with hair! Two are better than one! We often have retired coated outcrosses and coated outcross kittens available to pet homes. If you are interested in adopting a coated baby, please send us an email to find out when we will have one available. 

The accepted outcrosses allowed by CFA are Domestic Shorthairs (DSH). The accepted outcrossed in TICA are American Shorthair, Devon Rex (although few, use Devons for a Sphynx outcross anymore because the Devons have their own set of health issues - such as luxating patella, spasticity and Vitamin K bleeding disorder). Here at our cattery we have chosen to work mainly with DSH. We have recently added a beautiful American Shorthair boy to our program. He comes from very old bloodlines, so we are very pleased to have him! We treat our outcrosses just like our Sphynx, meaning they are also scanned for HCM. All of our outcrosses are registered with either CFA and/or TICA. Just because they are coated does NOT mean they cannot be registered!

I would also like to mention here that ELF, DWELF, and BAMBINO cats are not TICA or CFA approved breeds.
~The Munchkin was used to create the "Bambino" cat. Munchkins are NOT permitted as outcrosses in the Sphynx Breed.~
 ~The American Curl was used to create the "ELF" cat. American Curl is NOT permitted as an outcross in the Sphynx Breed.~
~The "Dwelf" cat was created outcrossing the Sphynx to Munchkin and American Curl.~ 

My concerns with these "made-up" breeds are that the short legged gene, the hairless gene, and the curled ear gene are all mutations. I don't feel that it is a wise choice to be using double and triple mutations with the Sphynx breed. Many breeders who breed the Elf, Dwelf & Bambino cats claim that they are an approved TICA breed. THIS IS NOT TRUE! Elf, Dwelf, and Bambino do have "Experimental New Breed" status in TICA, but they have not yet been approved as a new breed. Below are links to the CFA and TICA recognized breeds (these are links to the TICA and CFA websites)-
CFA Recognized breeds- http://www.cfa.org/client/breeds.aspx
TICA Recognized breeds-http://tica.org/public/breeds.php

Many of these breeders also say that their kittens are registered as Sphynx, and their kittens may come with papers. But only an approved outcross bred to the Sphynx, or a true Sphynx to Sphynx breeding can be registered as a Sphynx... Which means these kittens are coming with false (incorrect) paperwork. These breeders claim that the curled ears or short legs are "Sphynx New Traits", but to be a new trait, the new trait must be approved by the Sphynx Breed Committee. The Sphynx Breed Committee has not approved any "New Traits" for the Sphynx breed at this time. However, when these outcross breedings are registered as "Elf" (or Bambino/Dwelf) and their papers say "Experimental New Breed", these papers are correct. 

I am sure it is obvious from the paragraph above that I am opposed to these unapproved outcrosses. I just feel that it is sad for all the long time breeders who have worked so hard to make the Sphynx breed what it is today, for the Dwelf, Elf and Bambino cat breeders to be abusing the Sphynx bloodlines simply to create something "new".....
isn't the Sphynx breed wonderful just the way it is? 

This is a general table of the progression of what happens with a
Sphynx outcross program...
(Not all breeders follow this program exactly):

"Gobsgobblins Tryst"
F2 Sphynx- Queen
Dam: Gobsgobblins Amora Moon
Sire: GCH Grand Oray Diamond Snow
d.o.b. 5/3/10
  

"Disal African Dream Furry"
F1 Sphynx- Queen
This girl is a very special addition to our cattery from Elizabeth Swart in South Africa. This girl is from a natural mutation bloodline. This means that her mother, Bederfie, has the Sphynx gene, but was not from any Sphynx breeding program. Bederfie just happened to be born with the Sphynx mutation from non-Sphynx parents. Since there have been very few natural mutation Sphynx, we are very excited to have the opportunity to work with this bloodline.....and Dream is such a sweet girl and so lovely! Thank you again Elizabeth and Cheryl! 
Dam: Disal Bederfie
Sire: Vande Bald's Trice Cera Spots of Belfry
d.o.b. 9/22/10

"Gobsgobblins Tootsie Roll"
F1 Sphynx- Future Stud
It is still a while off.... but we are sooooo looking forward to this little guy's babies!
He is from a Chocolate parent which means he carries the chocolate gene. There is nothing quite so beautiful as a true chocolate or lilac Sphynx!
Dam: GCH Gobsgobblins Arabesque (Blue Sepia Tortie/White)
Sire: Dude E. Brown (Chocolate)
d.o.b. 7/22/11