Ultra bald, also known as rubber bald, ultra hairless, born naked, born bald, sticky bald, hairless born: These kittens are born without hair. They are the baldest of the bald and feel like rubber. It is a little difficult to run your hand down their skin, therefore, you would 'massage' these types of kittens, not pet them. Many people describe them as "feeling sticky," like running your hand down warm rubber. These kittens sometimes require bathing. They are often born without whiskers or eyebrows, and with their eyes open.

Flock Bald

Flock bald, also known as smooth bald, soft bald, silky bald, and chamois: This coat type feels like a piece of silk. It is smooth to touch and no hair is visible. There is no resistance to the coat when pet backwards. Many people confuse the term 'flocked' and believe it refers to a longer hair, but in actual fact, flocked is so short that it cannot be seen by the naked eye. The hair measures between 1/100th of a mm to 1 mm in length. "Flocked" is actually a type of material typically used to make red Christmas bows. If you have one of these bows, you can feel it and get an idea of what a flocked coat is; however, the flocked Peterbald has hair that is shorter than the Christmas bow fabric. When looking at a flocked kitten, it has the appearance of being completely hairless and is a bald cat. The coat is maintained with baby wipes, if at all necessary. Kittens are born mostly or completely without hair; or, they are born with a distinctive bald patch on their head. They may be born with eyes open or closed. Whiskers are kinky, curly, broken, or a combination of these.

Velour Bald

Velour bald: The velour coat has hair that is 1mm to 5 mm in length. From afar, it appears hairless, but on close inspection, this coat can be seen. It can be sparse, short and slightly wavy, or very dense. A dense velour coat is easy to identify because it will SHINE. The hair is shiny, giving the cat a very sleek look. Whiskers are kinky, curly, broken, or a combination of these. The velour coat can be lost and become a bald coat before two years of age.

The Haired Category

Brush Coat

Brush coat: The coat is comprised of wiry hairs. It ranges from just barely wavy hair to almost curly hair. It will feel somewhat coarse, but may transition to a soft wiry feel as an adult. Kittens are born with curly/wavy hair that transitions to the brush coat over time (typically 3 months of age but can take longer), or they are born with a normal-looking coat (and curly whiskers) which transitions to a brush coat over time. The brush coat kitten will not lose its’ hair. There is also some discussion as to whether the brush coat stems from a different gene than the hair-losing gene that is currently attributed to Peterbalds. The Peterbald brush coat is unique and there is no other cat in TICA that has this coat at this time. There is currently a movement amongst Peterbalds breeders to enter the brush coat into TICA as a separate coat category.

Straight-Coat

Straight-Coat (almost like a normal coat): The Peterbald straight-coat is a short, close-lying coat. It can be compared to the Siamese or Oriental coat. Kittens are born with a straight-coat and do not change. Straight-coats do not have a hair-losing gene and will keep all of their hair over time. They have no undercoat so shedding is minimal. This kind of coat is great for people who want a haired cat but want less shedding. A straight-coat can also be called a low-shed coat.

Notes on coat

The Peterbald coat is very different from any other coat. A Peterbald may have the coat mentioned above or can have a combination of two or more of the above coats. A Peterbald can also have one coat type over its’ body and a different coat type on its’ points. It can be born with one type of coat and change to a different coat over time. Generally, it can be determined at birth or before the age of 3 months as to which coat the Peterbald will have.

These are possible scenarios:

· Born bald and does not change

· Born bald, grows some hair and re-loses it over the first two years of its’ life. This kind always returns to its’ original coat from birth.

· Born with hair and loses it over the first two years of its’ life. Typically, there will be a bald patch on its head to indicate that it is a hair-losing cat.

· Born with a brush coat

· Born with a brush coat that becomes denser over time

· Born with hair and does not lose it

The Peterbald personality

Peterbalds have a wonderful loving personality. These are some of their characteristics: Extremely intelligent

· Easily trained to do various tricks such as fetching, toilet-training, and shaking a paw (yes, I said shake a paw!)
· Affectionate, loving, and curious
· Adapt easily to multi-cat or multi-animal families
· Loyal and likes to follow you around the house and be in the same room with you.
· Low to medium vocal (can be more vocal in single-cat homes)

The Peterbald Body

· Graceful, muscular, agile, lean cats
· Webbed feet
· Firm, fine bones and elongated body, neck, feet, and legs
· Long, wedge-shaped head, with flat, high cheekbones and flat skull
· Strong muzzle.
· Strong but not protruding chin
· Large ears, set low
· Oval paws with long agile fingers and toes, which allows them to be able to grasp objects
· Long, straight whippy tail
· Almost almond-shaped eyes (however, many different eyes shapes are currently seen in Peterbalds)

The Peterbald History

The Peterbald originated as a hybrid cross between a Donskoy (Donskoy synopsis is included below for reference) and an Oriental.

The Peterbald: In 1993, a brown mackerel tabby Donskoy (Afinguen Myth) was bred to a very classy tortie Oriental (Radma Vom Jagerhoff). This breeding took place in St. Petersburg, Russia. In January, 1994, four kittens were born from this breeding and great interest was taken in the Oriental-looking hairless cats. In February 1995, a male by the name of Nocturne IZ Murino was born from the same parents. This male was used almost exclusively with purebred Oriental and Siamese females, and produced many healthy, high-quality offspring. These cats are now known as Peterbalds. Peterbalds, in record-breaking time, was accepted as a breed of its own. It gained acceptance in The International Cat association (TICA) in 1997 and gained full championship status in 2005 thanks to dedicated breeders as well as the breed committee chair of that time.

The Donskoy: The Donskoy is a Russian cat found in the city Rostov-on-Don in Russia in 1987. Elena Kovaleva, Professor of the State Pedagogical Institute, encountered some boys kicking a bag around. Inside the bag was a kitten squalling in fear and pain. Elena rescued the kitten and took it home. She named the kitten Varvara, and as she grew, she lost her hair. They thought she had a skin problem and treated her for lichen and demodecosis, but to no avail. Varvara became pregnant and to everyone's surprise, the kittens were born without hair. Unfortunately, everyone thought the kittens were unhealthy and needed to be destroyed. However, one kitten made it to Irina Nemikina. Irina Nemikina, a cat breeder, bred the kitten and developed the breed now known as the Donskoy. The Donskoy is now known to be a hardy healthy breed.