Sphynx cats eat much more than average, haired cats. This is because the Sphynx burns more calories to keep warm. They also have a fast metabolism and need more food to fuel their high energy antics and playfulness.

They have coat genetics in common with the Devon Rex. The recessive allele that produces the hairlessness in the Sphynx was identified to be from the same gene that produces the unique hair of the Devon Rex. The allele found in Sphynx (hr) is incompletely do9minant over the allele found in Devon Rex (re), but they are both recessive to “wild type” (the allele that produces a normal coat). New hairless breeds, such as the Don Sphynx and Peterbald arose from their own spontaneous gene mutations.

Ted Nude-Gent may be the world’s most famous Sphynx. Ted Nude-Gent is the feline star of the Austin Powers movies, and is considered to be one of the most famous Sphynx cats. In 1997, Ted portrayed Dr. Evil’s Persian cat, Mr. Bigglesworth, after they had both gone permanently bald due to being cryogenically frozen. Thus Mr. Bigglesworth’s transformation from Persian to Sphynx. Ted also portrayed Mrs. Whiskerson, Rachel Green’s Sphynx cat in the popular sitcom Friends, and he appeared in the Lindsay Lohan thriller I Know Who Killed Me too.