A slim cat from St Petersburg with huge ears and a coat that ranges from fully bare to short and wiry.
The Peterbald comes from St Petersburg in Russia. It has the graceful body and big ears of an Oriental Shorthair, and a coat that differs from cat to cat: from fully bare to soft down, a short brush coat or an ordinary straight coat. It is sweet, clever and follows its people everywhere. Good to know: since 2026 you may not take on a new hairless Peterbald in the Netherlands, because a cat without fur and whiskers has a hard time. Cats that were already there may stay.
Very affectionate. It wants to be wherever you are.
Loves a warm lap and likes to crawl under a blanket.
Playful and curious, and always up for a game together.
Lively and athletic: it wants to climb and play every day.
Chats along with you, but less loudly than a Siamese or Oriental.
Clever and quick to learn tricks and routines. Some walk on a harness.
Usually walks up to visitors with its tail held high.
Gets on well with children who are gentle with its bare skin.
Usually fine with a friendly dog, if they get to know each other slowly.
Likes a feline friend and is often happiest with a companion.
Does not like being alone. Better with someone often at home, or with a second cat.
An indoor cat: without fur it burns in the sun and gets cold quickly outdoors.
A Peterbald is just a Sphynx.
No. The Peterbald is hairless because of a different gene, which it got from the Russian Donskoy. One copy is enough, while a Sphynx needs two. It is also slimmer, with fewer folds.
Every Peterbald is bald.
No. One litter can hold bald kittens, kittens with down, with a brush coat or with a normal coat. Some are born with hair and lose it later.
A hairless cat does not cause allergies.
No. What people are allergic to is in saliva, urine and skin flakes, not in the hair. There is no such thing as an allergy-free cat.
The Peterbald is a young breed. A Russian breeder paired a hairless Donskoy with an Oriental Shorthair. The Donskoy's hairless gene is dominant: one parent is enough to get hairless kittens. That gave a bare cat with the graceful body of an Oriental. Breeders still pair them with Siamese and Oriental cats, to keep the breed healthy.
In St Petersburg, breeder Olga Mironova pairs the Donskoy male Afinogen Myth with the Oriental Shorthair female Radma von Jagerhov.
The first two litters give four kittens: Mandarin, Muscat, Nezhenka and Nocturne. They are the start of the breed.
The Russian cat federation SFF accepts the breed and writes the first breed standard.
The international registry TICA takes on the Peterbald.
The World Cat Federation (WCF) recognises the Peterbald.
TICA also lets brush-coated Peterbalds compete for championship titles.
America's ACFA lets the Peterbald compete for championship titles.
The European federation FIFe fully recognises the Peterbald.
The Netherlands bans breeding animals in ways that harm their health. Hairless cats such as the Peterbald fall under it.
The Netherlands bans keeping hairless cats such as the Peterbald. Cats chipped before 1 January may stay.
Slim, long and graceful, yet muscular, just like an Oriental Shorthair. On a hairless Peterbald the colour is in the skin.
Looks completely bare, with warm, soft skin. Young cats especially may still have some down on the muzzle, ears, feet and tail. These cats fall under the Dutch keeping ban.
Recognition: Recognised by FIFe, TICA, WCF and America's ACFA. Australia's CCCA likes this coat best.
A layer of very short down, no more than 2 millimetres, over the whole body. It feels like velvet or peach skin.
Recognition: Recognised by FIFe, TICA, America's ACFA and Australia's CCCA.
A wiry, wavy coat of 2 millimetres or longer, so thin that the skin shows through. Often with bare patches on the head, neck or back.
Recognition: FIFe judges it in the same class as hairless cats. TICA has let it compete for championship titles since 2008.
An ordinary short coat with normal whiskers. These cats do not carry the hairless gene and keep their coat for life. That is why they do not fall under the Dutch keeping ban.
Recognition: Not shown, but they may be registered and used for breeding.
Cat registries write colours as an EMS code. The letter is the colour (n black, a blue, d red, f tortie), s means silver or smoke, y golden, and the numbers tell you about white (01–09), shading (11, 12), the tabby pattern (22–25) or colourpoint (33).
White(w)
Blue(a)
Chocolate(b)
Lilac tabby(c 21)
Red tabby(d 21)
Cream point(e 33)On a hairless Peterbald you see the colour in the skin: black turns dark grey, blue grey, red apricot and white pink.
On bare skin the stripes show as darker lines. FIFe registers every tabby on a hairless or flock cat as 21; it names the patterns (classic, mackerel, spotted, ticked) only for brush.
FIFe allows any amount of white. Australia's CCCA rejects white toes; a white spot on the chest is fine.
A Peterbald may come in any colour. Only FIFe allows smoke, silver tabby and golden tabby on a brush coat alone, not on a hairless or flock cat.
The name joins 'Peter', for St Petersburg where the breed began, and 'bald'.
All Peterbalds descend from the four kittens of the first two litters in 1994.
One copy of the hairless gene is enough, so a bald Peterbald and a coated cat can still have bald kittens.
A Peterbald's coat can change a few times and only settles at about three years old.
Its whiskers are curly and thick and often break off. Some bald cats have none at all.
No study has measured how long a Peterbald lives. Breed profiles most often say about 10 to 15 years. Take it as a rough guide.
Bare skin and big ears burn in the sun, just like ours. If that happens often, skin cancer can grow on the ear tips and nose. Staying indoors and in the shade prevents it well.
How it is found: No test: keep it out of strong sun and have a vet check sores on the ears or nose that do not heal.
Without fur, skin oil stays on the skin. That can make the skin sticky, itchy or infected, especially in the ears and folds. It is mostly a matter of care.
How it is found: No test: regular wiping or baths, and cleaning the ears and folds.
A vet and an insurer name this eye disease in the Peterbald, though nobody knows how common it is. The cells at the back of the eye slowly die, and the cat may go blind later in life.
How it is found: Ask whether the parents had a DNA test for PRA; carriers should not be bred.
No brushing, but skin care. Wipe the skin, clean the ears, folds and claw beds, and bathe a hairless or flock cat with a mild cat shampoo when needed. Brush a brush coat every week.
It loses heat quickly. Keep the home warm, give it warm beds out of draughts and a jumper in winter if needed. Keep it out of strong sun, also behind a window.
Give it toys, a cat tree to climb and a play session together every day.
Staying warm takes energy, so it likes to eat often. Give good meat-based food in measured meals and watch its weight.
A Peterbald is not hypoallergenic. What you are allergic to comes from saliva and skin flakes. If you are allergic, spend some time with such a cat first.
Checked on 22 October 2026
Since 1 January 2026 you may not take on, breed or show a hairless Peterbald in the Netherlands. The ban covers cats that lack a working coat or whiskers for good, also when a kitten is born with hair and loses it in its first two years. A Peterbald with an ordinary straight coat and whiskers does not fall under it. A cat that was chipped before 1 January 2026 may stay with you for life or go to a new home. You must then be able to show the chip date in writing, for example with the chip database record or a note from the vet.
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