These two venerable old men of the Sphynx breed were the best thing
that has ever happened to me and my housemates. While Sphynxes of
that day seldom lived much beyond 10 years of age, Max died at well
over 16 and Lucius just died at nearly 18. And they both lived
amazingly healthy, trouble-free, pain-free, love-filled lives right up
to their final weeks.
Their full pedigree names are:
Jokatta's Lucious Beebe of Whimsey
and
Jokatta's Maxfield Parrish of Whimsey
Whereby Jokatta is the cattery name for the cattery of Kathy and Joe
Speed and Whimsey is my cattery name.
These were two of the very first homozygous, thoroughly hairless
Sphynxes in the world at that time. I had bred one other, Belfry's Hermine Gingold of Whimsey, who was totally out of cats of our own
breedings. But I did not want to go through many breedings to get to
more hairless cats. So I asked Kathy if she had a hairless for me.
Kathy was very young, married to a much older gentleman, and did not
fit in well with the typical cat breeders. When she came to San
Francisco for a Moscone Center show, she knew few people, so I met
her, got her settled into her hotel, and took her to the show, where I
was providing the background music to calm the cats. We got along
well. So, some time later, when I needed a hairless boy, Kathy was
willing to part with one of hers to help me out. Because she was
making such a sacrifice in her own breeding program, I also offered
to take Max's brother Lucius, who was not totally hairless, but had
some peach-fuzz at that time, to keep Max company. Kathy loved that
and we got the cats. Lucius quickly lost that little peach fuzz and
joined the ranks of the very first thoroughly hairless Sphynxes.
Max sired a number of litters before he was neutered, many of which
won top honors in shows and some of which had film careers. The
Sphynx, Mr. Bigglesworth, in the Mike Meyers comedies (The Spy that
Shagged Me, etc.) was out of his progeny).
We enjoyed two heavenly creatures for a heavenly length of time and
for that we are all grateful.
But they will be sorely missed, these two venerable old men of their
breed.
Ron Henggeler, in whose rooms the two lived, has many more, better
photos of them at www.ronhenggeler.com under the categories "Animals"
and "Around the House". Ron's whole living space was magnificently
sculpted for his cats, especially for these two.
©2007 Mark B. Anstendig. All rights reserved.
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