Double takes abound when Melanie Stanton is out with her cat in public.
"Is that a cat? It's on a leash!"
"Maybe it's chihuahua."
"It's got no hair"¦look at those ears!"
Lovable, sociable Harry, the hairless cat, takes it all with feline equanimity, basking in the petting as the curious gather round. Stanton and Harry have become fixtures this summer at Traverse Area Girls "C" League softball games, taking in her two daughters' games while fielding questions and sharing Harry's life story.
"I just totally adore him, I think he's beautiful despite what everybody says: 'Eww, what is it?'" said Stanton, an area attorney and the sponsor of her daughters' team. "A lot of people will ask to pet him and I'll encourage them to because he's so unique feeling — I think he feels like a chamois, like what you wash you car with."
"He's so darn cute, he looks like a yoda," she added.
While not many cats are comfortable in public, Harry is a seasoned traveler both around town and on vacations. His family takes him "everywhere," including on their boat, to the girls' school, for neighborhood walks and Up North. In fact, Harry has never been inside a cage; when the family took delivery from a breeder downstate a year ago, the characteristically calm cat arrived snuggled in a blanket.
"He's very trusting and he's not afraid of dogs or other cats and doesn't have any sense that he's going to be harmed," noted Stanton. "We take him everywhere — the breed is very, very social and very, very laid back."
Harry is officially a Sphynx cat, a breed that appeared as a natural mutation in 1966 when a hairless kitten was born in Toronto. That cat, named Prune, its kitten and a few more hairless cats discovered later started the new line, which has been strengthened through cross-breeding into a healthy, if relatively rare, breed.
Sphynx cats do have some hair, often a light fuzz on their tail or feet. Their skin grows progressively more wrinkly as they age and the cats both sweat and exude oils, requiring a daily wipe-down and occasional bath. A sphynx also has large, pointed ears that, because there is no protective hair inside, need to be cleaned at least twice a week.
"He doesn't mind, he likes to have his ears played with," said Stanton.
Sphynx cats have a higher metabolism and body temperature to help compensate for lack of fur. They tend to eat more than other breeds to fuel their body's demands.
Like all cats, they are masters of finding the warmest spot in the winter and the coolest in the summer.
"In the winter, I'll put a sweater on him but the lady at the cattery told me they really don't need that because they'll always find a place to go and keep warm," Stanton noted. "In the summer, I'll put him on a leash and he'll go out into the garden because he likes to sun himself — no, he doesn't burn."
Stanton chose the breed after her 18-year-old cat died in January of 2005. After having her two daughters, she developed allergies to felines and could no longer live with just any cat. Online research led her to the hairless breed that, although not completely hypoallergenic, turned out not to trigger a reaction. She connected with a breeder in Battle Creek and purchased Harry a year ago.
"I just missed a cat and I knew I couldn't have one with fur," she recalled. "I would get another one in a heart beat, but I'm not so sure my husband wants another one."