The Peterbald coat is the single most important feature of the breed. A Peterbald may have a single coat type or it may have a combination of few coat types. Generally, if there is more than one coat type, the body has one type and the extremities or points have another different. A Peterbald is most often born with one coat type and changes to a different type over time. Experienced breeder´s can generally determine the adult coat by the time a kitten is three months old.
There are several types of coat that are modified by a combination of the different skin /hair /coat hair loosing pattern.
Peterbald can have ranging from totally naked (more naked than Sphynx) to different "brush"
kind of hair, which are in same cases somewhat similar to a normal cat's hair. With any type of those, a cat is still
Peterbald if it looks the way that standard describes it.
Absent of Coat
They are hairless even completely naked. They are also called "rubber", "gummy" or "latex". Their skin is soft, warm and almost sticky like latex to the touch by their “Hair absent. They can have same charming wrinkles.
Kittens of these type are born with a very short flock or velour ”coat or absolutely hairless. They normaly born with open eyes or open it in the next 2 days, and mostly they not have whiskers and eyebrows.
For people who have allergy from cat's hairs most advisable option is completely hairless Peterbald, though it's still not 100% guarantee there won't be allergy.
The chamois Peterbald is smooth to the touch and has no visible hair. The Chamoised hair is between 0.1 mm to 1.5 mm. Is short, soft and fine down hair, not dense not extremely sparse. It feels like silk and there is no resistance to the coat when stroked in any direction and there is no sensation of stickiness. It could be called flocked by few breeders. This is the most desirable coat type.
All chamoise cats have curly whiskers and eyebrows, they are kinky, curly, broken or a combination ofthese. Peterbalds with this coat type may have residual, close-lying down on the extremities which may or may not change or be lost with the time age, pregnancy and other factors.
We can differentiate two subtypes of flock, usual flock and extra-short flock”
The extra-short flock or Soft Chamois or flock hair is in 0.1 -1 mm shorter and finer. Invisible to the eye and is at one little step from hairless. The coat have a smoother sensation. Hair doesn't shine on light is almost invisible to the eye. Residual coat of extremeties can changes with differents factors.
The usual flock coat" is in 1 - 1.5 mm short and fine hairs. The sensation is smooth without resistance when you move it. Is not invisible to the eye. Hair can have same shine on light and it give a satin look to the eye.
The Velour type of hair is short, between 1.5 mm to 6 mm in length.
Normally are soft and fine down hair; than can
range from dense, closely put one to another; to sparse on body;
in same cases hair is slightly wavy.
Coat is shiny on light and easily visible. Usually
you can see those hairs from middle distance and when you touch
a cat with a hand it's still somekind of smooth sensation, with
same resistance over it skin, you sense some close short hair.
Kittens born with a velour coat usually have a
bald spot or‘monk’s cap’on the top of the head.
Brush coated Peterbald are those cats that are more fur to be hairless. The hair loosing gene have affected in the less degree the hair follicule and the result is modified hairs. Normally are protection or guard modified grouse hair; really dense. It ranges from sparse to dense, with irregular texture. Whiskers on a brush coated cat or kitten are ALWAYS curly or kinky. We can differentiate three subtypes of brush coat: wiry; waved and soft thing or curly cottoned.
Brush subtypes:
Brush Wiry
This Cats have "wiry and hard" coat, their hairs are wide ad grouse with the curly tip. Wiry are normally short haired, the hair long is between 5mm to 15 mm. Wiry coat are sparse never extremely dense and hair could have lost periods by seassons. They are aggressive to the touch, NOT SOFT because the curly tips made resistance. Curly whiskers.
Brush Waved
They have "waved grouse" hairs. The hair long is between 5mm to 15 mm. They are not aggressive to the touch but is NOT SOFT and it have same resistance when you move it. Curly whiskers. Cats born with a light waved brush coat may lose the coat over a period of time and may become sparse bald before 18 months of age.
Brush Cotton or Softhing coated
They have "soft, fine and long hairs" because is mostly down hair. The hair long is between 10 mm to 30 mm. Coats could be dense or disperse / sparse. They are softh and gentle to the touch because these hairs are fine and softly waved. Cats with dense or heavy brush coats generaly wont never lost it. They have soft waved whiskers.
*** When you touch any sort of brush hair, it's absolutely unlikely to anything naked, it's just a hard or soft waved hair, short or lengthy. Brush cats have curly whiskers, which differs them from cats with normal hair, sometimes also called "straight hairs". Sometimes a cat can be "brush-point", that is she have brush kind of hair on legs and tail and velour (or even flocked!) on other parts of the body.
They are the cats with normal hair, always they have normal whiskers. Those cats have not the
hair lossing gene ore any typical Peterbald's trait they look like nornmal coated cats. We NEVER use
this tipes of coat cats for breeding.
Main thing is, there are no just 5 strictly defined groups of hairs with same subtypes, those groups are somewhat diffusive, you can't always tell if it's flock of velour, if it's extra-short flock or usual flock and so on. There's plenty of medium cases. And finally when are not sure “what kind of hair” your cat is, check the legs - tail and decide upon its analysis.