10/29/2026
How NoCoatKitty Started ❤️
I’ve shared the story on my website and this page about WHY I started breeding, but I’ve never really talked about those first few years or how NoCoatKitty’s bloodlines actually began.
Super quick recap of why it started... I was 22 years old, had just bought my first house, and wanted a pet. The first three Sphynx I purchased were very sick. I fell completely in love with this amazing breed, but those experiences made me want to do something to help make them healthier and break the mold of what people thought breeders were. I wanted to not only do things right but show people it being done.
When I started in 2003, Sphynx were still very uncommon. Breeders were scarce, and finding information wasn’t like it is today. I researched like crazy. I found a veterinarian who bred Devon Rex, and she gave me a lot of insight into what I would need and how to set up my home.
That brand-new house I had just bought? Yeah… I realized it was too small for what I wanted to do. So I sold it and bought a different one. 😂
I was very fortunate to be financially stable at a young age, and that matters when telling this story. So many people try to get into breeding flat broke, thinking the kittens will make them money. I started working in hospitality at 16, at a very large venue in Philadelphia, and became a manager at 18. I went on to do very well in this business and that is what supported my love for this breed and their lifestyle lol.
I didn’t just go buy a few naked cats and start pairing them up. I read an entire veterinary handbook cover to cover. I decided outcrossing was going to be the direction for my program, and NoCoatKitty began with two hairless cats and four cats with hair that I carefully chose for outcrossing.
I converted my 1,500-square-foot basement into a kitty mansion. I purchased my cats and had my home set up before I ever had my first litter. By the end of that first year, I was close to $60,000 in and hadn’t had ONE baby.
I was working full time, and I had amazing family and friends who jumped in to help. They are all still part of NoCoatKitty to this day. My mother, father, neice, sister, and Danielle. They were all here from the beginning and stuck it out for the long haul. They knew how much this meant to me, and pretty quickly, they fell in love with the cats too. So we all got sucked in.
Back then, NoCoatKitty was a website that didn’t sell kittens. It documented the gradual process of starting a cattery: raising my cats, building their rooms, going to vet appointments, and figuring things out as I went. I didn’t sell a kitten until close to three years after my first litter. I kept kittens and did trades with other breeders.
I honestly could never have imagined getting to where I am today, with cats that have more then five generations of my own bloodlines behind them.
I’ve never linebred, so those early years involved constantly bringing in different cats and very careful planning. There was complete devastation at times. There were times I had to stop having litters and felt like I was starting all over again. There were entire lines I walked away from after years of working with them because something wasn’t what I wanted to continue breeding.
About five years in, I had to hire a reproductive specialist because I was seeing fertility issues. That was a nightmare of a year. Not only did I have to stop the program but I lost bloodlines and the testing was very expensive.
But my goal then was the same as it is now. I’m not trying to produce the cats that win ribbons it in the show hall. I’m fighting for health, I'm fighting HCM, I want bigger heartier cats, and want amazing temperament .
Does that mean everything is perfect? Absolutely not. Things still happen. But I’m always watching, following my cats, and willing to remove a cat or end a line when I see something I’m not comfortable continuing.
In 2014, I finally broke even for that year. ELEVEN years after I started. And it felt so good lol. I had always just wanted the cattery to be able to support itself.
Not too long ago, I was commenting under a post in a breeder group, and a newer breeder called me out for charging more for lilac kittens years ago, when they were extremely scarce. She kept making sly comments and laughing at what I was saying.
It made me realize, some really don't understand what goes into developing certain traits. What she didn’t know was that my lilac program took SIX YEARS to develop.
I never went out and bought a lilac cat. I spent years working toward those kittens. Below I have photos of some of the progress. So yes, I charged more for them lol. Working toward specific traits can take years and cost a tremendous amount of money. It's hard for some breeders to understand that because sadly we still have so many one hit wonders and people that just buy cats and breed them hoping to make money....there is no real thought behind their programs.
Some breeders start with cats whose bloodlines other people spent years developing. My beginning involved building those lines through outcrossing, raising generations, evaluating them, and deciding what I could responsibly continue.
Lil Bu, who is still here with me, is part of that history. Her mother was my first hairless lilac (pic below). Lil Bu is 11 now, and Sushi is her offspring. That bloodline goes back 17 years, with health and longevity I’ve been able to follow. I know where almost every cat from that line is.
I follow my cats. What happens to them years after they leave matters to the decisions I make here today.
I never set out to be a baby maker. NEVER.
A lot of my program today still involves outcrossing back to those older lines I know so well. We have three outcrosses going at the moment, and I’m still doing the work that got me started all those years ago.
A lot of you know my niece, Giana. She was raised in the NoCoatKitty Cathouse lol. She watched her first litter being born when she was only SIX MONTHS OLD 😂 Now she helps with our social media and kitty photos, and you’ll see her in a lot of our pictures. She’s been part of this her whole life. ❤️
I’ve attached some photos of our first litters and foundation cats. Enjoy seeing where it all started!
