The Donskoy is a hairless cat breed of Russian origin. This breed started in 1987 with the discovery of a hairless cat in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don by cat breeder Elena Kovaleva. It is not related to the better known hairless breed of cat the Sphynx also known as the Canadian hairless whose characteristic hairlessness is caused by a recessive gene whereas the Don hairlessness is caused by a dominant gene.