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In bed...

For most people looking after a cat means simply topping up a bowl full of biscuits, rescuing the odd dead spider from the cat water and brief attempts at picking up and cuddling a cat that quite obviously would rather be anywhere else.

But for one Wiltshire woman, 24-year-old Kelly Hampton from Trowbridge, looking after eight hairless cats and five tiny naked kittens is a tad more high maintenance.

It might not be quite as excessive, as an article on Kelly in Closer magazine would have it, but they do take some looking after.

Cat baths and chicken dinners

Kelly's bevy of 13 hairless kitties, for instance, don't get bathed, dressed in pyjamas and tucked into bed every night or get fed a breakfast of fresh tuna and salmon.

Nor do they get preferential treatment over her husband and two children:

"I give them a bath once a week," says Kelly, "because they get dirty so quickly and every other day they get a little strip wash with a warm flannel.

"And I do roast a chicken everyday for them to eat between them.  But they only have fresh tuna and salmon as a special treat."

Kelly's first kittens

It was back in 2003 that Kelly first fell for the hairless Sphynxs when she saw one for the very first time in the 'flesh':

"The first time I saw a Sphynx was in a book," says Kelly, "and I thought it was really ugly.

"But then when I went to a show, with my grandmother, and saw five pink, wrinkly little babies and I had to have one.  They were nothing like I expected at all, touching one was like touching a warm peach."

Cat walkies

But at £1,000 a pop, it took Kelly nearly a year not just to save up for her very first hairless Sphynx but to research the breed as well:

"Sphynxs are very demanding," says Kelly.  "They have to be kept indoors.  So I have to either take them out for a walk on a lead or take them out in a cat buggy.

"I also take them out in the car.  They love putting their heads out the windows and this summer we took them on holiday with us to the caravan.”

'A big bag of waggly, wrinkly skin'

A lack of fur also means that the Great British Summer is not exactly hairless cat friendly:

"I have lots of jumpers for them," says Kelly, "so that I can take them out.  They need extra layers as they lose heat so quickly.

"But it's not a fashion statement. I don't treat them like dollies.  Although they do look cute in them."

'Pussies Galore'

Since Moonshadow, Kelly’s first hairless cat, arrived at the Hampton's house the number of hairless kitties has risen to eight.  Whilst, at the end of August, Kelly found herself having kittens for the very first time.

It was a conception that, it later turned out, had almost been caught on film in the Channel 4 documentary 'Pussies Galore'.  Aired, at the weekend, Kelly is shown busily creating a romantic bedroom setting along with a four poster for the kitty couple:

Meda - 'a beautiful odd eyed white girl'

"They filmed for about four or five days spaced over weeks," says Kelly, "from 9:00 am to 10pm at night and all for about eight minutes.

"The 'Romantic' setting bit… they made me do that, although the cats do have a four poster bed with lots of teddies."

With a second litter, due on September 25th, it has to be asked is it all worth it for what some people unkindly call a 'skinned rat’?

"They are the most beautiful, amazingly loving cats I have ever known," says Kelly, "they have changed my life forever.

"I often find myself staring in amazement at my cat/dog/monkey/children."

And if you'd like to find out more about Kelly and her hairless Sphynx cats click on the link below. 

Can't wait to see pictures of the new brood….