Low-Shedding Cat Breeds (Ranked by Data)

Cat hair on a dark sofa is a small problem; cat hair in the lungs of someone who reacts to it is a bigger one. This list ranks the breeds in our encyclopedia that leave the least of it behind.

Every breed here scores 1 or 2 on Shedding in our editorial ratings; the list is ranked by the Shedding score, then popularity. The 1s are the breeds with almost no coat to shed: the hairless Sphynx and the thin, curly-coated Devon Rex and Cornish Rex. The 2s are mostly short, close-lying single coats, such as the Siamese, Russian Blue and Abyssinian, which shed lightly and mostly in spring.

Low-shedding is not the same as low-allergen. The protein most people react to is in a cat's saliva and skin, not its hair, and every cat on this list produces it. Some people with mild allergies do better with a Sphynx or a Russian Blue; others find no difference at all. The only test that counts is time spent with the individual cat, ideally in the home it will live in.

The rating is a tendency of the breed, and coats vary with diet, season and health; a cat that suddenly sheds more than its breed page suggests usually has something else going on. Several of these breeds trade shedding for other upkeep: a Sphynx needs regular baths because the oil its hair would have absorbed ends up on your furniture, and the Rex breeds feel the cold. Whoever provides cat sitting for one should know those routines before the first visit, and should meet the cat rather than rely on the breed.