We’ve fostered so many cats over the years, usually for just a short time before they were adopted, that most of them have blurred together in my memory. A few stand out, though, and Sparky the Cornish Rex is one of them.

Why? Well, to be honest, because of his looks. The Humane Society rep explained Cornish Rexes to me this way: “They’re ugly, but some people like them.”

It turned out this breed of cat had no guard hairs. I didn’t know what those were, but when I saw Sparky, I realized most of the hairs on a cat must be guard hairs. All he had was a thin layer of curly white hair all over. He looked more pink than anything. The lack of hair also made his ears look huge and the rest of him look painfully thin. It was strange to realize that this was what a typical fluffy cat looked like underneath.

But though Sparky didn’t look very cuddly, he was pretty affectionate and liked to rub against people and sit in our laps. Most Cornish Rexes are; I think it’s their way of keeping warm. I think that also explains their habit of squeezing into tiny spaces, like between the back door and the screen door. We had to be careful closing that door all the time he was with us.

Cornish Rexes have been around since the 1940′s, when their ancestor, Kallibunker, was born with a mutation that kept him from growing guard hairs. Instead of being scorned as a freak, he was used to father a breed. Today, Cornish Rexes have lots of fans.

Sparky, for example, was adopted by a family with a child who was allergic to animal hair. Though it’s a myth that Cornish Rexes are hypoallergenic, they felt he was worth a trial adoption. Before the end of the week, they knew he was there for good.

Cornish Rexes are great if you can see the inner cat — and I don’t mean the pink part.