Most of the big name Marxists were a bit reluctant to make predictions about what humanity’s communist future might look like. Trotsky hazarded a guess in Communism and Socialism when he wrote: 
“Man will become immeasurably stronger, wiser, and subtler; his body will become more harmonious, his movements more rhythmic, his voice more musical. The forms of life will become dynamically dramatic. The average human type will rise to the heights of an Aristotle, a Goethe, or a Marx. And above these heights, new peaks will rise.”
That’s all very well for us. I’ve yet to meet the reader of this site who would not benefit from most of those improvements but Marxism is mute on the subject of cats. Behind Trotsky’s rosy view of human improvement was the Victorian love affair with science and he seemed to be adumbrating genetic engineering. We have been genetically engineering all sorts of species for thousands of years and what we’ve been left with is, for the most part pretty satisfactory. Horses, pigs, sheep and dogs other than poodles. The exception to the rule is the misbegotten creatures in the photos. They are called Sphynx or Canadian Hairless and though they looked like something that has been evolving in Chernobyl they have been bred to look that way. Some people want an animal to look like that.
Cats carry a hairlessness gene and, as good Darwinians, we should just accept that it’s rotten bad luck on the ones that inherit it. The kindest thing to do would be to throw them into a nearby body of water in a weighted sack to save them being ripped apart by other cats. Some people have decided to exploit the gene and breed the animals for profit. There are niche markets among people who are allergic to cat hair and those who don’t like the stuff on their sofa. With predispositions like that there is a very obvious solution to the problem of feline companionship. I deal with my allergic reaction to Bono by not letting him into my house. This works out a lot cheaper than breeding a version lacking the self-righteous, tax-dodging, wanker gene.
Even though you wouldn’t be surprised to see these animals emerging from a spaceship they do have their fans. One of whom says that “they are very people-orientated and affectionate…and are very talkative.” Yet even the fans have to admit that the genetic tinkering which began in 1966 has unpleasant side effects for the animals.
◊ They have to eat more to compensate for heat loss.
◊ They have to avoid strong sunlight or they will burn. For an animal that was domesticated in Egypt that’s a drawback.
◊ They sweat due to its lack of hair.
◊ They can’t have the grooming rituals which are cats’ social life when not shagging or fighting.
◊ They have to be bathed once a week with special products and if they are not dried off with a towel immediately they catch a chill.
◊ Their ears have to be cleaned weekly.
◊ They have to be kept indoors and like nothing better than climbing into tumble driers.
The Sphynx is incapable of surviving without intensive human support. Its relationship has transcended dependency to the extent that it relies on its owners for survival and the owners only want it for the very qualities that make it so helpless. Even the most inbred pedigree dog has a better chance of fending for itself. Freak animals are being bred to satisfy a perverse human desire. Trotsky would not have approved.
Liam redux 
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