Yup. For a lot of cats the layers are oil, undercoat, main coat. The undercoat is a very short, dense and wiry coat of fur to stop things getting from the main coat to the skin.
The undercoat, as you can imagine, also absorbs a lot of the oil. Most people who are allergic to cats are actually allergic to the oil.
Also, in very specific breeds, there can be 3 layers of fur (like Siberian, for example).
IIRC the founding animal was a street cat that was adopted. So people were only indirectly responsible.
Eta: Partially true. But there was a whole lot of breeding fuckery to stabilize the mutation.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphynx_cat
Wow, that thing is a rabbit hole! Thanks for sharing
And with it came the oil thing?
I’d think all cats naturally do the oil thing to protect their fur
Yup. For a lot of cats the layers are oil, undercoat, main coat. The undercoat is a very short, dense and wiry coat of fur to stop things getting from the main coat to the skin.
The undercoat, as you can imagine, also absorbs a lot of the oil. Most people who are allergic to cats are actually allergic to the oil.
Also, in very specific breeds, there can be 3 layers of fur (like Siberian, for example).