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Spartan

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17951676_1287172821377910_3786656810619495873_n.jpg


I'm Bill. My nickname is "Spartan" a name I have had since I was in the military many years ago. I'm from Pennsylvania but I spent much of my life in the US in Honolulu, Hawaii. After leaving Hawaii, I went to Tokyo to teach at various major universities and work for a couple global corporations over the years. I moved to China going on five years ago and ending up here in Guangzhou (Canton) at the Higher Education Mega Center about two years ago teaching at an upper tier 'Big 10' university here but I digress...

I'm a lifelong Sphynx lover but sadly over the years my insane workload and unremitting schedule never afforded the time necessary to properly care for pets, especially one as precious as a Sphynx so I never allowed myself the privileged. I'm an extremely responsible person and I take obligations seriously to say the least.

Late last year, I signed a long term contract my current institution so now I'm here for at least the better part of a decade. Furthermore, I reduced my workload dramatically so I feel confident I can provide a high quality living environment for pets and have been taking measure to facilitate that end. Consequently, I found this community.

I started looking for show quality Sphynx cats here nearly a year ago but have have simply not any luck until recently. Long vexing story short, I now have a gray elf Sphynx girl coming to me sometime next month. This is her picture at two weeks old:
Lilith - 4-8-17.jpg

Getting her will be the fulfillment of a small nearly 40 year dream. Accordingly, I look forward to interacting within this community over the coming years.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask - I'm an open book so to speak....
 

sphynxmoms

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@Spartan Welcome to the Lair! Congrats on becoming a "Dad!" Wow what a CUTIE...I can understand falling in love with her for sure! Do you have a name picked out or are you waiting to get her? Will you be visiting her before she comes home? Let us know when your official "gotcha" day will be...we LOVE to celebrate and watch your lil LOVE grow with you!
 

KitCatty

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Congrats! She's beautiful I look forward to more pictures and of course an account of "Gotcha Day" as we call it here in the lair


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Spartan

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@Spartan [..]Do you have a name picked out or are you waiting to get her? Will you be visiting her before she comes home? Let us know when your official "gotcha" day will be...we LOVE to celebrate and watch your lil LOVE grow with you!

Thanks... Yes her name is: Lilith. :happy: Sadly I will not be visiting her prior as she is in another state. Regarding when I will get her, I dont know yet as the breeder refused to give an exact date. It seems he will be driving her and some other cats to this area sometime next month but his trip is clearly not planned out at this point. Nonetheless, once I learn I will surely inform you.

On a side note: She has a truly magnificent brother the stuff of dreams (no joke he could stand as one with the darkness) but I will never do a brother and sister mating pair. You see because he thinks she is not show worthy (her ears dont curl enough) he gave me a huge discount on her, since he had another person interest in the boy but not her. Consequently I chose her over her godly brother. After all I'm not doing this for money it is about something far important to me. With that said, I hope I can find a mate for her just as wonderful as her brother in the future. I may have try and import one from the US at this point I think. If only I knew someone going to Hong Kong from the US then we could meet and I would be golden but I digress again....
 

admin

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Hello @Spartan and welcome to Sphynxlair! So glad you found us! What a cutie you have there! Please enjoy our wonderful sphynx community! :)
 

Catzzzmeow

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Welcome to Sphynxlair. Your girl is beautiful. I am looking forward to seeing you become an active member in the community and watching her grow. Your life is about to change forever.

Patti
 

Spartan

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Welcome to Sphynxlair. Your girl is beautiful. I am looking forward to seeing you become an active member in the community and watching her grow. Your life is about to change forever.

Patti
Thanks! That is the plan.... I'll try to check the boards daily... Back in the day I build one of the largest Internet forum communities in the world. It was still listed as one of the big boards last time I checked.
 

Xandria

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Hello and welcome, future SphynxDaddy! Lilith is precious, but you know this. Almost a blessing that her ears don't curl enough to warrant extra cost and possibly have found a home elsewhere. I sense that she will be everything to you. So glad you can now fulfill your 40 year old dream. Congrats. And keep us posted on Gotcha Day! And more pics if they come forth from the breeder.

By the way, what do you teach?
 

Spartan

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[..]By the way, what do you teach?
I hold two full time appointments at my current university. Through those appointments, I teach sociology, international and intercultural communications, urban and regional planning principles and history as well as various types of English classes. I also coach the school's English debate team (national championships every year since I been here). Anyway, if you really want details then please feel free to check out my Facebook profile.
 

Toa and Ross

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@Spartan welcome to sphynxlair to you and Lilith. So exciting you'll soon be a sphynx dad! Lilith is gorgeous. Such an adorable and beautiful little elf girl. I can see she'll wrap you around her paw in no time:).

My elf girl Jade wants to chime in to tell you you're so lucky that you get a grey elf girl soon and ahe wants to sent a special welcome to Lilith. Oh and Jade says Lilith's ears are purrfect!
IMG_1551.JPG


Natasja
 

Spartan

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@Spartan [..]
My elf girl Jade wants to chime in to tell you you're so lucky that you get a grey elf girl soon and ahe wants to sent a special welcome to Lilith. Oh and Jade says Lilith's ears are purrfect![..]
Natasja
Thanks! Wow!! She is exquisite and chic! Lucky you. I hope to be as lucky with Lilith....
 

Toa and Ross

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@Spartan thank you. But uuuuhm I guess you never smelled the horrible smell of Jade's poop. You'll think differently about her being chic once you smelled it:p
But I'm indeed lucky cause she's such a cute little elf with a big personality that loves to cuddle more and more everyday.
I'm sure Lilith will be just as wonderful!
 

Zab

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Welcome to the place to be! That Lilith is such a cutiepie. Hope to follow your joint adventures with lots of pictures! Congratz on your new family member.
/Zab
 

Spartan

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Thanks for all the posts and positive messages everyone! :happy::kiss:

I just got a very awesome email... I contacted several breeders I found online over the past couple months to explore various options to get a cat and recently to get a mate for Lilith and the few responses I received were very negative and insanely costly to say the least. However one established breeder in Russia with a very high recommendation not only responded positively but she said she would hand deliver a mate if I wanted one from her as she comes here a couple times a year! What are the chances of that happening? Amazing... Moreover that she would fully support us as best she could with the cats. :cat:
 

Mal

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Lilith is soooooo cute!!!!
So happy for you that your dream is finally coming true!

Welcome to the Lair!!!!
 

Zab

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Thanks for all the posts and positive messages everyone! :happy::kiss:

I just got a very awesome email... I contacted several breeders I found online over the past couple months to explore various options to get a cat and recently to get a mate for Lilith and the few responses I received were very negative and insanely costly to say the least. However one established breeder in Russia with a very high recommendation not only responded positively but she said she would hand deliver a mate if I wanted one from her as she comes here a couple times a year! What are the chances of that happening? Amazing... Moreover that she would fully support us as best she could with the cats. :cat:

I don't want to be a party pooper but here in Sweden lots of sphynx cats that come from Russia are sick and the new owners find themselves in very sad situations. I've heard from lots of people that they get to buy the cats for less money but end up paying more because of the vet bills and sadly sometimes still ends up with no cat at all. Also there's been cases that involve shaved cats that are sold as sphynxes. I'm not saying that every breeder is like this but I've read a lot in Swedish cat forums about this development. So be sure what you are buying, not everyone out there has the cats best interests in mind.... best of luck!
/Zab
 

Spartan

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[..]So be sure what you are buying, not everyone out there has the cats best interests in mind.... best of luck!
/Zab
Thanks for the information. I can easily understand.... Believe it or not the situation is far worse here. The treatment of animals is heinous in many breeder 'farms' and the animals are routinely injected with drugs to make them active and other monstrous stories I've been told and read about repeatedly over the past couple years. Nonetheless this particular lady has a very nice well developed (long time registered) website and is apparently registered with CFA, TICA, ICU, WCA organizations as a breeder and is the only FBRL recommended breeder from Russia as well. I dont know what her prices are yet but she seems like the real deal from what I can tell presently. Furthermore she shows as having a couple Supreme Grand Champion lines.

Chances are when she tells me her prices my heart will sink I think.... :depressed:
 
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Spartan

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Update: Getting a mate for Lilith & progress towards [possibly] setting up a world-class cattery

I got her follow up email and I'm extremely interested in working with her but it comes at high premium. The cost per cat is substantial. It is in the $2,500-$3,500 US dollars range plus around $1,000 shipping. That is upwards of a yearly salary for the average person here. Starting the cattery will be a hard nut to crack on my state institution teacher salary even working two full-time positions. Lots of things to consider to be sure....
 
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Toa and Ross

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@Spartan that's a lot of money indeed so can imagine youneed to think it through and through. There will be lots of cost too when you start a cattery and there will be kittens. Think it's only possible to do when you're willing to invest and it's really your biggest dream to start a cattery to get super healthy and beautiful kittens.

You sound like a wise man to me so I'm sure you'll make the right decision!
 

Catzzzmeow

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I am not sure if you ever saw this thread in the community What to expect from a responsible sphynx breeder. We have seen members speak about the HCM scans and having others interpret the scans if then do not know that written language etc. Getting from another country with language barriers can put a twist on things. You do have lots to think about. You spoke about your soon to be girl not being quite the quality of her brother. If you are looking to start a top quality cattery, it starts with you and the breeding pair. So to invest so much in one you might not want to invest in producing with the girl you are getting if that makes sense. Unless you are saying she is top quality as well.

Breeding is very difficult and very costly as mentioned, not to mention it can be very hard as males often spray and many people cannot tolerate that happening in their home. In the end you might decide to just get your baby and love her to pieces and get to learn more about the breed and gain experience. If you do here is a thread on the benefits of spaying/neutering. Should I spay or neuter my sphynx cat?

Good luck on your decision @Spartan. All breeders started somewhere, but having a mentor is ideal.

Patti
 

KitCatty

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You're baby is beautiful but I agree with what @Catzzzmeow said. I bred for a while and it is financially draining (you don't make $ like you'd think), emotionally taxing and it takes time. A responsible breeder doesn't breed a pair until at least 1 yr which is when they qualify for the HCM scan.

Males spray!!!! They can also be very aggressive with the females and need to separated at times. Make sure you've got that kind of space. That is a lot of $$$$ for a cat and honestly you don't always get what you pay for!

I payed $2000 each for my girls, got stiffed on pedigree paperwork, one ended up needing a C section for her first litter, and one ended up with a murmur (after her 1st scan) and suffered pyometra twice!!!!

I had to bottle feed babies from my 1st litter every 2-3 hours and I had a baby of my own at the time, I watched kittens die, it was rough! There are a lot of risks involved and while the reward can be great it's important to be prepared

Also a side: quality catteries are normally looking to strengthen the breed and adhere to the breed standard so knowing what to look for in your "breed stock" is very important, it takes time to learn this. Showing your cat is also expensive and time consuming! Very fun but a ton of work!!!!


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