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Can anyone answer my two questions?

Elaina

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I thought I may as well put my two questions into one thread! One question being one that is starting to concern me and the other being a more general question. Any advice would be great.

My Gabbi is 6 months old now. I'm just a little concerned with her breathing? Only when she is asleep/comes around from sleeping/just woke up does her breathing sound raspy/slightly wheezy? I would like to think it is just a snore, but I'm so concerned about HCM. She came from Russia initially and I did view her paperwork in Russian which showed her scan was clear (This was done when she was younger, like 2 months old?) Her parents were also clear too. Should I get her checked out again? I recently moved to a new vets, since Pets at Home asked if she is an outdoor cat and do I flea her? My new vets are much better, but since my first and last appointment was about her infection from her spay - I didn't ask about them listening to her heart.

2) What cat litter do you use? My carpets are suffering! Cat litter everywhere!

Thanks all! :)
 

Yoda mom

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I would get her rechecked for peace of mind- specifically ask to rule out URI which can be quite common with new babies- during the exam I always ask how their hearts sound-

Litter- I use cats pride fresh and light unscented in the green plastic container and it has lower dust- because the other stuff makes me gag from the dust and perfumes- I can't imagine it is good for kitties lungs-
I have tried many litters and they all track to some degree- if it's not litter, it's pearls, pellets etc everywhere- I keep a mini dust pan by the litter box and vacuum every day-

I do not give or put on any flea medication or collars

Hugs to Gabbi! And I hope her spay infection is clearing up-
You can also call the old vet office and ask for a copy of her chart notes- often time they have notes about heart and lung sounds-
I got all vet copies before I moved and gave them to my new vet and update my address with the microchip company and rechecked later to make sure the information was updated correctly

Keep us posted on Gabbi!

Do you give her l-lysine?
 

nudebea

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Hi there. Its probably a good idea to check with your vet, preferably one who is aware that most sphynx are indoor cats, if just for peace of mind. As for litter, as Yoda mom does, we also have a small dust pan and brush handy, {we use unscented wood pellet litter as thats what the breeder used ] and we have tried a kind of mat that the litter tray stands on . It was from our local pet supermarket and is some kind of softish rubber with loads of little "spikes". They dont mind walking on it and it does seem to reduce the Spread ....a bit
 

Kyla L

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For your first question: is she a Russian sphynx or canadian? I know my Yuri who is Russian is a horrible snorer. It sounds raspy a bit, because I have never heard a cat snore. But I think it has something to do with how wrinkled they are.

If she is only doing it when sleeping and not after playing which would make her heart work harder it might just be a snore. Yuri's snores are so small and light sounding unless he is sleeping upside down and then he can rival my husbands.

And for the second: I use the Costco brand litter. It is a lot like the Arm and Hammer stuff that Yuri prefers. And it tracks everywhere because it gets stuck in between his webbed toes. Nigel my Canadian Sphynx doesn't track it as badly because he doesn't get it stuck in between his toes. You can always try a litter box that has a top entrance that will possibly help her from kicking it out everywhere.
 

admin

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I thought I may as well put my two questions into one thread! One question being one that is starting to concern me and the other being a more general question. Any advice would be great.

My Gabbi is 6 months old now. I'm just a little concerned with her breathing? Only when she is asleep/comes around from sleeping/just woke up does her breathing sound raspy/slightly wheezy? I would like to think it is just a snore, but I'm so concerned about HCM. She came from Russia initially and I did view her paperwork in Russian which showed her scan was clear (This was done when she was younger, like 2 months old?) Her parents were also clear too. Should I get her checked out again? I recently moved to a new vets, since Pets at Home asked if she is an outdoor cat and do I flea her? My new vets are much better, but since my first and last appointment was about her infection from her spay - I didn't ask about them listening to her heart.

2) What cat litter do you use? My carpets are suffering! Cat litter everywhere!

Thanks all! :)

Its very odd if they scanned a 2 month old sphynx, that is surely uncommon. Most sphynx would be scanned at their first year of age. It wouldn't hurt to schedule a vet check and to have a listen to the heart. As far as the litter issue, sometimes its not so much the litter as it is the containment method of the litter. Clumping litter will surely be more effective in helping with the tracking of it but we have found using a tupperware container with a hole cut in the top keeps our floor virtually free of litter. Clever cat makes one or you can just make your own with a nice rug on top to help in the collection of litter as shown below. :)

Wee-DIY1.jpg
 

DrKimber

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I thought I may as well put my two questions into one thread! One question being one that is starting to concern me and the other being a more general question. Any advice would be great.

My Gabbi is 6 months old now. I'm just a little concerned with her breathing? Only when she is asleep/comes around from sleeping/just woke up does her breathing sound raspy/slightly wheezy? I would like to think it is just a snore, but I'm so concerned about HCM. She came from Russia initially and I did view her paperwork in Russian which showed her scan was clear (This was done when she was younger, like 2 months old?) Her parents were also clear too. Should I get her checked out again? I recently moved to a new vets, since Pets at Home asked if she is an outdoor cat and do I flea her? My new vets are much better, but since my first and last appointment was about her infection from her spay - I didn't ask about them listening to her heart.

2) What cat litter do you use? My carpets are suffering! Cat litter everywhere!

Thanks all! :)
Hi Elaina,
I am by no means experienced in the area of veterinary medicine, but I do work with humans in the area of medicine and with that said, I am a firm believer of evidence based medicine in any being, whether it human or our naked varieties. As others have suggested, it may be a good idea just to have your baby rescanned. I personally was concerned about the breathing I experienced while watching my Monty sleep at night. I just didn't think it sounded right, despite knowing my breeder did have him scanned for HCM prior to my formal date of pickup of 14 weeks. I just wanted to double check things and had my primary care vet refer me to a cardiology specialist here in NYC to have him get a scan at 4mths old. Rest assured, Monty was perfectly fine with his follow up scan with the cardiologist. The only guarantee with a negative finding, is that your kitten is not genetically born with a defect. However, this does not mean your kitten may never develop HCM at a later age. Really the same holds true with humans. Heart problems can occur later in life and the most important thing a pet owner can do is obtain routine follow up. Following Monty's check up on his heart, I was provided some medical literature regarding the likelihood of how common it would be for the sphynx breed to develop HCM later in life, this was done on a study of the common breeds who will likely experience HCM. Based upon the information which I was presented, the average age of onset for potential development of HCM in sphinx cats is around 5 years old. (I attempted to attach the file I scanned for the veterinary journal article, but it is too large for upload here. Feel free to contact me if you would like me to email it to you) With that said, there is a screening test that you can do annually, which is certainly less costly than the typical echocardiogram (which in NYC ran me a bill of ~$516 not having pet insurance - although I am not sure as to what extent that would be covered anyway). The test is called NTpro-BNP, which is a simple blood test which tells you if your baby has signs of heart failure by elevated levels. Thankfully, it is more specific in cats than it is in dogs and there is a similar test that is used on a regular basis in humans. I am not sure how much this test costs, as I have not had it yet for Monty, but I would assume it would be much cheaper to do on an annual basis versus an annual scan, which can be quite costly from my experience of not having pet insurance. I will personally be having Monty get this test on an annual basis and will have a formal scan done when he is five years old. The most important thing is to catch the disease early on b/c you can manage things with medications. I hope this helps you with your decision.

In terms of litter, Monty uses Dr. Elsey's Kitten Attract, which has a special blend of herbs that promotes cats to want to go to the litter. It definitely worked well for him, as I have yet to have any accidents. I am using litter quitter toilet training system with him and it is indeed flushable b/c of the small particle size (however I am really on top of the flushing right after he goes, so I am not sure how well things would be if I waited a while and the particles expanded).

Congrats to your new baby Gabbi and best of luck with all her follow up. Please do keep us all posted on her progress.

Regards,
Kim
 

Elaina

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Hi all,

Thanks for the advice. I've decided for peace of mind, it's time to have a trip to the vets! For now she'll just listen to her heart and based on what she thinks, whether she needs a scan. Better to be safe than sorry with our babies right?! :)
 

Elaina

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Thanks all!

A trip to the vets confirmed she may cat flu/cat herpes?? Either way the vet said giving her antibiotics wouldn't help as it's a virus, but if it gets worse to bring her back. He said her booster jabs would probably help when she gets them in July too. Her heart sounded fine though, which is a huge relief!
 

nudebea

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Im really glad that you had some positive news from your vet. Think theres some great advice on some of the posts. Hope she soom recovers x
 

Kenneth

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I'm rarely on here and it's usually when I have a problem. I dumped my vet and took my boy to The Cat Hospital that specializes in cats yesterday for breathing problems. The office recommends Precious Cat Ultra Premium for their hairless patients. I had already been using it for a couple of years because another vet had recommended it to me. It still tracks but it's dustless. I might have to vacuum a bit more but at least their lungs aren't filling up with that clumping dust.
 

Elaina

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Hi Kenneth,

Thanks for the advice. I just had a little nosey at that brand of cat litter online and on the amazon review, people seem to be raving about it! I'll give it a go! Thank you. :)
 
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