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Considering a Sphynx for my next cat and have a few questions

pavlovian

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Mar 22, 2020
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Hi!

My beloved (hairy) cat is, unfortunately, reaching the end of his life. He's my best friend in the whole world and the most amazing cat I've ever met. He's clingy, affectionate, licky, silly, extroverted, confident in new situations, happy to meet new people, tolerant of handling and quick to forgive – just an absolute Golden Retriever of a cat. He is absolutely irreplaceable and probably one-of-a-kind. That being said, I'm hoping to find a similarly sweet, people-oriented cat. Ideally, I would like to be able to leash-train this cat and bring her new places (even volunteer therapy work?) which has not been an option with my current cat due to his special needs.

  • How much would you say your Sphynxes meet this kind of description, personality-wise? I would be dedicating time to thoroughly socialize my cat if I got her as a kitten (I'm a professional dog trainer and intend to more or less follow a modified version of the protocol I would use for puppies).

  • How bad is the grease staining? I saw the recommendation to sponge your Sphynxes daily....if you do this, what do you use? Water? Any particular kind of soap?

  • I've heard conflicting things about whether they leave behind butt prints on surfaces. Does this happen? Is it an urban legend?

  • I saw in the information center that "most breeders" will void their contract if you get FIP or FeLV vaccines for your cat. Why? I've never heard of this.

  • And finally...any breeder recommendations around New York? I've emailed two TICA breeders and heard nothing back. :( I'm OK driving to another state to get a cat, but pretty much all reputable breeder recommendations I've gotten are west of the Mississippi. I would prefer to be able to meet the cats in person.
Thanks so much for your time!
 

Sheldon13

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My cat is older now so I don’t take her out anymore. But I used to all the time! Her favorite thing was going on walks/hikes. She would ride in a basket on my front and every little while I would let her down on a leash to sniff around. She loved it!

@Catzzzmeow knows a breeder in Jersey.

Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need
 

Catzzzmeow

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Welcome. I am sorry to hear that your current baby is gettin on in years and no matter how long we have them, it is never long enough. Kudos to your for researching and I can tell by your post, you have been looking through the great knowledge shared in the information section.

Trying to cover your questions...most agree this breed is very dog/monkey like. Some call them Velcro kitties, but just like humans and animals it can vary. Always great to ask the breeder their personalities early on and to be sure they are raised underfoot making them more socialized.

Grease stains...we have dark sheets and darker furniture...we love our leather furniture over the fabric furniture, but blankets can do wonders to cover and this breed LOVES blankets.

The vaccinations you mention....their can be complications from them resulting in site sarcomas. You can google this info.

Butt prints...some call rusty sheriff’s badge or chocolate starfish lol. Not really an issue...it is blown way out of proportion. It is more like you can see their butts hole than them leaving marks. More likely to hear of the random poop tail if if gets on it...again can happen but not a regular thing and only happens with a wet bowel movement which can be fixed with finding the right food.

I can PM you a breeder in NJ. Good luck on your search. Kudos to you for researching and I end this by saying your life changes forever when a Sphynx enters your heart/home. We have lost 3 hairless wonders and each and every one after has helped heal our hearts.
 

StacyD

Lairian
Joined
Feb 21, 2017
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  • How much would you say your Sphynxes meet this kind of description, personality-wise? I would be dedicating time to thoroughly socialize my cat if I got her as a kitten (I'm a professional dog trainer and intend to more or less follow a modified version of the protocol I would use for puppies). My cat Ace is very loving & craves lots and lots of attention. But it has to be on his terms. If I pick him up he'll struggle to get down. But he'll sit on my lap for hours. When company comes over he hangs out with the crowd, even sitting on our friends laps. He sleeps a lot, but loves to play as well. He's super sweet. He would never scratch you, even when picking him up and he's clearly aggravated & wants to get down. But baths are a whole other story - he'll try to claw his way to freedom then. We did get him at 2 yrs old.

  • How bad is the grease staining? I saw the recommendation to sponge your Sphynxes daily....if you do this, what do you use? Water? Any particular kind of soap? We seem to have an odd one. We give him a bath about every 6 months. He never leaves grease stains. He's just not greasy at all really. But after many months of not bathing him, he seems to be a bit greasy so we bathe him.

  • I've heard conflicting things about whether they leave behind butt prints on surfaces. Does this happen? Is it an urban legend? No butt prints here. On a rare occasion, a poopy paw.

  • I saw in the information center that "most breeders" will void their contract if you get FIP or FeLV vaccines for your cat. Why? I've never heard of this. I have no knowledge of this as we adopted him.

  • And finally...any breeder recommendations around New York? I've emailed two TICA breeders and heard nothing back. :( I'm OK driving to another state to get a cat, but pretty much all reputable breeder recommendations I've gotten are west of the Mississippi. I would prefer to be able to meet the cats in person. Sorry, can't help with this either.
 

BSphynx

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Aug 30, 2019
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Hey there! So sorry to hear that your baby is reaching the end of his life. It’s so hard to lose pets because we’re around them so much and they’re always there for us with no judgements.

To answer a couple of your questions though, at least with my experience, my boy has the best personality of a cat that I’ve ever seen. He’s my first Sphynx and he’s changed my life and also made me into a cat person lol. He’s very very clingy and always wanting to cuddle or play and whenever I’m feeling sad it’s like he knows, he comes and checks on me and gives me little kisses. If I even leave the room he starts meowing to try and find out where I went. He also comes to most family gatherings with me and everyone who meets him absolutely adores him!! He’s climbing up everyone’s legs for a cuddle before they can even sit down sometimes!!!! I’ve also seen a lot of people on here who have leash trained their kitties.

As for the grease. I noticed when I first got him that he got dirty very quickly but now that he’s almost a year old it’s fine. I haven’t noticed any grease marks around my house at all, and I bathe him now usually once a month and use baby wipes in between when needed. For shampoo I use hylyt! It’s worked really well and a lot of other people use it for their Sphynx cats as well.

From my understanding, the vaccine thing is because Sphynx cats can be more sensitive to some shots. I don’t know much more about that but I hope somebody else can answer your question.

I’m rooting for you to find a breeder and I hope when you get your own baby that it changes your life like mine did!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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CleoTheSphynx

Lairian
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Mar 21, 2020
Messages
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Hey there.

I have just read a previous comment of dog like / monkey like. And I can't stress how true this is. I have always thought I was a dog person because I never thought cats were effectionate. But how I was wrong.

My girl climbs on me and kisses my neck and she speaks back when she is spoken to. Runs to you when she is called. She is amazing.

As I am trying to type this message to you she is blocking my phone because she wants my full attention.

Very social and wants to greet everybody who comes to the house. Has never been aloof with any guest.

I used to bathe Cleo every week as found she used to need it. But I'm. Not sure if it's because I have not been bathing her as much that she doesn't need it, or she hasn't needed it so I haven't been bathing her as frequent. I hope that makes sense. So I usually bathe her every 2 - 3 weeks and this seams to be OK. Nails and ears need doing once a week.

Poo prints - you can see their bum hole that's for sure. And I may be weird but I give Cleo a baby wipe on her bum everyday.

Like somebody else has said on here. Maybe the odd paw in the poo or the tail. I found this when Cleos litter box (hooded) wasn't big enough for her to turn around in without stepping in it.

That's as much as my limited knowledge allows me to answer. I've only been a Sphynx dad since July 2019. But I know there's more to come
 
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