Expecting a 3yo Don Sphynx Girl and currently own a dog #prayforme

[alandsim]

Hi there, my name's Al, short for a girl's name

I own a two year old husky and I will be picking up a 3 year old don sphynx mama that is retiring from a breeder next weekend..

I am feeling positive about the whole situation because:

1) My dog is well exercised and mostly sleeps when indoors. He is very interested in cats but most of them run away from him so he never gets to say hi, including my parents' and grandparents' cats. He's never attacked one, although they have swatted at him. He's also very smart and sweet, and I believe in my heart that he would never hurt a fly and that he will understand a new member of the family. That being said, I NEVER plan to leave the two alone unsupervised. When we're not home he stays in the master bedroom, and I have a room downstairs for the cat to be confined to with litter box access and lots of cat enriching amenities.

2) Mama cat currently lives with a maltese (not really comparable, but), they get along and her previous owner thinks that as long as there aren't other CATS to bug her she'll be happy.

3) I have a three part, gradual pet integration plan that my partner and our housemate are briefed on and on board with. It could take a month before they are in the same room with him off leash but I want to give them the BEST chance at coexisting and hopefully becoming friends.

Still, I've heard all the horror stories about cats and dogs so I'm of course a nervous wreck. I have lurked a lot and read a lot of advice already, but I will probably post in the future about my (very detailed) plan to get some feedback. Also, my partner has cat allergies so I'm trying to mitigate that. There's a lot of variables and hurdles that I'm sure we'll have to deal with for this to work out (and if it truly doesn't, we'll cross that bridge) so I'm hoping being a part of this supportive community will help me!

 

[Yoda mom]

@alandsim official welcome to the lair family ! Glad you decided to jump in and post with this fun friendly bunch!
All paws are lair family so be sure to post a pic of your husky ! Name?

So excited for you and your upcoming Gotcha! Do you have a gotcha date?

We are here for you ! ,
Many of us have adoptees amd large dogs
Here to help in anyway! I have all adoptee adult sphynx

they all get along great ! I do slooow intros as you have planned
When I worked up to “proofing “ kitties with the dogs
I used a crate as well as dog always on lead attached to me
More on that later if you want to know more
Pm me anytime!
My nakids think they have a moving live blankie! The 163 lb dog plays like a cat with them rolling his little ball to them to initiate play amd cuddles
They do tend to take over th dog bed and leave the dog the little corner of the bed to snooze on lol

Do you have a pic of your upcoming boy?
So excited for you !

 

[alandsim]

@alandsim official welcome to the lair family ! Glad you decided to jump in and post with this fun friendly bunch!
All paws are lair family so be sure to post a pic of your husky ! Name?

So excited for you and your upcoming Gotcha! Do you have a gotcha date?

We are here for you ! ,
Many of us have adoptees amd large dogs
Here to help in anyway! I have all adoptee adult sphynx

they all get along great ! I do slooow intros as you have planned
When I worked up to “proofing “ kitties with the dogs
I used a crate as well as dog always on lead attached to me
More on that later if you want to know more
Pm me anytime!
My nakids think they have a moving live blankie! The 163 lb dog plays like a cat with them rolling his little ball to them to initiate play amd cuddles
They do tend to take over th dog bed and leave the dog the little corner of the bed to snooze on lol

Do you have a pic of your upcoming boy?
So excited for you !

Thank you so much! And good idea- I'll post a pic of Jo the husky when I get back from lunch!

 

[alandsim]

Here is my babe Jo! He is very spoiled and wanted me to let his sister know he has enough hair for the both of them! I think getting an adult cat is meant to be because we have always felt that getting a "baby" would make him feel jealous so as long as he can stay the baby of the family he'll be happy. In fact, we got him from my brother in law. They had their first child a year into his life and he started acting out because of a lack of attention. He's very happy now that he has two mamas to fuss over him.

I would post a pic of the new cat but... I weirdly feel like if I post anything it's going to jynx the whole thing somehow? I've wanted a sphynx for so long (even before I met my allergic partner who is my "excuse") and it feels kind of like a life goal. I've kept it on a need-to-know basis with my friends and family and only want to post the good news on social media when I actually have her. I feel the breeder is very trustworthy (and super nice) but I am driving to her out of state and just afraid of talking about it and then having something go wrong. I can tell you that she has a reputation for being very cuddly and her nickname will be Sim!

Edited to add that he's two and a half and we're getting a three-year-old mama cat.

 

[admin]

Hello @alandsim and welcome to Sphynxlair! So glad you found us! Please enjoy the community!

 

[Beckinboots]

Hi and welcome to the lair. Congratulations on choosing to be owned by a sphynx! I hope gotcha day goes well.

We rescued a 4 year old German shepherd (Tyr) a few years back who, we were told, was great with cats and other dogs, which is what we needed as we already had two cats (a Siamese, Horus, and a huge ginger Tom called Pumpkin). Turns out Tyr wasn't as good as we'd been led to believe and had a very high prey drive. We had to install a stair gate so the cats could live upstairs and the dog downstairs. After a year of slow introduction through the gate Horus decided enough was enough and he wasn't going to be separated from us in the evenings any more. He strolled through a gap in the gate and across the room onto my lap. The dog just watched him and that was it. They'd finally accepted each other. We've since lost both of those cats (Horus to old age and Pumpkin to a car accident, and Pumpkin never got used to Tyr anyway) but we now have four cats and have never had any further issues with Tyr. He just gives them a sniff, and accepts them as part of his pack.

What I'm getting at in my roundabout way is that it may take time but hopefully your fur and furless kids will take to each other. I'm sure you won't have the trouble we did but if you do, persevere and they may become the best of friends. Horus and Tyr even used to curl up together towards the end of Horus's time on this plane.

 

[StacyD]

We own a very hyper, anxious 8 yr old German Shepherd, named Zeppelin and got our Sphynx Ace when he was 2 yrs old last year. At first our cat Ace was more the aggressor. We kept them separate for many days, slowly introducing them. Ace would swat at Zeppelin (but never with claws out as Ace is quite gentle). Then they started to mainly ignored each other. But lately Zeppelin has taken to chasing Ace around the house, sometimes nudging him with his nose. But all in all they get along well.

 

[alandsim]

@Beckinboots and @StacyD Thank you so much for sharing your experiences! I am feeling a lot better about this since joining yesterday. I think I've just been letting my imagination run wild! I'm likely over-prepared now.

I am going to make a post under Sphynx questions asking for feedback on my game plan in a sec, so if you can get through the novel I'm writing and happen to read it and have any pointers I am all ears!

Funny enough, my Aunt-in-law who has a doberman, pit bull and German short hair who are all very nice but can be cranky especially with other dogs (Jo) apparently have a new kitten and I just saw on social media that the kitten and short hair are sleeping together. I seriously doubt they even had a game plan because that generation of the family's mantra is "it's just a dog" and "remember, it's an animal" which I'm not too fond of, so if they figured it out, I can too!

 

[Toa and Ross]

Welcome to sphynxlair. I replied earlier to your thread but somehow my reply is gone. Jo looks like a sweetheart. I’m sure he will be a great furry brother to the nakid.
Your game plan sounds good. With slow introduction they will learn yo love eachother.
Can’t wait to see gotcha day pics!

 

[bebbiemouse]

Hi there, my name's Al, short for a girl's name

I own a two year old husky and I will be picking up a 3 year old don sphynx mama that is retiring from a breeder next weekend..

I am feeling positive about the whole situation because:

1) My dog is well exercised and mostly sleeps when indoors. He is very interested in cats but most of them run away from him so he never gets to say hi, including my parents' and grandparents' cats. He's never attacked one, although they have swatted at him. He's also very smart and sweet, and I believe in my heart that he would never hurt a fly and that he will understand a new member of the family. That being said, I NEVER plan to leave the two alone unsupervised. When we're not home he stays in the master bedroom, and I have a room downstairs for the cat to be confined to with litter box access and lots of cat enriching amenities.

2) Mama cat currently lives with a maltese (not really comparable, but), they get along and her previous owner thinks that as long as there aren't other CATS to bug her she'll be happy.

3) I have a three part, gradual pet integration plan that my partner and our housemate are briefed on and on board with. It could take a month before they are in the same room with him off leash but I want to give them the BEST chance at coexisting and hopefully becoming friends.

Still, I've heard all the horror stories about cats and dogs so I'm of course a nervous wreck. I have lurked a lot and read a lot of advice already, but I will probably post in the future about my (very detailed) plan to get some feedback. Also, my partner has cat allergies so I'm trying to mitigate that. There's a lot of variables and hurdles that I'm sure we'll have to deal with for this to work out (and if it truly doesn't, we'll cross that bridge) so I'm hoping being a part of this supportive community will help me!

I wish you luck! I have a 10 year old poodle that has recently been introduced to a kitty bambino. He wants to play with my poodles all the time but ted is jealous. I am lucky he is a gentle and very tolerant poodle. Take it slow and make sure they have their own space

 

[Theedaysleeper]

Good luck and best wishes for a smooth transition!

 

[alandsim]

Gotcha day is Sunday! Around my house we've been saying "it's about cat time!"

The breeder is going to meet my housemate and me along our route but less than halfway and she hasn't told me where yet. So we don't know how long we're driving, where we're going, when we're going to meet or when we'll leave here. Being Type A Al, I would much rather know exactly what to expect but the breeder is really nice and said she wanted to find something fun to do with her family since she's driving anyway which I totally get.

The hand off will probably be super weird between two cars and cat carriers and hopefully not too traumatic for Sim! I'll make sure the car's in park when we open the carriers lol. I really wanted the experience of going to see the cattery, but I know that the difference in driving time will be more important for me.

In my state driving several hours away isn't considered a lot and she is about 6 hours from us, so especially if we can cut some time off our trip it shouldn't be too bad. I personally am a nervous driver so obviously I'm hoping for shorter but having my friend with me makes me feel better (she'll drive some too) and I'm just so freaking excited to meet this kitty that I feel like that overrides my driving anxiety.

I miiiiiight pick up a disposable baking tray from the dollar store that we can use as a travel litter box but I don't know if it will be necessary. Us girls will definitely stop to pee, so girl cat can have the option too I guess! Cardboard would definitely not work for that, correct? We're usually a moderately green household, so I'm already feeling guilty about how much clay litter we're going to be throwing away! If I have any trouble getting her to go back in the carrier if I let her out I'm just going to bribe her with treats.

My worst fear is that she'll be scared of us for cat-napping her when she's lived with this other family for her whole life, I hope she can get to a point where she's bonded with us and lives up to her snuggly reputation!

By brain is obviously going a mile a minute but this is just how I deal with upcoming exciting things!

 

[Sheldon13]

So exciting! Let us know when you know when you are going to have kitty in your hands!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Toa and Ross]

Ooooh only 2 nights till gotcha day. So exciting!
My girl Jade (ex-breeder cat) came to live with me when she was 2 years old. She needed some time to get used to me but now she feels totally at home. I'm sure Sim will do great!

 

[Yoda mom]

@alandsim ah,,, tick tock, countdown,!
So exciting !

Deep breathe no worries on meeting enroute with a responsible breeder
I was nervous as hell my first time

Do you have the Sam skitter the breeder uses?
I got the $3 disposable plastic litter tray at the Publix grocery store -
Dumped the litter it came with (it wasn’t much - or you can keep in i now a can for driveway oil spots lol to recycle it ) and filled it with the litter brand used by the breeder - litter boxes and food the same as breeder at the house ready to go

***Many breeders in my experience like to meet up at crackerbarrel restaurant Parking Lot
Good too take a pee break lol
When I got there I gassed up for the ride h,e so I didn’t have to stop with kitty in the car


I never knew this till I got my sphynx amd the breeder was kind enough to meet me there while she was enroute to get her kitties HCM scanned

Transfer was smooth
Parked next to each other and took kitty in m car with doors closed to place kitty in crate -
Breeders are good at this and calming

FWIW kitty slept the whole way didn’t eat drink or pee or poo
I covered the crate with a towel on 3 sides
Kept a bottle of cleaner and paper towels and plastic bags handy just in case

Drove home put kitty’s in kitty’s set up room amd cuddled

look forward to gotcha day pics amd tales!

 

[Yoda mom]

@alandsim happy Gotcha eve !
Safe smiles n sphynx smiles For gotcha tomorrow

Look forward to pics amd tales

 

[Yoda mom]

@alandsim checking in for gotcha day updates
((Hugs)))

 

[alandsim]

It is so thoughtful of you to check in, thank you! Some pics for now, everything is going well and I will update later!!

 

[Sheldon13]

It is so thoughtful of you to check in, thank you! Some pics for now, everything is going well and I will update later!!

Aww she looks so sweet and curious!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Yoda mom]

@alandsim Happy Gotcha day! Did you keep her name ?
Hugs to all parties involved
Bless your heart for opening your heart and home to this gorgeous girl ! She is absolutely gorgeous with the kindest face ! Wow squeaky clean too!
I am sure she will live up to her snuggly reputation ! My retiree definitely did ! She knew her name so well and responded to it with smiles and head bumps so I kept it

I know you are excited and super busy tonight

Update as you can
Welcome home sweetie !

Following closely!

 

[Toa and Ross]

What a beautiful cutie. Happy yo hear all is well

 

[alandsim]

Oh my goodness! I am still in disbelief that she's actually here (and a tad sleep deprived)!!!

Our drive was really good with good weather, we only had to go 4 and back because she was kind enough to meet us. We parked our cars next to each other, she got in the back of our car and basically opened her crate and encouraged her to get in mine (which she did) and I couldn't believe how easy it was.

I got her pedigree and vaccination info but it's all from the Ukraine so I can't read it! But I know her B-day at least! I asked for the name of her vet because I'll need them to send me her rabies vaccination info.

I was not expecting her to be so small! Her head is like the size of a lime!! My parent's cats have always seemed bigger and definitely weighed more.

@Yoda mom Yes, so glad I got the exact same litter my breeder uses, she used the litter box really quickly and was also eating her food (same brand). She didn't go on the way back at all, just meowed occasionally to let us know she's back there.

As soon as she was in our house and released in her special room, she was rubbing and sniffing on everything, exploring the space and jumping all over the humans. I think she was disappointed she can't go past the french doors!

She's definitely not scared of us. She is also a lot clumsier than I expected. She goes in like she wants a pet, but when you touch her head she like falls into you.

Without me really planning it, Jo knocked over a baby gate downstairs (that was not using tension, just leaning-learned my lesson!) and has been on the other side of the french doors. It's curtained but she can get under the curtain. He's interested in looking at her but wasn't trying to get me to let him in and wasn't whining like he would if he was leashed and saw a small furry animal. I don't know if he knows she's a cat!

She was approaching the door when he was there, but when she peeked under and saw a big white face I think she was a little spooked. She's still interested in bolting out of that room if I would let her! We have to watch her.

I slept with her last night and lost a good chunk of sleep to her climbing all over my upper body, getting under the blankets and then getting out of them and kneading me. When she did sleep it was on my neck and especially in the morning she was ALL about getting in my face! I guess this is sphynx ownership!

Whenever we leave her alone in that room she meows and I feel bad but I know her last mom worked so she has to be used to it. My partner is home all week to supervise but I had to leave for work! It's so tough being a working dog and cat mom!

Taking her to the vet on my lunch break! My friend who works there said we can figure out the vaccines when I get that info if the breeder doesn't give it to me in time.

 

[alandsim]

Some more pics!

 

[Sheldon13]

So pink and with the perfect little almond shaped eyes!


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[alandsim]

@Sheldon13 She's our little pink princess and she prances around like she knows it!

I also should have added to my update: my partner loves her, said she acts like a dog, and hasn't had that bad of allergies, although she has just been bathed before coming to us so we'll see as time goes on. I'm shopping for an air purifier once tax season is over!