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

Yoda mom

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@alandsim awhhh purrfect update! M girl adoptee is teenier than I expected from the photos
Lol relate to the wee little lime head lol
Don’t let it fool ya ! She is the boss of all paws !
Did you go keep the name Sim?

Also when you go to the vet have them mark No Ketamine anesthesia on her chart !
I can have a rebound effect on the heart
I do this for all my furkids amd nakids
My vet used Isoflurane gas and propofol instead

Also many contracts from breeders state NO feline leukemia (felv) or FIP vaccinations

Your girl is probably up to date on her shots
I definitely would not for revaccinate for rabies
Until all confirmed what and when she has had

Also many vets use a “non adjuvant “ vaccine for rabies Merial /Purevaxx
You can ask your friend at the vet what brand they use

I also have heard the 1 yr and 3 yr rabies vaccine is Actually the same but labeled differently
(Something to do with other states ) so I personally for my indoor kitties do not over vaccinate
I don’t do felv FIP or Lepo

Also check her microchip ? Does the breeder has her microchipped with a US chip or international chip? So,e breeders keep chips in their name others transfer
I was able to add my adoptees international chip to my homeagain profile

If she is not micro chipped Amd you want to do it. you can talk to your vets office -
I had my aasoptee boys microchipped
They were already neutered so had to go with the awake microchipping
I asked to he,p amd bij the exam room during the microchipping
It was a large gauge needle.
My ome boy need some skin glue ! Healed fine
The other was fine

A breeder member mentioned “ mini microchips “ you can ask your vet about


Sooo it sounds like all went great! All paws crossed for the vets visit !
Surely everyone will awwwwwh over her

Let us know how the wellness check goes,
She is darling sounds just like a hoot of love amd fun setlrimg in nicely on her very first night !
Glad too no allergic reactions for your partner !

Keep up the slow intros on your plan

Head smooches to all paws!
 

Yoda mom

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@alandsim I love love the Honeywell HPA300 airpurifier
I got another thru Sam’s club online ( awesome return policy if need be they told me to jsut bring it back if ever a problem -

Also my first one the little clip on the fromt grill broke off
They are delicate
It was 2 1/2 years old - Honeywell does not sell the grill separate -
I had to pay to ship it back :( ( about $50 to ship )
But ... Honeywell sent a brand new one including new prefilter as well as the 3 filters that it comes with that cost more than $50 for 3 filters alone -
It was an incredible smooth customer service experience
Had no receipt they went by code date on the unit

*My recommendation is to check th3 warranties of air purifiers as well as cost of replacement Filters when shopping

I also added extra allergen features to my air handler (sold by ac/heat company )
REME Halo air purificatiok and a UV light ( Reme Halo video on link )

I also change air filters at once a month lol I buy 2 packs

Just wanted to share

Keep us updated om the vet visit !
Welcome home sweetie !
 

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Toa and Ross

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What a beautiful cutie she is! Congratulations:). Happy to read she settled in easily and feels at home. Sphynx kittens are indeed so much smaller then you expect.
And the little cutie already wrapped the boyfriend around her little paw!
 

alandsim

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@alandsim awhhh purrfect update! M girl adoptee is teenier than I expected from the photos
Lol relate to the wee little lime head lol
Don’t let it fool ya ! She is the boss of all paws !
Did you go keep the name Sim?

Also when you go to the vet have them mark No Ketamine anesthesia on her chart !
I can have a rebound effect on the heart
I do this for all my furkids amd nakids
My vet used Isoflurane gas and propofol instead

Also many contracts from breeders state NO feline leukemia (felv) or FIP vaccinations

Your girl is probably up to date on her shots
I definitely would not for revaccinate for rabies
Until all confirmed what and when she has had

Also many vets use a “non adjuvant “ vaccine for rabies Merial /Purevaxx
You can ask your friend at the vet what brand they use

I also have heard the 1 yr and 3 yr rabies vaccine is Actually the same but labeled differently
(Something to do with other states ) so I personally for my indoor kitties do not over vaccinate
I don’t do felv FIP or Lepo

Also check her microchip ? Does the breeder has her microchipped with a US chip or international chip? So,e breeders keep chips in their name others transfer
I was able to add my adoptees international chip to my homeagain profile

If she is not micro chipped Amd you want to do it. you can talk to your vets office -
I had my aasoptee boys microchipped
They were already neutered so had to go with the awake microchipping
I asked to he,p amd bij the exam room during the microchipping
It was a large gauge needle.
My ome boy need some skin glue ! Healed fine
The other was fine

A breeder member mentioned “ mini microchips “ you can ask your vet about


Sooo it sounds like all went great! All paws crossed for the vets visit !
Surely everyone will awwwwwh over her

Let us know how the wellness check goes,
She is darling sounds just like a hoot of love amd fun setlrimg in nicely on her very first night !
Glad too no allergic reactions for your partner !

Keep up the slow intros on your plan

Head smooches to all paws!

Yeah I basically held off from all vaccs because I knew she's up to date on everything she's supposed to have, even though I don't have a record of it yet. The place I go specializes in cats, my friend I've known a long time works there and my friend and the managing/owning vet are SO science and research minded and back up whatever they recommend with research which I really like. I like to understand what's going on. I wish I could bring Jo to them! Mainly they did a physical exam, I brought in a fecal, we reviewed the pros and cons of all the vaccines and stuff I COULD do, we talked about HCM and we're planning to test for it later on. Also tried to decipher the russian paperwork. there are some English sections and... I think she's microchipped which I didn't previously know and the number's on there so I have to figure out what we're going to do about registering that. I will put no ketamine on her chart! I neglected to remember that this visit.

Staff were surprised she's so nice because apparently all the other sphynxes they see yell at them :p and she was pretty happy albeit squirmy when they were trying to take her temp and stuff.

Sim is already a similar sounding adaptation of Slim which is what she was called. It's hard to tell if she responds to either name because she's so busy and curious!
 

alandsim

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What a beautiful cutie she is! Congratulations:). Happy to read she settled in easily and feels at home. Sphynx kittens are indeed so much smaller then you expect.
And the little cutie already wrapped the boyfriend around her little paw!
*girlfriend! But yes, anyone that thinks they're just a dog person most likely just hasn't spent quality time with a cat in my experience! I can tell she isn't just saying it for my benefit too, she goes into Sim's room to play with her on her own! :love:
 

Yoda mom

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@alandsim so happy you have an amazing vet and friend at the office!
I be they love her! Good girl Sim!

Lol I always say a nakid Is the purrfect cat for dog lovers ! They are so monkey baby dog cat all in one!

Look forward to more pics! Head smooches to all paws !
 

alandsim

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@Yoda mom Coming right up! I need to write out everything that's going with Cat Dog Integration Plan when I get a chance today- busy work week. In the meantime, here's what simgirl does all day until it's time to attack my face at night with snuggles. My partner said every time she went in the room to say hi during the day, she's in this exact same spot (unless there's new food around!)

91844
 

alandsim

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So here’s how the first week went!

Expectation: this is day 6. by this time I didn’t even think they’d be allowed to see each other.

Reality: they got a peek at each other as soon as we got her home! We put her in a big room with french windowed doors that have curtains in the inside. Turns out Sim has the ability to peek around the curtain and make noise, which I hadn’t considered. I think she was spooked when she took a look and saw a big white face looking back at her.

Jo has been very interested in her. I initially tried keeping him a good room’s distance away from her door with a baby gate in the kitchen doorway, but he hopped that and just went back to standing at her door like a creep. I try to distract him from the door with treats, playing with toys or letting him outside. He was very fixated on it when she first got here, but now he’s paying a lot less attention to it and only occasionally goes to wait there. Sometimes I leave one side of the curtain open and let him look in and she usually ignores and goes about her business burrowing in blankets. Whenever I give him this exposure he is calm until he starts to whine, and that’s usually when I take him outside.
EF47AE60-769F-4E04-A46E-10484EDE006B.jpeg

Sim was spooked on like her first day, and then after that gets braver and braver. By as early as day three, whether Jo was there or not, she would peek under the curtain and scratch at the door meowing like “let me out!” She is not scared to approach him behind glass at all.
5D58D24D-A4DA-4895-99F8-30B2EDC5AD0E.jpeg
6B5E29E1-954E-49A8-91C8-226B17E08535.jpeg

So we’re well into phase two now!
We have: fed them both boiled chicken on either side of the door, and put Jo in the crate and let Sim wander, then entice her closer to the crate with chicken and feed them both small pieces.
She has blown me away with how unbothered she is by the dog, but I have so much trouble reading Jo. I am worried his focus on her is a little predatory. My family members and friends all tell me if she’s not scared in the moment that’s a good sign he’s not acting predatory and that I should hurry up and try introducing them, and it is tempting but I just feel like... better safe than sorry! I think I have been forced to be flexible and just like @Monica said in my pet intro plan post, it has gone much more quickly than I thought. I’m seeing improvements like with Jo being less obsessed with her door in such a short amount of time, and I think I should hold out until I see signs that he is visibly relaxed and maybe not as alert around her.

Regardless of timelines I can’t really see this going badly, which is a relief. My friend who is a vet tech also mentioned that with sim’s personality and behavior with jo so far, if we did have a setback she would likely get over it quickly.

I guess I could sum up what i’m feeling with: We’re gonna be okay and in fact everything is going better than I thought it might.

I typed this on my phone so please forgive me if it’s wonky in places!
 

Sheldon13

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I’m glad to read things are progressing. Personally I would still be extremely cautious about Jo’s prey drive. It only takes one mistake and bad things can happen. I would wait until he is ignoring her completely.

Also, I don’t think I would take Sim’s lack of fear as a sign there is no threat. Domesticated animals can have so much of that bred out of them and not know at all if they are in danger.


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alandsim

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I’m glad to read things are progressing. Personally I would still be extremely cautious about Jo’s prey drive. It only takes one mistake and bad things can happen. I would wait until he is ignoring her completely.

Also, I don’t think I would take Sim’s lack of fear as a sign there is no threat. Domesticated animals can have so much of that bred out of them and not know at all if they are in danger.


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I wholeheartedly agree!

Jo has a habit of staring creepily at people and things. He looks like a wolf when he’s looking straight at you and it’s a little unnerving. He sees my partner as more of an alpha than me, so when we’re all just relaxing in the living room he will be staring directly at her. When we have food, we’ll tell him not to beg, and he’ll go across the room and continue looking at us. He also has a habit of sitting next to an exterior window and staring at squirrels.

He’s an odd duck that never barks or growls. He only whines when he’s really excited, like when we’re on our way to the dog park, or when he sees a small animal running and I force him to go the opposite direction, and this is accompanied by him pulling toward that thing.

When my only clues now are him staring at her and eventually whining and I need to err on the side of treating that like predatory behavior.

His hackles don’t go up and he does not try to push or scratch at the door which is good I think!

I’ll continue with distracting him and rewarding him for doing anything else other than staring at the door. He’a gonna get fat over these few weeks!
 

Yoda mom

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@alandsim thank you for the adorable update ! Sim is such a cute!
Having high prey drive dog breeds myself I definitely agree with consistent slow steady
As you and your partner are doing great without your plan!

As I worked on the slow intros I also incudled a “ proofing “ plan
For me it included letting the dog free roam like you are with Sim behind closed doors
And watching body language -
when he ignored the door and went and slept in his usual place
I moved on to proofing using the crate -
(** I use caribiners om the door latches as well as the bottom right door corner
Years ago I had an adoptee dog push out from the bottom crate door corner ,
Door closed behind him amd I walked in to find him snoozing om the living room floor !
If you have little gym locks laying around those work too )

After a few days kitty walked across the top of crate and carefully stuck paw in crate to touch
Her new big bestie ! Dog whined at first - by week two he would’ve just be sound asleep and ignore kitty

* Worked up to leashing with a lupine martingale collar so no slipping out !
Kitty free roamed while dog on leash with me
Put on a down next to me by the couch .
then worked up to walking with me all over the house leashed with me doing did all my chores. It was a pita but it worked lol

Watching body language - some dogs do not make a sound so keep watching body language ear set eyes tail , body stiffness etc as you are doing

I Moved on to using baby gates then and a Home Depot tall garden gate for $20 For a visual barrier Thst I could just flip and go around and I could repurpose in the the garden for vines -
I I always kept on a martingale collar and a leash the used a short 12” tab lead on collar while whike doing the intro plan -

You are doing great ! Keep us updated often!
Head smooches t pall paws
 

alandsim

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Our housemate has graciously offered to sleep with Sim. Initially she did because my partner was away for a few days and I felt bad making either animal sleep alone while she was gone. Now partner’s back and we asked her if she wanted to keep doing it. We’re realizing that the dream of having both animals pile up on our bed with us likely months away so we need a more sustainable routine than me sleeping downstairs on an air mattress. So Sim bunked with our housemate last night in her bedroom upstairs and essentially got to roam the house while we were closed in our room with Jo.
I threw my brand new extra litter box in the upstairs hallway and my housemate left her door open.
Jo initially did this
D6C3F7B2-DA3C-4675-9E92-6AD37046AB54.jpeg

because he knew she was out but after about 15 min he DID go to his usual spot under our bed.
This morning I slipped out of our bedroom, went and grabbed a scoop of dry food and very easily lured her downstairs into her quarantine chamber and shut her in. Then I got the dog around and we went out for our walk.
When we came back he snuck into my housemate’s bedroom and hopped in bed with her to snuggle while I was getting ready for work. Naughty boy!

Also I clean Sim’s litter box every morning and night, so I could tell that she didn’t use the upstairs one but did go downstairs and use her usual one. Maybe that means litter box in the hallway doesn’t have to be a permanent arrangement? Fingers crossed!
 

Sheldon13

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People always say have 1 more litter box than the number of cats you have. I don’t think that’s necessarily necessary when there’s only 1 cat. I only keep a single box and my cat does great with that. I think there is the occasional cat that doesn’t like to poop and pee in the same box though. Maybe then you would need 2.


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