Welcome to Sphynxlair! Connect with Sphynx owners & enthusiasts around the world!

How Common Are Serious Health Issues?

Have you ever had to treat your sphynx for a health problem?

  • Yes-$100-$500

    Votes: 56 31.8%
  • Yes-$500-$1000

    Votes: 20 11.4%
  • Yes-$1000 plus

    Votes: 38 21.6%
  • Yes-and it's an on going illness that requires continuous expenses

    Votes: 41 23.3%
  • Never

    Votes: 42 23.9%

  • Total voters
    176

Cameo

Lairian
Joined
Jan 8, 2014
Messages
26
Points
39
I have had Sphynx for about 4 years now.

My initial costs b/c they were both rehome/rescues were their echocardiogram, spay, dental, microchip and vaccines. That was around $900 -$1000 each.

I do dentals for each of my girls every 2 years and that runs around $300 to $400 per girl. I always do the extras, catheter, EKG, etc.
I did incur an additional $250 charge for Tulah this last visit b/c she now has a heart murmur so we did another scan and all is well.

I haven't had any other unexpected issues. I do put L-lysine in their food and I provide CET treats on a regular basis, along with a high quality grain free food. So there is a little more expense than most might have but it isnt too bad.

I think with any pet there is always a risk of additional charges. I have a siamese mix that is probably a$5000 cat now. He all of a sudden got polyps in his ear and has had some other minor issues. I have a dog, mix, that is well over $8000 dog. So what I am trying to say is that even if you have a healthy animal, be it a pure bred or a mix, things happen and we as pet owners should always have some money set aside, or a credit card with money available. I know this isn't always possible for everyone and I completly understand. Just throwing my thoughts and ideas out there. :)

I too have lost a cat to FIP and I am so sorry for your loss. It is a very horrible disease and I will never get the images of what my sweet Pharaoh went through out of my head. I hope you get some answers you are looking for from the awesome members here and I hope you are able to welcome another Sphynx in to your home!

RIP to your sweet boy.
 
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
Messages
27
Points
4
Really
Hi. I am one of those people that lurks around on Sphynx Lair, but never posts. I enjoy the forum very much.

I am hoping that some of you who have kept sphynx's for awhile will be willing to say how long you have had your cat(s), and if you have had any serious health issues with them. It is kind of hard to define "serious", but I am thinking of the kind of thing that requires vet care. Money seems like an odd way to rank things, but I would think that something that cost over $500 at the vet could probably be considered serious.

I know that sphynx's are a healthy breed, and have read everything I can find about health issues they might encounter, including many of the threads on the health forum. It is hard to get a feeling for how "common" those issues are from reading about individual cases though. I highly value personal real-life experiences, and would love to hear from as many people as possible.

This question is partly due to my recent experience of losing my sphynx/elf to FIP. I am aware that FIP is extremely rare, and hopefully I will never ever experience that horrible condition again.

I can't imagine not having a sphynx now that I have had the opportunity to live with one, even though it was only for a few months. After the major expense for care and treatment of my guy, I thought it would be a good idea to get as much information as possible about how common major expenses are before I bring another sphynx home, just to be as prepared as possible. If anyone wants to take the time to share their personal experience, I would greatly appreciate it.
sorry about your lost I lost my sphynx Halo on Friday to f I P . It cost over £1000 as they wasn't sure what it could be so running lots of different tests he has only just turned 1 . I have posted Halos story please have a read and tell me if your story is similar.
They bring such love and joy . Me and my partner now have a gap in our life's and when we have come to terms with the lost of him we will think about getting another different colour and sex not to replace . But this will be a year or two going to go on holiday worry free about the cats care at home . People's comments on this forum have helped me a lot x
 

Cdra

Lairian
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
Messages
30
Points
29
I've had my kitty for a little over a month. She has an upper respiratory infection right now. I took her to the vet and that visit was $110. This doesn't include the lysine and vaporizer I bought for her. He gave her an antibiotic shot and more antibiotics to take twice a day. This was last Saturday and she still isn't doing much better so I'm sure I'll have to take her back and spend more money. I just want her to get better so I'm not worried about the cost.
 

curlysue

V.I.P Lairian
V.I.P Lairian
Joined
Aug 22, 2012
Messages
2,635
Points
348
My kitten got a URI and it was the worst! It lasted about 7-10 days and it was like one morning he woke up and it was like a cloud was lifted.
 

pearlpollard

Lairian
Joined
Oct 5, 2014
Messages
44
Points
19
Sorry to hear about your loss.

My 4 month old girl had a URI about 3 weeks after I brought her home. Antibiotics cleared it up but now since last night she has thrown up twice and had diarrhea a few times. Took her to the vet and they gave anti nausea meds and a probiotic to use in her food once every 24 hours. I feed a raw diet but my vet advised to lay off the raw until the vomiting and diarrhea stops. I've been giving her pumpkin and a little boiled chicken and she's kept it all down so far! She still seems tired and not very energetic. She has a recheck visit tomorrow and we're going from there as far as further tests to be done. I'm hoping it's just a little stomach bug!
 

Faeron

Lairian
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Messages
34
Points
24
My Sphynx is now 9 years old and we have had some problems, but nothing too bad.

The main problem with my baby is her stomach. She regularly (at least 2 times a year) gets gastro-entiritis, stomach inflammation. We are now thinking it might be because of a food allergy, but finding out is difficult. She gets medicine when she gets it and it takes a few days. Besides that she had a malicious melanoma a month ago, which the vet has operated and taken away. We were lucky to have seen it quickly, because of which it could be taken out fully. And besides those 2 things, we had her neutering surgery and that's all. So all by all she's been quite a healthy puppy :).
 

MelissaAlice

V.I.P Lairian
V.I.P Lairian
Joined
Jul 24, 2014
Messages
1,783
Points
318
My sister has had no serious health issues with her Sour (knock on wood) she is healthy and happy.

Elfie has IBS and after going back and forth with the vet over the best way to treat the issue, turns out I was right all along and switching to raw was the answer.

Skully on the other hand; she had serious ulcers on both her eyes and one never fully developed. It was constant drops and creams. After a little over a year she contracted panleukopenia and after a very expensive (and I'd have paid triple) battle she lost the war and passed.

So three babies and three levels of health concerns; all from the same line too.
 

lapril

Lairian
Joined
Feb 22, 2013
Messages
110
Points
51
I took both of my babies in for a dental last week. They both needed the incisors (the tiny teeth at the top) extracted. It cost me about $1100 for both babies. I felt awful about it, I didn't realize it had gotten so bad. Never again will I allow my sphynxes teeth to get so bad. I kept putting off the cleaning because it was so expensive. I should've just put it on my credit card and kept it rolling. I could kick myself.
 

lapril

Lairian
Joined
Feb 22, 2013
Messages
110
Points
51
Oh, and my babies are 3 years old. No other issues besides the teeth. I do think that the raw diet contributed to the periodontal disease. I very rarely feed them hard food and they don't particularly chew on things.
 

Ailin

Lairian
Joined
Dec 16, 2014
Messages
46
Points
29
I too would like recommendations for health insurance. I've had my Bella a year and she's had several health issues such as ear infections, upper respiratory infections and her eyes are always really runny and icky. She does take lysiene daily. From reading here I hear that heart issues go on with sphynx. Is there any specific screening tests I should have done because the breeder didn't have any heart tests done before I got her. Also if anybody out there is from Northwest Ohio I could use the name of a good vet that has a history with the breed.
 

Xandria

Gold Lairian
Notable Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
10,022
Points
643
I too would like recommendations for health insurance. I've had my Bella a year and she's had several health issues such as ear infections, upper respiratory infections and her eyes are always really runny and icky. She does take lysiene daily. From reading here I hear that heart issues go on with sphynx. Is there any specific screening tests I should have done because the breeder didn't have any heart tests done before I got her. Also if anybody out there is from Northwest Ohio I could use the name of a good vet that has a history with the breed.

I would talk to your vet about who is a licensed cardiologist that can perform HCM testing. My breeder says that the 1st testing should be done at approximately 18 months of age for a Sphynx. After that, every year if need be. Hopefully your current veterinarian can help with this. And hopefully someone will chime in with a good Sphynx veterinarian! I know it sometimes difficult to find one that is familiar with the breed; but they should all have knowledge about who performs HCM testing.
 

Yourbroboris

Lairian
Joined
Nov 6, 2015
Messages
92
Points
29
My Leon swallowed a plug thatgot stuck in his intestines when he was 8 months old. The surgery and follow up care was about $1600.00
Unfortunately I did not have insurance. I now have insurance on him. I used Healthy Paws. You can choose your deductable and there is no cap on how much they will cover.
 

Cinderstar95

Lairian
Joined
Jan 4, 2017
Messages
293
Points
91
Hello, A bit late to the post, but As someone who has extensive experience in the vet's office with my babies, I thought I would contribute.
First of all, I am so, so sorry about The loss of your baby. I personally have lost two cats to suspected FIP. It's heartbreaking, cruel and horrific disease. I am so sorry for your loss.
As for the frequency of disease, I have had six sphynx in my life time. Three of them had to be put to sleep because of serious health issues. Two of them were from FIP, one a kitten and one an elder (12 y.o.). Though my new vet (Who didn't treat my elder Stashie) questions whether she really did have FIP because she did not have the wet form, her Corona Titer was incredibly high and she followed the disease progression quite accurately.
I got my Ziva to help cope with her loss, and I didn't want my boy kitten Shazam to be alone his whole life. I worried that if he grew used to solitude, he'd not want to give it up.
I had my Ziva for two years before she developed symptoms of Irritable Bowel disorders, starting with a Rectal Prolapse. she had surgery three times to repair it, spent 3500+ on testing, surgeries, medicine and potential treatments before the vets at the vet hospital told me that she wouldn't ever recover and would continue to prolapse her entire life. She could never be left alone for more than a few hours, had to wear a cone when we did leave her and at night. He told me she'd be in pain every day, so we had to make the difficult decision to put her to sleep. Broke my heart.
I had been in contact with Ziva's breeder throughout the ordeal, I really had tried everything. She gave me another kitten (charged me 500$ after the fact, but thats a different story for a different time,) That was my Freya. I had her for three months before she started to show signs of illness. I spent nearly 600$ in testing before she came back positive for corona virus on a low scale. They thought perhaps I'd caught it early and we were going to start treatment with an experimental product, (I had to try... the other option was nothing) but that night, she started acting extremely neurological, stomping around, stumbling into walls, and finally had a seizure in bed in my arms, in the early hours of the morning and I had to rush her to the emergency vet hospital where she was put to sleep at eight months old. I now have my kitten, Rora, and despite a bit of eye goop, she seems completely healthy.
Now, My Boy Shazam, he has been sick nearly his entire life. When I got him, he had a SEVERE URI, didn't play for two months from the age of four months to six months. Probably 400$ in vet bills several rounds of Ammoxaclav and little improvement. My vet had to risk putting him on Gentimycin despite the risk of cartilage damage (He was less than six months at this time) and it finally kicked it
Fast forward to about six months ago, Mr. Shazam the fat cat decided to eat a corner piece of a wrapper, (As would seem logical, why not...) It got stuck in his throat, he panicked. we rushed him to the vet, because we couldn't figure out why he was in the closet screaming and crapping everywhere (It was terrifying.) they sedated him, found the wrapper, pulled it out, and sent us home. his eyes had been just draining incredibly through the entire ordeal, and they stained his eyes just to be certain. they were fine. Two days later he developed a corneal sequestrum (A dead patch of his cornea, sometimes caused by a scrape, ulcer, or viral infection,) He required about 2000$ worth of surgeries and medications before he was healed. the poor thing had ulcers in both eyes and a giant sequestrum in one. The vets believed it to be caused by feline herpes. He's never been tested, but I am a student at a major university with an excellent vet college and teaching hospitals. I wouldn't take my animals anywhere else for major issues. They didn't bother to waste the money on a test when his disease progression proved he had it without a test. He was on (expensive) medications every two hours round the clock in both eyes to heal the ulcers and a surgery to remove the sequestrum. We were very lucky, it was shallow enough that he didn't require a corneal graft from lower in his eye to cover the whole, they were able to scrape it off. it took about three months of treatment to fix him. he's good now (apart form the occasional ear infection he's my teen brothers cat and ears dont get cleaned as often as they should... we've had talks about it) but the vets warned me that if he had such issues before the age of three, we should expect more in the future...
Now in the case of shazam, I firmly believe it to be bad breeding. When he had his first URI as a kitten (We were told it was the sniffles and he came to us sick) his breeder told us to give him children's cough and cold medicine to treat him as opposed to taking him to the vet. That would have shot his liver and kidneys and killed him. cats, especially kittens, are incredibly delicate. I also found out throughout the two month illness that she would let stray cats into her cattery because she felt bad for them. (With her nursing queens. I feed and try to rehome strays, I work to rescue and take care of, but I would NEVER let one infect my own cats.) Thats enough to ensure he has Feline Herpes and probably where it came from.
So ultimately, I have never had "good luck" with my cats, but I do believe it has a lot to do with breeders. I got Ziva and Freya from a different breeder than Shazam, who came from a different breeder than Stashie (Fun fact, shes my first sphynx and the one that opened my heart to the breed, shes the baby in my profile pic and I miss her every day) Stashie lived for 12 years and really never had to go to the vet. she was mostly healthy her entire life aside from some odd vomiting, but she still lived happily.
Take my experiences as they are, simple experiences and I do not believe that the entire breed is flawed. I love them and always plan to have them, even breeding a litter or two of my own when I graduate.
but in my experience, they do require vet care, my boy will need teeth cleanings in the next year and has frequent enough health issues that I wish I had gotten him insurance when he was a kit. If i could afford it I would get it for my kitten now. in the past year my father has estimated to have spent nearly 10,000$ on cat bills.
 

MarleneQ

Lairian
Joined
Jan 17, 2017
Messages
15
Points
4
Hi. I am one of those people that lurks around on Sphynx Lair, but never posts. I enjoy the forum very much.

I am hoping that some of you who have kept sphynx's for awhile will be willing to say how long you have had your cat(s), and if you have had any serious health issues with them. It is kind of hard to define "serious", but I am thinking of the kind of thing that requires vet care. Money seems like an odd way to rank things, but I would think that something that cost over $500 at the vet could probably be considered serious.

I know that sphynx's are a healthy breed, and have read everything I can find about health issues they might encounter, including many of the threads on the health forum. It is hard to get a feeling for how "common" those issues are from reading about individual cases though. I highly value personal real-life experiences, and would love to hear from as many people as possible.

This question is partly due to my recent experience of losing my sphynx/elf to FIP. I am aware that FIP is extremely rare, and hopefully I will never ever experience that horrible condition again.

I can't imagine not having a sphynx now that I have had the opportunity to live with one, even though it was only for a few months. After the major expense for care and treatment of my guy, I thought it would be a good idea to get as much information as possible about how common major expenses are before I bring another sphynx home, just to be as prepared as possible. If anyone wants to take the time to share their personal experience, I would greatly appreciate it.
I just came back from the vet and it is possible that my girl has FIP. She had an eye infection, redness at the corner of her eye and a cloudy iris. With antibiotics, her left eye got better. However, about 10 days after she started her treatment, her right eye looked just like her left when we first had her seen. Her left eye was cleared up completely and her right was now being treated. We switched antibiotics and are watching her to see if there is any change but they think that it could be FIP. Can you please share some of the symptoms that your kitty had? Did anything like this happen to him?
 

Cinderstar95

Lairian
Joined
Jan 4, 2017
Messages
293
Points
91
I just came back from the vet and it is possible that my girl has FIP. She had an eye infection, redness at the corner of her eye and a cloudy iris. With antibiotics, her left eye got better. However, about 10 days after she started her treatment, her right eye looked just like her left when we first had her seen. Her left eye was cleared up completely and her right was now being treated. We switched antibiotics and are watching her to see if there is any change but they think that it could be FIP. Can you please share some of the symptoms that your kitty had? Did anything like this happen to him?
Hello,
I am so sorry to hear about your baby. While I am not a vet, I have lost two of my sphynx to FIP in the past. Its horrific and heart breaking. That being said, Neither of my girls had any eye symptoms. They both stopped eating, lost incredible amounts of weight, had high fevers and a host of other symptoms. Depending on what caused the eye issues, was it an infection, ulcer, scratch or what not, it certainly COULD be FIP, but i've personally never had that symptom appear. One went into respiratory failure and the other had a seizure once the virus got into her brain. neither had the 'wet' form of the disease where their belly's fill and swell with fluid, they both just lost incredible amounts of weight.
Is your vet doing a Corona titer? while FIP cannot be confirmed except by necrosocpy, a high Corona titer indicates FIP. It's not a cheap test, but its not the most expensive either. If your vet thinks your kitty has FIP one certainly should be ordered.
Now, I did have severe eye issues in my male, who is Herpes Positive. It wasn't an infection as much as an upflare of the virus, but he had cloudy eyes and ulcers in both eyes and a corneal sequestrum in one. He required intensive therapy, but was healed.
I sincerely hope your your baby doesn't have FIP and if you would like to discuss any of my experiences in more depth, feel free to PM me. I have a fairly good understanding of the disease,
Best wishes
 

Tasha2511

Lairian
Joined
Mar 17, 2017
Messages
210
Points
51
Only an ear infection (touch wood)...plus a blood test to make sure everything else was in order (kidneys, pancreas, etc).
 

KitCatty

Gold Lairian
Notable Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2011
Messages
5,362
Points
393
Spent €250 so far, with €55 still outstanding atm, just in the last two weeks on Jez.

Most purebreeds will have common health issues due to small gene pool I don't know statistics but I see and hear them a lot! Mainly eyes, ears, ibs and HCM in the sphynx


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

MarleneQ

Lairian
Joined
Jan 17, 2017
Messages
15
Points
4
Was the FIP the wet or dry type? We suspect that our girl has the dry kind however, the only time she shows any signs of there being something wrong with her its with her eyes, her eyes tend to get cloudy and irritated. I thought maybe she had some other type of health issue but her vet thinks that it is FIP.
 

pattyleo182

Lairian
Joined
Apr 19, 2020
Messages
36
Points
19
I have spent lots and lots of dollars--but I have multiple cats and when one gets something, they almost all get it. When Lulu came to me sick from her breeder, what she had spread through my cattery like wildfire and cost me thousands and thousands of dollars. But other than that, no horrible health issues--well, I take that back--Candy Cane had a real rough way to go of it--remember when she was only like 13 oz. when she was 3 months old? I had to tube feed her and take her to the vet every morning before I went to work at 7:00 AM so she could be fed and cared for while I was at work, then pick her up at 4:30 every night so I could care for her all night long---wow! What a job all that was! I cried more tears than you'll ever know--I fussed over her, prayed for her, asked other people to pray for her....we weren't sure she was going to make it. Here's a reminder of what she looked like then:


Do you remember how I rejoiced when she finally weighed a whole pound??? I am tearing up remembering all this....I loved her so much and tried so hard to save her. Everybody here --all my animals gathered around her to love her up, keep her warm, make her not get depressed...and it sure was worth it!

Here she is now: My beautiful little Miss Candy Cane. She still gets sinus issues and sometimes has snarky breathing, but she is loving and playful and happy I think. The vet thought she would never grow much and was going to be like a midget, but she is nearly normal size!


The moral of the story is this: Miracles happen--when you think all is lost, don't give up hope.

Gratefully,
Susi

Hi @susi794 what an inspiring story, What a great job you did and I hope your babies are all still happy and healthy. I am in here trying to find some strength for my baby boy Max and your story resonates so much to me! I will not lose hope <3
 

TheWrinkler

Lairian
Joined
Feb 5, 2021
Messages
54
Points
54
Aside from the initial cost of purchase we're about $300 in so far with check ups and tests. Henry has a heart murmur and one of his testes has not "dropped" yet, he's a year old this month. We are having him monitored for the murmur but unfortunately we are potentially looking at close to $5000 to have him fixed. No vet we have talked to is even willing to discuss options. We want to make sure he is healthy and is in the best shape possible for a long life ahead, but the amount of money required for the procedure is daunting to say the least. The unfortunate part of living in a small town is the lack of in person resources to be found when looking for 2nd opinions. We're currently looking at options for having the breeder pay for this or pay for a portion of it due to undisclosed conditions when we got him but who knows how well that will go. Henry is the best pet I've had in my life but the costs associated with some procedures sure makes one wonder where the world's priorities are at. This isn't a comment to harp on vets, I know they have a complicated job and bills to pay, I guess it would be nice to just have one of them take a couple extra minutes of their day to review the cats options when someone is facing a very hefty bill that would be a small fraction of this amount if it wasn't for a heart murmur. What to do...what to do... Regardless of how it all pans out though, he's never going to stop being treated like a king in this house
 

Yoda mom

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 23, 2012
Messages
26,190
Points
653
@TheWrinkler , do not hesitate to copy past your comment in a new thread so others can chime in. we have several canadian members that can share info/resources. I do want to share my 8 mos old first sphynx had a heartmurmur, subjective grade 3. My vet was waiting for her to outgrow it or thought possible from stress at the vet. heart murmurs audible are subjective to vets opinion on grading without further tests.
My vet did spay her, using isoflurane/propofol and she did amazing. each kitty is different but wanted to also share I have 4 nakid adoptees, 3 with murmurs , all doing great, the oldest 2 turning 11 this year. sending positive vibes and look forward to post with any questions you have.

curious why are they charging 5k for fixing him? my girl was spayed with her murmur normal charges and pre bloodwork.

hugs n head smooches
 

TheWrinkler

Lairian
Joined
Feb 5, 2021
Messages
54
Points
54
@TheWrinkler , do not hesitate to copy past your comment in a new thread so others can chime in. we have several canadian members that can share info/resources. I do want to share my 8 mos old first sphynx had a heartmurmur, subjective grade 3. My vet was waiting for her to outgrow it or thought possible from stress at the vet. heart murmurs audible are subjective to vets opinion on grading without further tests.
My vet did spay her, using isoflurane/propofol and she did amazing. each kitty is different but wanted to also share I have 4 nakid adoptees, 3 with murmurs , all doing great, the oldest 2 turning 11 this year. sending positive vibes and look forward to post with any questions you have.

curious why are they charging 5k for fixing him? my girl was spayed with her murmur normal charges and pre bloodwork.

hugs n head smooches
 

TheWrinkler

Lairian
Joined
Feb 5, 2021
Messages
54
Points
54
Appreciate the response. I'll definitely post where there may be a possibility of more local info, great tip...thank you.

The cost associated with it is 1200 for the diagnostics, 2600 for the surgery because there have to be board certified staff on hand to monitor him in case of an issue during surgery (invasive due to his testicle still being inside him), and then the cost of traveling to the only vet on our island certified to perform the surgery, 400kms away. It's a 2 day surgery and with the pandemic, staying at a friend's house is not an option unfortunately.
 
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