We're Finally Sphynx Mommies - In Need Of Advice!

[Zelouise]

Hello Sphynxlair Family

My partner and I recently became parents to our long awaited boy, Farrow.
He is a beautiful Harlequin Sphynx and his dad has won 1st place in multiple cat shows here in South-Africa.

We were truly blessed when the breeder notified us that she had one more kitten left from her last litter. I'm sure some of you understand the frustration when wanting to adopt a Sphynx kitten as most breeders have the kittens booked ahead of time which puts you on a waiting list, so believe me when I say that it was certainly a very happy day for us when we received the call.

The breeder was really helpful with tips and tricks on how to care for your Sphynx kitten, but once we had Farrow settled in at home a lot of the tips and tricks she gave us became irrelevant as Farrow is a soul on his own. :cat:

We lead very busy lives - both of us working 8am to 5pm and then we get home at 6pm. We we're lucky as we received Farrow on a Friday afternoon which allowed us the weekend to bond and to get to know him. On Monday we decided to leave him at home with a whole lot of toys and goodies to keep him entertained (breeder's advice), but at 11am my partner decided to drive home to check if Farrow was doing okay. He was SOOO angry with us for leaving him alone that it took a solid hour to calm him down. We then decided it would be best to take turns on taking him to work in his carrier.
When can you start leaving him home alone without coming back with him raging out at you? (keep in mind that we have no other pets that can keep him company)

We give him a bath once a week, because the breeder said once a week is enough as their skin will get too dry. The problem we have is that Farrow gets dirty so easily. We can give him a bath now and a few hours later he'd be dirty and we can't keep the bum smell away We use scent free baby wipes to wipe his bum for the smell, but it helps for 10 minutes and then the smell is back again after he hasn't even used his litter box during those 10 minutes - Is this normal and is there anyone with some helpful advice on the bum smell as that is a major turn off for people especially seeing that Farrow loves waking you up by sitting on your face.

Any helpful advice from the Sphynxlair Family would be truly appreciated as even after all the preparation and thinking we got everything sorted like pro's, we realize that there's actually so many things we aren't aware of.

Pictures of us and Farrow attached

 

[KitCatty]

What a handsome boy


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[JojoCatMama]

From my experience, quality of food you give your sphynx can make a huge difference in smell and cosistancy of poop! It can also affect how quickly they get rusty. Right now our babies are on a mix of canned food and raw dehydrated pellets that you add water to. This combo seems to be working great for them, and we have not had diarrhea since transitioning them to this diet.

Hylyt shampoo is definitely recommended although I've found you have to rinse more thoroughly than you think. Otherwise the rust comes back within a day!

We decided that Merlin, our little sphynx, needed a buddy. So we adopted a shorthair tabby (Tansy) so they could keep eachother company while my husband and I work during the day. This has helped them both, it seems.

I hope these tips help! I bet others with more experience will chime in. And welcome to the Lair!

 

[Catzzzmeow]

Congratulations!!!! Your baby is a cutie. Your baby will be fine alone, they are just going through normal separation anxiety. Once they get used to the new environment they will most likely sleep most of the day while you are at work. We have 3 video cameras and we see they eat, sleep and sun most of the day. You might look into buying Feliway diffusers to help with the anxiety a bit.

 

[Melissa Reagan]

You guys have a gorgeous new furless babe!!! Congratulations and I know the wait will be well worth it for you guys!!!

I know it seems sad and unkind but you really should just leave him at home alone because he will need to get used to y'alls lifestyle. The sooner you do it the better for him.

Bathing him less often will soon help keep the rust off. My LC was the same way but I wanted him to be comfortable with water so I bathed him once a week at first. well I soon realized he will never like bath time so I have now moved his baths to once a month and just groom him as needed. The rust stays away and in between you can wipe him with the wipes!!

For the bum smell, I can't help you there, i'm sorry!!!

 

[Toa and Ross]

Congratulations with Farrow and welcome to sphynxlair.
Farrow is such a handsome and adorable boy. And his mommy and daddy look so happy and in love. Your smiling faces make me smile too

Farrow will be okay alone at home. He just need to get used to it. When you leave him blankets to crawl under, food/water and toys he'll do well. He probably will sleep during the day when you're gone.
Can he sleep with you at night? So he still can cuddle a lot with the two of you.
A felliway diffuser could help him to calm. And I know some of us hav camera's so they can check on their babies while at work.

You could use baby wipes or a wash cloth with warm water to clean his bum when needed. I wouldn't bath him more often then once a week. The more you bath them the sooner they get dirty. And with bathing too much you miss that lovely mushy smell most sphynx parents love.

Natasja

 

[admin]

Hello @Zelouise and welcome to Sphynxlair! So glad you found us! What a cutie you have there! Great advice thus far. Is he having runny poo? Also, we go a month or more on bathing. They seem to be dirtier the more frequent we bath them. Please enjoy the community!

 

[Lickleone]

Some Sphynx shouldn’t be bathed once a week the more you bath the more oil they make so dirtier they become so try a longer time between baths you may have to go through a dirty phase before getting to know how long is good. I only bath mine now when grubby if truth be told is hardly ever. As so leaving him alone that too may have to go through a patois of him adjusting if not maybe get him a furry friend as companion but remember his a kitten which means he has more energy to spend Sphynx are known to have crazy moments lol

Btw I’m from South Africa to although don’t currently live there

 

[Zelouise]

From my experience, quality of food you give your sphynx can make a huge difference in smell and cosistancy of poop! It can also affect how quickly they get rusty. Right now our babies are on a mix of canned food and raw dehydrated pellets that you add water to. This combo seems to be working great for them, and we have not had diarrhea since transitioning them to this diet.

Hylyt shampoo is definitely recommended although I've found you have to rinse more thoroughly than you think. Otherwise the rust comes back within a day!

We decided that Merlin, our little sphynx, needed a buddy. So we adopted a shorthair tabby (Tansy) so they could keep eachother company while my husband and I work during the day. This has helped them both, it seems.

I hope these tips help! I bet others with more experience will chime in. And welcome to the Lair!

Thank you so much for the tips every bit helps as we are only getting to know him now. We haven't tried changing his diet, we just stuck to the diet of the breeder which consists of a bit of wet food in the morning and then plain pellets throughout the day. We will definitely try something different to see what works for him and also what he likes. We are also thinking of getting him a buddy soon so he doesn't have to be so lonely.
By the way Merlin is adorable! (saw on your display picture) and congratulations on the new member to the family, Tansy.

 

[Zelouise]

You guys have a gorgeous new furless babe!!! Congratulations and I know the wait will be well worth it for you guys!!!

I know it seems sad and unkind but you really should just leave him at home alone because he will need to get used to y'alls lifestyle. The sooner you do it the better for him.

Bathing him less often will soon help keep the rust off. My LC was the same way but I wanted him to be comfortable with water so I bathed him once a week at first. well I soon realized he will never like bath time so I have now moved his baths to once a month and just groom him as needed. The rust stays away and in between you can wipe him with the wipes!!

For the bum smell, I can't help you there, i'm sorry!!!

Thank You Melissa. Noted. Will definitely try bathing him less cause i think i might be cleaning him too often:shame:

 

[Zelouise]

Congratulations with Farrow and welcome to sphynxlair.
Farrow is such a handsome and adorable boy. And his mommy and daddy look so happy and in love. Your smiling faces make me smile too

Farrow will be okay alone at home. He just need to get used to it. When you leave him blankets to crawl under, food/water and toys he'll do well. He probably will sleep during the day when you're gone.
Can he sleep with you at night? So he still can cuddle a lot with the two of you.
A felliway diffuser could help him to calm. And I know some of us hav camera's so they can check on their babies while at work.

You could use baby wipes or a wash cloth with warm water to clean his bum when needed. I wouldn't bath him more often then once a week. The more you bath them the sooner they get dirty. And with bathing too much you miss that lovely mushy smell most sphynx parents love.
Natasja

Hi Natasja,
Thank you for the helpful tips.
Yes, he certainly does cuddle in bed with us at night as he likes getting in under the blankets. I will have to purchase more blankets seeing that i don't have that many around the house. I see he likes the furry type that we got as a gift from the breeder.

 

[Zelouise]

Some Sphynx shouldn’t be bathed once a week the more you bath the more oil they make so dirtier they become so try a longer time between baths you may have to go through a dirty phase before getting to know how long is good. I only bath mine now when grubby if truth be told is hardly ever. As so leaving him alone that too may have to go through a patois of him adjusting if not maybe get him a furry friend as companion but remember his a kitten which means he has more energy to spend Sphynx are known to have crazy moments lol

Btw I’m from South Africa to although don’t currently live there

Great to bump into a fellow South-African in the Lair
YES! The crazy moments. I recently started experiencing them with Farrow as in the beginning he was quite shy and now i can't get him to calm down. He has so much energy and a very fun, playful personality.
Thank you for the tip.

 

[Robin Matsumoto]

So beautiful


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[Anita Eccleston]

Hello Sphynxlair Family

My partner and I recently became parents to our long awaited boy, Farrow.
He is a beautiful Harlequin Sphynx and his dad has won 1st place in multiple cat shows here in South-Africa.

We were truly blessed when the breeder notified us that she had one more kitten left from her last litter. I'm sure some of you understand the frustration when wanting to adopt a Sphynx kitten as most breeders have the kittens booked ahead of time which puts you on a waiting list, so believe me when I say that it was certainly a very happy day for us when we received the call.

The breeder was really helpful with tips and tricks on how to care for your Sphynx kitten, but once we had Farrow settled in at home a lot of the tips and tricks she gave us became irrelevant as Farrow is a soul on his own. :cat:

We lead very busy lives - both of us working 8am to 5pm and then we get home at 6pm. We we're lucky as we received Farrow on a Friday afternoon which allowed us the weekend to bond and to get to know him. On Monday we decided to leave him at home with a whole lot of toys and goodies to keep him entertained (breeder's advice), but at 11am my partner decided to drive home to check if Farrow was doing okay. He was SOOO angry with us for leaving him alone that it took a solid hour to calm him down. We then decided it would be best to take turns on taking him to work in his carrier.
When can you start leaving him home alone without coming back with him raging out at you? (keep in mind that we have no other pets that can keep him company)

We give him a bath once a week, because the breeder said once a week is enough as their skin will get too dry. The problem we have is that Farrow gets dirty so easily. We can give him a bath now and a few hours later he'd be dirty and we can't keep the bum smell away We use scent free baby wipes to wipe his bum for the smell, but it helps for 10 minutes and then the smell is back again after he hasn't even used his litter box during those 10 minutes - Is this normal and is there anyone with some helpful advice on the bum smell as that is a major turn off for people especially seeing that Farrow loves waking you up by sitting on your face.

Any helpful advice from the Sphynxlair Family would be truly appreciated as even after all the preparation and thinking we got everything sorted like pro's, we realize that there's actually so many things we aren't aware of.

Pictures of us and Farrow attached
View attachment 81233 View attachment 81237 View attachment 81239 View attachment 81240 View attachment 81241

Your little one was well worth the wait ! My. Cleo is used to me being with her 24/7 as I am house bound , when I go the bathroom she cries if I try leave her ... I am very lucky in this regard, but you have been given sound advice from other members ..
a kitty can never have too many tops , they are very inquisitive , so the more toys they have the more they may leave our stuff alone (. But I doubt that think it was bit of wishful thinking ) cleo loves my things as much as her own ah
Regards
Anita & Cleo

 

[Anita Eccleston]

Typo """ a kitty can never have too many
Tops """ should have read
Too many TOYS
SORRRREEEEEE XX

 

[Yoda mom]

@Anita Eccleston , no worries no apologies needed on typos! I have so many typos and auto types sometimes while o try typing with my finger with a torn ligament that never healed right

Smooches to Adorable Cleo!

 

[Yoda mom]

@Zelouise , welcome to the lair family ! Happy Farrow gotcha! Cute alarm! Love his markings !
He looks like he has personality !
Look forward to pics and tales!
Hope you are active with this fun friendly bunch!

Here is a great link

Sphynx Cat Help Center

Be sure to read to the bottom of threads for "similar threads" and the top right search box is helps, for more specifics!

Head smooches to adorable Farrow!
So glad you joined us

 

[JojoCatMama]

Thank you so much for the tips every bit helps as we are only getting to know him now. We haven't tried changing his diet, we just stuck to the diet of the breeder which consists of a bit of wet food in the morning and then plain pellets throughout the day. We will definitely try something different to see what works for him and also what he likes. We are also thinking of getting him a buddy soon so he doesn't have to be so lonely.
By the way Merlin is adorable! (saw on your display picture) and congratulations on the new member to the family, Tansy.

Thank you so much! I know we never haven't regretted getting 2 cats instead of one, at all.

Also, as I'm sure you've seen here on the site, if you plan to switch out foods, do it slowly.

Keep up the cute pics of Farrow!

 

[Xandria]

Happy Gotcha Day. Farrow is absolutely gorgeous. He would be very hard to leave behind every day

There is definitely separation anxiety going on twice fold – separation from the family he has known previous to you, and separation from you. However, they will adjust. But I know it's very hard not to be lured by their own anxieties. I think in the end it's harder on us than them.

As others have said, diet definitely affects the overall health and well-being. It may take a while to find a food that works best for everyone involved.

I'm a firm believer in bathing as little as possible (for the Sphynx, not for me! LOL). I fully bathe my boy only once a month, and then give him a wipe down with numerous washcloths soaked in very warm water with a tiny bit of HyLyt shampoo once per week. In between I just use washcloths soaked in very warm water, as needed. Rinsing is also very important. Any little bit of soap residue left behind will attract dirt.

Here is a link to my own spaw treatment For my crew, but you do not have to follow what I do to the letter. In fact, I know that I go overboard. But perhaps between that and the comments in the post, you can find some other tips to help you out. Max & Min’s Spaw Treatment Routine

Welcome, and please continue to share how things are going with your family. And don't be afraid to ask any questions whatsoever. Cheers!

 

[NYC Andrea]

Congratulations on the baby! He’s adorable!

I work odd hours, so when Lady Flufferton was a tiny thing and new in my home, I left the tv on in the bedroom and her shut inside. **she had food, water, litter box, bed +heater and a box fort** The smaller space let her get acclimated and have her the sense of safety. I put the tv on cartoons so the sounds would and colors would occupy her time but also mute the outside noises. They also make kitten toys that purr or have a heartbeat and can be warmed for comfort of a little one.


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[Zelouise]

Happy Gotcha Day. Farrow is absolutely gorgeous. He would be very hard to leave behind every day

There is definitely separation anxiety going on twice fold – separation from the family he has known previous to you, and separation from you. However, they will adjust. But I know it's very hard not to be lured by their own anxieties. I think in the end it's harder on us than them.

As others have said, diet definitely affects the overall health and well-being. It may take a while to find a food that works best for everyone involved.

I'm a firm believer in bathing as little as possible (for the Sphynx, not for me! LOL). I fully bathe my boy only once a month, and then give him a wipe down with numerous washcloths soaked in very warm water with a tiny bit of HyLyt shampoo once per week. In between I just use washcloths soaked in very warm water, as needed. Rinsing is also very important. Any little bit of soap residue left behind will attract dirt.

Here is a link to my own spaw treatment For my crew, but you do not have to follow what I do to the letter. In fact, I know that I go overboard. But perhaps between that and the comments in the post, you can find some other tips to help you out. Max & Min’s Spaw Treatment Routine

Welcome, and please continue to share how things are going with your family. And don't be afraid to ask any questions whatsoever. Cheers!

Thank you so much for the great advice! Every bit is appreciated. I will definitely go read your link I used to give him a bath every Friday, but I have taken the lair's advice and Farrow did not have a bath on a Friday. I just took a washcloth in warm water and wiped him here and there and i have to say that it actually works seeing that he is still pretty clean!

 

[Zelouise]

Congratulations on the baby! He’s adorable!

I work odd hours, so when Lady Flufferton was a tiny thing and new in my home, I left the tv on in the bedroom and her shut inside. **she had food, water, litter box, bed +heater and a box fort** The smaller space let her get acclimated and have her the sense of safety. I put the tv on cartoons so the sounds would and colors would occupy her time but also mute the outside noises. They also make kitten toys that purr or have a heartbeat and can be warmed for comfort of a little one.


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I Love Lady Flufferton's name :cat:
We've been taking turns to take Farrow to work with us (we're lucky seeing that our work environment allows us to do so) but we will start leaving him at home in about two weeks. We are in the process of moving now so i don't want him to stay at home with everything standing around and being out of their place. As soon as we're settled in the new place I will be sure to follow your example and see if he also likes cartoons like Lady Flufferton