why did you choose sphynx?

[Reina]

Hi all! The question I always get asked the most from non sphynx owners is "why a hairless cat?!" So this got me wondering about you guys, what about sphynx cats drew you to them? Or what made you finally take the leap to get one (regardless of what people said)?

For us, oddly enough my significant other, Julian, is a little OCD about his clothes. Hard to believe he survived growing up with three pugs and the cat hair from my family's 2 furry cats. Nonetheless, he always carried a rolly lint remover with him. As we settled into our new place, we finally considered expanding our little family and it was his suggestion, I of course teetering the idea finally gave in once I finally felt how surprisingly soft they are and my heart melted! Plus, having the no hair issues is surprisingly refreshing!

So how about you? What drew you to them? Was it the no hair? Did you know someone who had one before? Or was it for something completely different?

 

[Jebsmom]

My daughter got hers and she was like "you have to get one ,they're so fun",so I took the leap into getting my own and now I'm happily owned by Jeb! The no hair is a plus too!

 

[naomi]

My partner also hates the hair everywhere but for me it was a combo. I love the look of them. Seeing all the muscle movements and wrinkles it so cool. I love the personality. Plus I figured a cat which is cold all the time would be more likely to cuddle. My sis has a ragdoll cat and he is hairy and Beautifull but would never even consider sitting in my lap.

 

[Catzzzmeow]

Hubby and I went to several cat shows over the years when we were younger. There was one breeder that seemed to be at all of the shows in our area and she was the only one who encouraged people to touch her cats and enjoy them. She was a true ambassador of the breed. Any show we went to even in NYC, she always remembered us. We heard she passed away over a year ago...we never did purchase a kitten from her, but 11 years after meeting her, I can say she made a huge difference in our lives. It started with a touch...the rest is history.


Patti

 

[Reina]

My daughter got hers and she was like "you have to get one ,they're so fun",so I took the leap into getting my own and now I'm happily owned by Jeb! The no hair is a plus too!

My parents are the same, my dad is definitely considering one. I think he just likes how playful he is!

My partner also hates the hair everywhere but for me it was a combo. I love the look of them. Seeing all the muscle movements and wrinkles it so cool. I love the personality. Plus I figured a cat which is cold all the time would be more likely to cuddle. My sis has a ragdoll cat and he is hairy and Beautifull but would never even consider sitting in my lap.

The personality is awesome! I love how loveable and different they are from normal cats!

 

[Ickushouse]

I fell head over heels about their adorable look!!! Mr. Bigglesworth (played by Ted Nude-Gent) was my introduction in 1997, and the idea of no hair everywhere was also VERY pleasing (as someone who wears a lot of black). Then I started to read what I could find about their personalities, and I became further, completely, hopelessly intrigued. Ickus was my first, and that little monkey boy blew me away from day one!

 

[GizmosMommy]

I've wanted one since I saw Austin Powers when I was 16 COME MR. BIGGLESWORTH!!

 

[BluesMummy]

This is a great thread i've wanted a sphynx for many years since i saw one caged in a pet shop about 10 years ago & my heart melted there & then, i knew one day i would add one to our family even though i'd never met anybody who owned one before, we had a few rocky years & my boyfriend had 30 days of radiotherapy & 13 months of chemo for an unoperable brain tumour so after his treatment i said that i felt we deserved a reward to remember what we had been through (if i was to write our story from 2011 it would be unbelievable & i could proberbly write a book theres been so much unbelievable things happen to our family) anyway, what better reason was there to get a baldy kitten to match my baldy boyfriend ?? The research into the breed & breeders kept me occupied for the many hours we sat at the hospital & our little boy Blue came home with us on halloween 2013, exactly a month after pauls treatment, hes kept our mind busy & our hearts full of love, hes the best little kitten ever & worth every day of the years i waited to own my own sphynx xxx

 

[Reina]

@BluesMummy that is awesome and such a great story behind why you got him! I think sphynx cats bring a lot of happiness to their owners, there is just something special about them!

 

[BluesMummy]

@BluesMummy that is awesome and such a great story behind why you got him! I think sphynx cats bring a lot of happiness to their owners, there is just something special about them!

They sure do, they are so funny entertaining & loving we could never imagine our home without our little bundle of madness, Blues been the best thing thats happened to us for a long time xxx

 

[zoinks]

When I was 8 years old, my sister & I saw the episode of friends where Rachel buys a sphynx (back in '99!)

We made a pact that when we grew up we would buy a sphynx, call him terry and dress him up.

We started a "sphynx fund" making all of our family donate but after a few weeks we gave up.

15 years later, I completed what we set out to do. I got 2 sphynx.

My sister came to visit last year, and the first thing she said was "TERRY!!"

 

[Catzzzmeow]

@zoinks It does not seem possible it has been that long since that episode!

 

[Cleopatra Beers]

We've known about Sphynxes for many years, and we thought they were neat, but didn't think too much else about them. But we could never afford to buy a purebred kitten, and we have always been heavily into rescue cats. Between our son bringing home kittens he found as a child, and our reputation in our hometown as "the place where you could drop off a kitten," we were always had a full house of cats (not to mention dogs, rabbits, hermit crabs and others). But many years ago, we moved from our hometown, Adam grew up and moved out and our clowder of cats began to get smaller. Three years ago, June 18, 2011, Bob and I walked into our local PetSmart and found ourselves face-to-face with 2 Sphynx kittens in the area where the rescue cats are. I was drawn to the calico first, but the tuxedo with the funny spot on her nose decided that SHE wanted US! We actually left the store without a kitten, but went back that afternoon to get Cleopatra, the Queen of Her World. Now, we are finally getting our purebred kitten in July!!!!!!

 

[Reina]

@zoinks omg i remember that episode haha, it re -ran the other day too!

@Cleopatra Beers Yay congrats! Thats crazy that you saw two at a shelter, we looked all over our area!

 

[naomi]

Funny how they just grab your hearts. Thinking back my first intro to the Sphynx breed was in a book my grandma sent me when I was in my early teens. I have always loved cats and was immediately interested in the sphynx but never thought much of getting one until my childhood cat xena passed away (she was nearly 20 and it took me a long time to get over her death) but I just kept coming back to the Sphynx after that. I can't imagine living with a furry cat now. They are even starting to look weird to me

 

[Hairless Blessing]

I loved the exotic breeds of anything. So, my older Sis and Husband
bought one. I went to see it. Oh I fell in love with the breed.
Right then, I said they have no hair, I won't have that in my house.
Then, how funny, smart, and gorgeous I thought they were.
I knew I wanted a girl and I wanted a seal point. I searched breeders
and it was the second night I found my Izmae.
I already knew that's what her name would be too. So I talked with
the breeder and sent a deposit. Waited until she was 16 weeks old
and she was mine and I was hers love at first sight.

 

[BusterTheCat]

My mom and I went to a cat show many years ago and there was a sphynx breeder there telling us all about them. I got to touch a sphynx, which I had never done before, and I loved it. We already had two cats at the time so my mom wasn't interested in adopting another. One day, one of my cats (Ashe) got out and we couldn't find him. We put up posters and called all of the vets and shelters in our area with no luck. It had been a week and my mom was devastated. She started looking into getting another cat so we looked into the sphynx breed. Not long after, we got a call from someone saying they think they found our cat. We (luckily) got Ashe back but had already looked into getting a sphynx and couldn't let them go! Even though we had Ashe back, we still got Buster and we are very happy we did.

Edit: We bought our sphynx from the breeder at the cat show that introduced us to the breed

 

[Kelly]

I saw a picture of a sphynx kitten on Pinterest and fell in love at first sight. I also loved the description of their personalities. I was hooked the moment I got my babies.

 

[Lickleone]

When I was a teenager my best friend had these cats (to this day I'm not sure what breed they were lol) but they were awesome I always said I wanted of them however when I started searching for what breed they could be I searched and search for years eventually in my search years ago one result that came back was the sphynx well the second I saw the photo I knew I wanted one! Before I got Tau I had stopped smoking and I though considering I much I loved smoking it was a miracle I was able to give it up my attempt was really half hearted lol which should have doomed me to fail yet I succeeded so I felt I deserved the best gift ever and started looking for breeder found the best one not only did I find the best breed ever we ended up forming a friendship and both my boys are from her and I can honestly say while she breeds I will not get a kitten from anywhere but her she's honest to a fault her cats are so loved. When I first went first time I met her to look at her kittens the day I picked Tau I found choosing so overwhelming lol I sat there for 5 hours she never made me feel rushed or that I've overstayed etc she probably would have let me sit there for more lol till I was sure lol I appreciated that most would have probably got antsi with me after a hour lol

 

[Gesundheit]

When my husband and I moved out to California, we had friends and relatives who wanted to visit, but couldn't afford travel AND board, unless they stayed with us. If they have allergies, this greatly limits their options. We know that sphynx kitties aren't technically hypoallergenic, but with proper grooming, it's just fine. There's no fur flying throughout the air, clogging their sinuses. However, we now have two roommates (because California and whatever) with three fully-furred cats of their own. At least the allergic people have since had their fill.

@Lickleone - Congratulations on kicking the habit!

 

[Embracing-Joyx4]

Great stories @Lickleone & @BluesMummy @Catzzzmeow.
My story is honestly I started out with always rescuing kitties, strays.
For a while I raised exotic birds until I developed bad asthma from
Their dust.

I always had a kitty even if it was a outdoor one. When our beloved Rufus died a few years ago my husband and I said remember that dream to one day own a sphynx?
Well let's start looking. We stumbled on a few that God in his intimate wisdom did not pan out.
Then when we had just about said maybe it's not meant to be I found two breeders about 5 hours away. One said she had none left and would not for a few months. And the next breeder I left a message for she called me back and we were blessed with the last one she had left because the person who was suppose to get him for their child was allergic.
It was always a dream of ours to own sphynx's now we have a few.
What I love about them is they fill that void of not being able to enlarge our family due to fertility issues. ( I'm blessed to have two great kid) I just wanted a big family and sphynx are like children in many ways. But without some of the cons and they have some good pros.
No more school functions
No parent teacher conferences
No more circuses or amusement parks
No school supplies
No school clothes
No shoes that get out grown quickly
No teenage hormones
You don't have to worry about any of the things you worry about with kids. And I've been blessed cuz my kids were and are great
Sure you have vet bills to think of
And food ( feeding 2 kids cost way more)
There are baths and ear cleaning & nails but that's less than with children.
You still get tons of affection, love, snuggles.
You still get to take tons of photos and have bragging rights lol
Keeps you young and active because they need play time too ( just not as much)
You don't need a book to tell them a story they purr just because your talking to them.
You can walk them, stroller them, catio etc..
And the list goes on..... Most importantly they are as unique and loving as off spring. And once you have loved one your life is enriched and never the same.

 

[Embracing-Joyx4]

P.S I could have a huge sphynxie family of kiddos and I don't have to put them thru college or buy them cars or pay car insurance or for weddings....and last but not least I inherited a loving community which back in the day.... Children were raised by whole communities and that's not how it is anymore. Here at the Lair we all have one common goal LOVE and Health & Happiness of these naked babies. Which are as innocent as babies and as rambunctious as toddlers... Pretty good blessing.

 

[Reina]

@Embracing-Joyx4 that is the best way to look at it. My significant other and I have been together for almost 7 years and there is a lot of pressure at our age to get married and have kids, but we just laugh and show pictures of our Odis who is a kid enough for us. I think right now in my life, I'd rather have him than a real kid (a little less expensive!!)

@Gesundheit it's funny you say that, even though they aren't technically hypoallergenic, most of my friends who have cat allergies actually say they don't feel as congested as they normally would as well.

 

[SassyTheSphynx]

Honestly, I saw my first sphynx on the show L.A. Ink and I fell in love! Sphynx turned into an obsession for me and when I finally got Sassy it was like a dream come true!

 

[MunnkieSphynx]

I didn't really like them at first, I know, shocking! I had only seen one in person and I thought it was just weird. Then I went to a friends house about 8 months ago and his roommate had two! I got to play with them. The boy was adorable and kept climbing on my shoulders and talking to me. He was precious and I fell in love. I wanted one so badly but my boyfriend wasn't ready yet and we both have a dog so we were busy. The dogs are in a better routine with us now and have gotten a lot easier since.
We went to the OC pet expo and someone who owned a beautiful sphynx brought it there to show. (she owned a grooming company I think). I told my boyfriend and dragged him over to see him. My bf was like: is he available? I said no. He said: oh darn, I was going to say we should just get it so you can stop bugging me. LOL
I asked about the breeder she got the cat from and got the breeders number. I texted her that night and told her I met one of her cats and fell in love and wanted a hairless from her eventually. She told me she was about a week away from a new litter!
She posted photos of the babies and of course my boyfriend said no no no no then we saw better photos of them and my boyfriend said: do it, put down a deposit!
Of course I could have gotten one without him agreeing but I wanted us to do this together and be on the same page so I waited until he was ready to get one too
So we finally are ready and agreed and have been nesting like crazy waiting for baby Munnkie to come home (end of july or august)
We are both dog people, we aren't really into cats. We like taking our dogs for hikes, taking them on adventures, etc. I fell in love with the fact that Sphynx cats are a lot like dogs and want attention and can go on adventures.
My apartment is all carpet so I feel like I am always vacuuming the dogs hair off of my floor, it gets old. A hairless pet is a HUGE plus and I can't wait to put little warm sweaters on him!