Luna the Sphynx Cat and Pierre the Sphynx Kitten are about to be uprooted in the next two weeks as we move house. This is going to introduce all sorts stresses for them while they are still sorting out their relationship within the house.
While Luna has been here since she came to us, she does have the advantage of being used to going to our other house in the bush. Her first trip there with us was for a week’s stay and she did not defecate the whole time causing my anxiety levels to rise to stratospheric levels. Luckily I put her on the litter just before we left (it is an 5 1/2 drive home) and she relieved herself AND me.
I will be expecting similar things from both Luna and Pierre when we move.
To prepare for the move we will be packing a room at a time and letting them get used to the change. Sphynxes are incredibly curious, and in Luna’s case, fearless. So the change will excite them as long as their familiar food, litter and sleeping places are left intact till the last minute.
At the new house we will have decided where the new places will be for eating , toileting and sleeping in advance and make sure both Luna and Pierre are shown the new places as soon as they are brought into the house. They will come in after all of the moving has been completed to make sure they don’t escape under the feet of the movers, or through open doors.
I remember moving house when I was a little girl, in the days before cat carriers. My parents popped our big placid tom cat into a plastic wash basket with a lid and he was unceremoniously put into the moving van for the short trip between the houses. Imagine the surprise of the movers when the doors of the van opened he was perched on top of a wardrobe with murder in his eyes after chewing his way out.
I will keep you up to date with the move as it happens and pass on anything that crops up.
One of the BIGGEST Sphynx cat myths is the belief that a lack of hair means that all that pesky care that comes with hair is gone and so there is nothing much you need to do for your Sphynx. Wrong! Sphynx cats have their own set of grooming needs that are important for the health and well being on your Sphynx.
Bathing You must wash your Sphynx thoroughly around once a week (depending on your cat’s skin type). This is to remove the build up of natural skin oils that will pick up dust and dirt. Also the brown marks that will appear on the nose if your Sphynx has the sniffles. Luna also manages to get some food crud in the corners of her mouth that needs a good face washing at bath time.
Hygene You must clean the claws of your Sphynx at least once a week to prevent the build up of brown waxy gunk under the nail bed.
Cat those nails regularly once a week too, Sphynxes can scratch themselves very badly when the instinct to scratch is there, but the protective fur isn’t.
You must clean the build up of oils, wax and dirt from your Sphynx ears once a week (or as needed depending on how waxy your Sphynx gets).
Loose stools can mean dirty bottoms, clean ASAP to prevent staph infections or nasty marks on the furniture!
No eye lashes can mean eye crud, make sure you are prepared to wipe your Sphynx’s eyes should they have a goober.
All in all your Sphynx will require this kind of care all of its life and it is a large commitment to make if you wish to own one. I can say though, it is totally worth it. As a dedicated parent you won’t mind spending this time making your Sphynx clean. Your Sphynx will appreciate it too…maybe not at the time.
Great video from YouTube. Some Sphynxes prefer to watch!
Got Sphynx cat care questions? Pop into the Sphynx cat forum and ask away!
Well it’s been just over a month since Pierre the Sphynx kitten moved in and put Luna the Sphynx cat’s nose out of joint. In a previous post about his sphynx kitten eating habits I described how Pierre has been gorging himself on Luna’s food. Pierre is going through the massive growth spurt stage and I remember when Luna went through it.
Luna Can Has CheezCakeBurger
When Luna was the same age she had just recovered from cat flu (delivered to us that way ) and was trying to put on her normal kitten fat as well as recovering her condition from being so sick. Two wet meals a day was not enough for her and she would eat till her belly bulged and almost dragged along the ground. We made sure we monitored her intake and always had dry food available for her as well as water. Luna soon put on the weight she had lost, but she has always remained small for her age.
Since Pierre has been with us he has put on over a 600gs (about a pound) and now weighs the same as Luna, 3.1 kgs, as she has lost about 300 grams.
It’s quite important to monitor weight on a casual basis just to ensure you aren’t missing smething on the health side of things. It is easy not to see the insidious slide into obesity (yes Sphynx cats can become obese) or the opposite and catch loss of weight for no reason. We knew that Luna had lost some weight when we could see more rib definition than we would ordinarily. We will be giving Luna some special high energy treats (like grated cheese, she loves it) to help her get the weight back that naughty Pierre has stolen from her.
If you have questions or comments about Sphynx cat or Sphynx kitten eating habits the why not drop into the Sphynx Cat Blog Forums and open a thread!
Edit: the forums are no longer available but I support the Sphynx cat forums at www.sphynxforum.com
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After chit-chatting with many people on Twitter about all things Sphynx cats it is really apparent that 140 characters does not make a great conversation platform. Still I know people out there want to talk about their Sphynxes as well as potential owners want to ask questions, so I have decided to open a forums linked to this blog and get the conversations going.
If you click on you will be taken to them and I would love for you to sign up and become founder members! Also feedback is MORE than welcomed. If there is a section you think should be added or something that needs to change start a topic or leave a comment here.
Sphynx cat forums!
My next step will be to include a “how to” sign up video here on the blog for people who are new to the whole forum thing.
p.s. I am still working on getting things right so the link tabs at the top are still not quite right *wink*
I like looking around and answering people’s questions about Sphynx cats on various forums and places like Yahoo answers. The thing is there is such a lot of misinformation out there that I wonder if the message gets through (especially if the asker doesn’t really want to believe the answer). Because of this I thought I would start these series of posts called Hairless Cat Myths, just to set the record straight about the misconceptions people can have about Sphynx cats and kittens.
I have an allergy to cats, will a Sphynx Cat be suitable for me?
About 1 in 10 people have allergies of one sort or other, and it is twice as common to have an allergy to cats as it is to dogs. An allergy is the body’s immune system sensing some outside agent as dangerous to the body and will react to it. Sneezing for example is the body trying to expel by force the agent, running eyes are the body trying to wash it away.
The most common cat allergies are reactions to protein (Fel d 1 )in the cat’s saliva, dander (flakes of skin) and urine. The Sphynx has the same protein as regurlar cats which means one thing… if you are allergic to normal cats, you are going to be allergic to Sphynxes too.
Don’t be fooled by some not-so-honest breeders who will try to suggest that Sphynxes are hypoallergenic. There is no such thing as a non-allergenic cat.
Male cats will produce more allergen than female cats due to their testosterone levels increasing fel d 1 production, but for the allergic person either sex will cause problems. The issue with the cat allergen is that it is so small that it is hard to keep levels low without professional level filtering in the house, or ensuring there are no-go areas for the cat that do not share common air areas with cat areas (such as a hall).
Sadly as you can see from the above the myth about Sphynxes being hypoallergenic is just that, a myth.
Sphynx People Say…