For all of you lovely readers out there I have done a deal with every eBook distributor you can think of to bring you a holiday discount for Sphynx Cats: What Every (Potential) Owner Should Know . Perfect as a gift for yourself or someone you love. Breeders you should be making sure your kitten buyers are getting a copy because it covers everything they should know about the breed.
From now until January 1st 2011, if you use the coupon code MW48P you will get a whopping 50% discount. Click here to purchase and download now. Whether they use an iPad, a Kindle or something else, all readers are covered.
Click picture to buy
p.s. if you want to make a little holiday cash for yourself why not sign up as an affiliate and earn 11% on all sales you make.
Whether you buy a Sphynx cat as a present for yourself or for someone you love please make sure you can cover off the essentials for owning a Sphynx cat
- Sphynx cats need lots of attention and are literally “in your face” types of cats – can you/they handle that?
- Sphynx cats need grooming, and more than you probably know – can you/they handle that?
- Some Sphynx kitten breeders are unscrupulous and just want your money – will you/they spend time researching your breeder?
- People will mock you for your choice of pet, or your Sphynx cat or kitten for being ugly – can you/they handle that?
- Sphynx cats can have sensitive stomachs and you should always feed your Sphynx top quality food – can you/they afford that?
- Sphynx cats need warmth, all the time. Your energy bills may rise – Can you/they handle that ?
- Sphynx cats hate being alone and can get depressed if they are lonely – Will you/they provide extra company for them when you are not available?
- Sphynx cats are incredibly curious animals and can get themselves into mischief (and break some of your stuff!) – Can you/they handle that?
- Owning a Sphynx cat is a privilege not a right – Can you/they handle if a breeder knocks them back as unsuitable owners because they do not know enough about being a Sphynx cat owner?
- Before you buy a Sphynx Cat you should invest in education about the breed. The Sphynx Cat eBook makes a wonderful present for potential Sphynx Cat owners – Have you/they bought a copy yet?
Click to go to order page
I sometimes look at the search terms that bring people to the Sphynx Cat Blog. Someone very recently got here by searching for “$100 Sphynx Cats” and when i saw that my heart broke. They aren’t the only people that are looking for a cheap Sphynx cat either. I see “free hairless cat”, “cheap Sphynx kittens” and “Can I get a Sphynx Cat for under $200″ type searches all the time. It is is so sad that they end up on my blog because I talk about how much it costs to feed my 3 for a week or how expensive vets and medication bills are.
If you are reading this post because you want a cheap Sphynx kitten or cat then I have the following to say to you.
If you can’t afford the asking price of a reputable breeder then you aren’t going to be able to look after the Sphynx once you have it.
They eat more than normal cats = higher food bills
They require more heat that normal cats = higher power bills
They have grooming requirements = time and money
And although you can rescue a Sphynx cat (and I would love all the Sphynxes that need rescuing to always go to a loving and caring home) only experienced Sphynx owners should really take on the task of rescue. Many rescue Sphynxes come with pre-existing conditions (because they are often old) or have been living in less than ideal conditions that can cause mental and physical issues.
Buying from a reputable breeder at the full price should also mean you get a health guarantee included in your purchase contract. That protects you, the breeder and your cat.
I can’t think of anything more heart breaking than buying from a kitten mill only to see your little baby die because it was not bred properly.
Please, PLEASE, don’t buy a “cheap Sphynx cat” and let’s stamp out unscrupulous breeders.
One of the biggest concerns Sphynx cat owners, or potential owners, have is what to feed their Sphynx cat. I now know what the answer is for my Sphynxes after having them on a raw food diet for the last week.
Raw Food Value
One of the main reasons I was looking to move the cats to a raw food diet was the cost of the premium food I was feeding them. The three of them were going through on a daily basis around 10 cans of wet food (10 x 85grams) at $1.45 each. Add on top of that the dry food at around $2 a day ($42 a bag for 3.63 kg ) and we have a total of $16.35 a DAY.
Compare that to my first batch of raw food in which I made a bit of a logistical error on when I purchased chickens at $5.95 a kg (when I thought the sign said $5.95 each – oops!). All up I made around 6 days worth from 2 chickens + giblets + hearts + livers + turkey mince + butternut pumpkin (squash). Sum total $30 or $5 a day.
That’s a 66% saving.
Raw Food Bowel Benefits
If you are a Sphynx owner then you will know the pain and embarrassment of what can happen when your Sphynx eats something that doesn’t agree with it. Firstly there is the soft bowel movements (to be kind) or the out and out explosive diarrhea.The stench of the stool is so bad that sometimes it felt like we were living in an open sewer. Finally there is the rumbling belly that can end in gas so bad it can clear a room. A Sphynx’s gut is a sensitive thing.
On the manufactured food all three of my gang had stinky poos and the kitten had smelly farts. The consistency of their bowel movements were softish.
Introduce the raw diet and within one day they had firmer poos and ….none of that house clearing stench! It used to be easy to know when one had gone to the litter box. Now I have to check the boxes to see if there is poo there because the smell is not strong enough to alert anyone that they have gone.
I didn’t bother doing a slow introduction to the gang as they were having chicken wings a few times a week to supplement the manufactured food. There has been no negative response from their digestive tracts what-so-ever.
I don’t think I have been this happy about the state of poo since I had my human babies!
But Do The Sphynx Cats Like Their New Raw Diet?
From the moment I put the first bowl down all three have been massive fans of the new food. The three eat around 650-800 grams at a sitting which is around the same as what they were eating with the manufactured food. Sphynx cat Luna used to eat mostly dry food whereas Sphynx cat Pierre and Sphynx Kitten Lucy ate a combination.
Feed times are filled with smacking lips as they race each other to finish their bowls. They just LOVE it.
Raw Sphynx Cat Food Recipe
For 6 days – 3 cats
4 kilos whole chicken
.5 kilos chicken giblets
.5 kilos chicken hearts
.5 kilos chicken livers
.5 kilos turkey mince
.5 kilos butternut pumpkin
Lysine freeze dried powder
Pro-Biotic liquid
Meat cut up and run through a Northern Tool Grinder (highly recommended!) and the whole thing took less than half an hour.
I have decided to move my three Sphynx cats to a full raw diet. There are a couple of reasons for this -
- It’s winter here in Australia and all 3 are eating 10 x 85gram cans of food each between them a day. At $1.45 a can thats OVER $100 a WEEK
- While cat food in Australia is good (much better than I believe it is in the USA) I have always leaned towards doing what is natural, rather than artificial
- My Italian Greyhound is getting on in years and losing teeth, he can also benefit from eating the same diet
- The more I read about the pet food industry, the more I despise supporting them
There are some excellent posts on the topic over at the Sphynx Forum and I have certainly learned a great deal in the last weeks of research.
Up until now my guys have been on a mix of raw and artificial foods. They enjoy eating both and I don’t think they will be much of an issue crossing over straight into raw. I have had an issue in another area though.
Getting my hands on a meat grinder that is powerful enough to munch up chicken bones, but not a full deer/cow carcass has been quite difficult. I am not going to spend a gazillion dollars on an industrial/commercial model, nor do I want to by a plastic “mincer” that won’t do the job. In the end I purchased from good old Amazon a model I saw recommended on another blog – Northern Electric Meat Grinder
– at $99 it is much cheaper than anything the same quality here in Australia.
Once I have it in my hot little hand I am going to put videos up of making that raw diet for people that are looking for instructions on how-to.
The make up of the diet will be 1/2 whole chicken meat and bone, 1/4 chicken and turkey gizzards including kidney/hearts, 3/16turkey/beef mince, 1/16th cooked pumpkin, pro-biotic mix, l-lysine, and vitamin mix
My next step is to find if there are any organic chicken outlets with reasonable priced birds. Breast enlarging hormones can’t be good for cats.
Sphynx People Say…