Sphynx Kittens With Queen – Live on Ustream

Awww gorgeous Sphynx kittens with their mother live on Ustream.

Streaming Video by Ustream.TV

Sphynx Kitten Lucy New Cat Tree

The last couple of months have been hard on Sphynx Kitten Lucy. Her playmate Pierre is still feeling under the weather and would rather sleep under the covers than play chasings around the house like Lucy wants to do. So like every (over compensating) mother I have decided to buy Lucy a present.

I have to say I was completely taken by this site that sells amazing cat furniture. I nearly bought a colorful cat tree  called the Amazon, looks just like a cute tree house (like Tarzan type tree house), but changed my mind at the last moment and went for the Havana (who names these things? lol)

My goodness what self respecting kitty could go past without sharpening at least one claw on this gorgeous cat climbing tree. OK maybe I am projecting my thoughts onto the cats, but I do hope they like it!

Got it for a bit of a discount too with about $60 off full price.  The place is called Kitty Mansions and they have an HUGE selection of cat furniture.

$100 Sphynx Cats

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.

Putting Your Sphynx On A Raw Food Diet

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.

Sphynx Cat Raw Diet

I have decided to move my three Sphynx cats to a full raw diet. There are a couple of reasons for this -

1. 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
2. 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
3. My Italian Greyhound is getting on in years and losing teeth, he can also benefit from eating the same diet
4. 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.