When will I get to choose my baby? This is our top question and we understand completely. We will tell you when you place your deposit an estimate of when you will select or pick up your kitten but these are living beings and do things in their own time. We have become very good at estimating over the many years we have been doing this but it is always an estimate. After you place a deposit we recommend you join our private Facebook Group “Sphynx Lovers” and get to know some of our other parents and families because they know more about us than anyone. We try to notify you about 3 months before you will begin to get selections. You may select from the available babies or pass for future litters because your reservation never expires and always continues to climb and at some point, you will get a pick from each litter until you select your baby.
Could I lose my deposit? YES! As clearly stated you may pass as long as you wish but If you do select a baby and then back out, fail to respond to our communication attempts, or don’t show for the pickup you schedule you will void your reservation per our contract. Deposits are not refundable for any reason.
Will my reservation expire? NO. But if you fail to respond to our attempts to reach you we will stop trying. Also if you have told us or agreed to be placed on HOLD UNTIL NOTIFIED, we will do just that. We interact with an amazingly large number of people so I guess what we’re saying is that if you have put a reservation down and haven’t heard from us in a long time, you should really reach out. Like most people, we are extremely busy and aren’t good at hunting people down.
Are Sphynx hypoallergenic? Technically Yes BUT…. Let’s discuss what “hypoallergenic” means. Hypoallergenic, according to Wikipedia, means “below normal” or “slightly” allergenic. Dictionary.com says “designed to reduce or minimize the possibility of an allergic response, as by containing relatively few or no potentially irritating substances”. So basically hypoallergenic means “fewer allergens”. Sphynx cats still have the protein in their saliva (just like any other cat) that cat allergy sufferers are allergic to. What seems to help is that Sphynx does not have hair to lick, so no hair traveling all over the house, in the air, on your clothes, furniture, etc. Most people with cat allergies CAN tolerate Sphynx, as long as the cats are bathed regularly, their bedding is washed regularly and the allergy sufferer remembers to wash their hands after handling the cat.
Are Sphynx hairless? Actually No. Degrees of baldness in Sphynx vary from cat to cat and no Sphynx is completely hairless, even if they seem so their coat can change over time. Diet, hormones, climate, and genetics all play an important role in baldness as well as overall health. A Sphynx kitten may be almost hairless but could develop some hair after being neutered/spayed or as it grows older. It can happen to any Sphynx at any time.
What food do you recommend? Without hesitation, RAW! Cats are obligate carnivores and the only way to know what they are truly getting in a very poorly regulated industry is to prepare their food yourself. All of our Sphynx eat only Raw, hand prepared, recipes on our “Raw” Page and they ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! Every Vet will recommend a different food, of course biased. How can anything be safer than Human Grade? That’s all we feed.
Good food for animals and ourselves is key to good health. Read more about Raw Diet Here!
Also please see our care tips page here!
Where do you find the ingredients?
We use the local H.E.B. store but most communities had a store that carries chicken hearts & livers. They also carry the large cans of sardines we like. H.E.B. gets trucks daily so we always get the freshest ingredients.
Do you sell unaltered babies? NO. In all the years we have done this we have one time and it turned out badly because they wouldn’t take our recommendations and did not follow our contract. In fact, it ended so badly we decided we would NEVER do that again and completely closed our interest in allowing people to buy an unaltered kitten.
Do you register the kittens? NO. Although we have registered with TICA and many of our adults are registered, this is not something we have chosen to concentrate on because without getting into a debate, we simply want our babies to be part of the family and we’ve found this is completely unimportant to the families we think to provide the best homes.
Do you have references? Absolutely.. our Facebook page is filled with people who have adopted our babies. Feel free to contact any of them because we have been so blessed to stay in touch with almost all of our babies over the years. We are very proud that some have come back again and again over all these years and a few of our families now have 4 of our babies together. It’s truly amazing and the ultimate compliment. We also started a Private Facebook Group called Sphynx Lovers – You must have one of our babies or a reservation to join.
What is their nature like? Very happy and outgoing in most situations, boisterous and playful who crave human attention. I’ve heard often Sphynx is a combination of the personality of a dog, a cat, and a monkey and this is pretty accurate. They love to interact with family, other pets, and visitors. They are very friendly and want to supervise you wherever you are. They tend to be very accepting.
Years breeding? While we have owned & loved cats all our lives, we have been breeding Sphynx since 2011.
We don’t create misleading statements that use combinations of other animals we’ve had experience with and we also don’t breed other breeds of dogs or cats. Many breeders as young as 30 years old claim to have 25 years of experience breeding animals (I’m not sure how experience breeding dogs or other animals can be combined somehow into a larger number or a 5-year-old can gain experience but this does seem to be a common thing among breeders) .. a claim I would dispute but choose not to argue that insane logic.
Can we visit? The only people we allow to visit our home are people with a reservation after we have gotten to know you, and then only if we can coordinate it in our schedules for your kitten selection. You will come to our home to pick up your baby and at certain times we arrange a visit to choose a kitten if the timing is perfect for everyone. Please do not even ask us about visiting our home if you do not have a reservation. Without sounding rude please understand we are asked on average weekly about people wanting to visit to see a Sphynx or if they have allergic reactions to them. Our home is not a petting zoo.
Can we pay more to skip up or move up on the list? No.
Payment Schedules? We require application approval first, a $200 deposit and contract, then the balance on pickup at our ranch home outside Abilene, Texas. The only exception to that requirement is if we meet you at the airport, or if we are flying the baby to you. Then we do require payment of 50% of the kitten price, plus the airport delivery fee or our travel expenses for obvious reasons. The balance will still be due in cash upon delivery. If you have questions please just ask.
We highly recommend avoiding breeders with scary payment schedules (That’s where many of the “I Got Scammed” stories come from); Some will want all the money before you have even seen your baby in person but definitely before you get to pick them up. Maybe our approval process is a bit more intense but we welcome buyers into our home. It’s a leap of trust for us all.
HCM
What is HCM? Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is found in all cat breeds, not just Sphynx. HCM is the most common heart disease found in all domestic cats. This is generally a genetic disease that can happen at any time to any breeder regardless of scanning and precautions. HCM is a thickening of the heart’s left ventricle wall. There is a DNA test for this disease in many breeds but not Sphynx.
HCM is genetic in the same way Heart Disease in humans is genetic but diet and exercise is the key to health in animals and humans!
HCM is a confusing and frustrating disease to understand. As stated basically, it is a common heart disease found in cats of all breeds and backgrounds where the left ventricle becomes enlarged. Cats can appear healthy (asymptomatic) or they can show signs of the disease which require an echocardiogram to give an accurate diagnosis. The difficult part of this disease is that there is no genetic test available to determine if a cat is a carrier. So for example, if a breeder chooses to scan their cats every year to monitor their cat’s heart and the scan is normal for the first two scans, or five, or ten – so they keep using that cat in their breeding program, believing they are negative for HCM. Then suddenly a scan shows signs of HCM. They have inadvertently “passed” HCM on to another generation of offspring without knowing it. My point is this – just because an adult cat is scanning negative for HCM does not guarantee the cat will never develop HCM in its lifetime, or that its kittens will not develop the disease with no family history of it also. These are living creatures, and just like people, there is no “lifetime guarantee”. Any cat can develop HCM at any time in their lives.
Do you offer a Health Guarantee? Yes! All of our babies come with a 1-year guarantee against genetic life-threatening illness including HCM.
Do you HCM Scan? No. While we respect everyone’s choices we have chosen not to for many reasons. Mainly we have had no symptoms, or health issues at all but also our very trusted Vet like many, feels it’s unnecessary to test a healthy animal for a truly controversial disease. Also at this time, there is no genetic test available for Sphynx that has been proven. If they develop one, we will immediately test all our animals. We do not discourage testing for HCM or any testing for that matter.
We have also heard countless stories of people getting false positives then a second opinion or later examination from another Vet finds nothing. Then it’s, Oh it must have been a murmur. So much unnecessary stress on the babies and everyone involved, especially the babies who are exposed to unnecessary risk just like humans are when we visit hospitals.
If any baby from us is diagnosed with HCM within the health guarantee period we will replace, just as our guarantee states! YOU MUST BRING THE BABY BACK TO US.
HCM more commonly shows up 3-4 years of age.. which is why many breeders “retire” their breeders just about that age.. While many will SELL you additional years of HCM guarantee (by raising the price) to be honest they must also tell you that HCM can happen to any kitten regardless if the parents test negative for HCM all their lives.
Recommendations about HCM Scanning or any test? Feel free to have any testing done you feel is important, including HCM Scanning. If you read the “requirements” of many people’s health guarantees you will find they make compliance financially unfeasible for most people. Keeping in mind if you miss any of their steps you get nothing.. much like extended warranties on most things. Then if your baby dies most times your Vet must mail the body to a few approved places and pay for expensive “necropsy” and other tests. This is difficult if you have already spent a fortune on Vet expenses which are always on the buyer as well. Most breeders only give 48 hours for the initial Vet exam and testing and we give 5 days for you to get your new baby to a vet for examination.
Our adults receive routine Vet care and are healthy. Many Feline Cardiologists strongly encourage the testing, but they coincidentally have the most to gain from everyone getting tested all the time. I’m sorry if that sounds cynical but it’s simply my opinion. If you search enough you can find anything you want to hear; positive or negative.
My personal observation is that I see a huge pattern in people that use HCM as a scare tactic to appear or claim to be “responsible” or above other “animal lovers.”
Also found on the web, a breeder states, “at a recent visit with my cat’s cardiologist, I was able to ask a few questions about HCM I felt were important to clarify. Below are his answers and opinions.”
How common is HCM in Sphynx versus other cats?
About average. He sees just as many house cats with HCM as Sphynx or any other breed for that matter. Generally, owners only bring sick cats, or cats referred by their veterinarian for suspected heart issues.
What are the visible signs of HCM?
Increased breathing, fatigue, and paralysis.
Once the diagnosis of HCM is made, what is the life expectancy of the cat?
It depends on the severity and age of the cat. Some cats can live for many years after their diagnosis and others aren’t as lucky. (Or in plain language – they have no idea at all)