One thing Pete and I decided a few years ago is that kids aren't for us. If I'm being completely honest I think we're both too selfish for it, we really enjoy the lifestyle we have now and are more interested in adventuring through life as a couple than as a family with kids in tow. Although we may not have a family in that sense, I feel like we already have a family unit as we have our lovely little kitty cat Cleo.
If you follow me on Instagram you have most likely seen photos and videos of my little bundle and noticed that she isn't like most cats. No indeedy. Cleo is a Sphynx cat, a breed that most people think is hairless but actually isn't - they have a thin layer of down and to me Cleo feels like very soft suede and sometimes velvet if it's got a little colder and she's grown a bit of a thicker coat. She has no whiskers (but she does have the little holes where they should be), bright yellow eyes and a very pink tummy and paws.
Unsurprisingly Sphynx's aren't just unusual in looks but quite different from regular cats in both behaviour and what you need to do to look after them. Most Sphynx's don't go outside (not least because they get sun burnt, seriously) and because of this I think, they are much more reliant on you and therefore are much more loving. I've seen them be called 'parrot cats' before and this name really rings true, Cleo often sits on my shoulder snuggled into my neck - this isn't as weird as it sounds, Sphynx's are usually a lot smaller than regular cats.
If you're thinking of getting a Sphynx yourself, you need to be prepared for some extra care that you need to give them. As they have very little fur there is nothing to absorb the oils from their skin, so you need to bathe your cat pretty regularly and in a gentle shampoo - Cleo has a bath once a week and I wash her with a soft sponge and some Johnson's baby, oh my is she soft when she's towelled off and dry! You also have to clean their ears as they tend to create more ear wax than regular cats, and clean their claws. I also clip Cleo's claws after each bath to make sure she isn't all sharp and ouchy - you need to as she is pretty much constantly on either my or Pete's laps/shoulders/head etc and as she is indoors we want to prevent anything getting scratched.
Another thing with our little one is that she has to be fed special food for sensitive stomachs. Unfortunately Cleo was very over-bred from much too young an age and this really messed up her insides so she gets really ill if she has anything but food that is gentle on her stomach. This is sadly quite a regular occurrence and Sphynx's are often bred out of greed rather than love as the pure breed kittens usually sell for £800-£1000 each. We adopted Cleo from a couple who had rescued her and her sister from a breeder who had gone senile and couldn't look after the cats any more, sadly her sister died of malnutrition but they managed to feed Cleo up a little. Unfortunately they had three big dogs who used to bat her around so they looked for someone to adopt her and luckily we saw the ad! We brought her back home from Doncaster and slowly fed her up to her proper weight, got her fixed so she didn't have to have any more litters and made sure she had a safe, loving home.
I'm so so glad we rescued her those four years ago, our lives definitely wouldn't be the same without her! To end, here's a little video of her exploring the garden in the sun from a few weeks ago...
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