Sphynx Cats and Chinese Crested Dogs of Autumn-Argus Farm

Sphynx Cats live for the night!

2012-02-19T11:47:00.000-08:00

by Famke

I am an odd-eyed sphynx cat, so I am told, because I have a blue eye on the left and golden eye on the right. I do not think it odd, rather I prefer to think it gives me a different perspective on the Jellicles lurking in this place. You see we have all kinds of names. Some of us are coined after celebrities, while others so odd I can't begin to meow them. A few are nice, sweet and easy to remember. But that's not what I wish to discuss. I want to talk about life around here. It is a ball and we live for the night!

We are hairless, except for Joey and he is an import I think. So we need warmth and lots of it. The lady that tends to our every little need must be nuts, but without her, well, I shutter to think. We have nice warm beds stashed all round the house on a first come, first snooze basis. We love lounging in windows for the Sun. After dark, we move towards gatherings on the beds, our furniture trees and under covers where we find them. We come out for food because our metabolisms burn it off, except for Creamora the proverbial fat cat! He is neutered and only thinks about food. We cruise the counters and feeding stations spread throughout the house. That way everybody gets a chance to eat. We love ground chuck and other goodies the crazy lady puts out for us. It is like a casino buffet. So we tan and eat during the day and early evening get ready for the later on ball.

Hey, we are jumpers. We like to leap and run. There is always a cat or two running from one end of the house to the other. Everybody has an agenda. There are dogs running around in low places, but they know we have a pass or out they go. Cool huh, fed by humans and protected by dogs, we have to be special, right?

So as the evening progresses, we begin to note dogs falling off in their beds, humans dosing off in chairs or going to bed. Lights start dimming as night lights slowly take over the glow. So off we go to grab another bite and fuel up for the fun. That's our cue - the Ball is getting ready to begin, meow!

Just to make it a good and naughty night, there is always somebody in heat and a full male ready to light. Selected side action I think, making for an even more Jellicle sight. You see, we are first cats and being sphynx we live for night!

Slowly we rise and creep into the rooms where nobody can see except one lone witness. A freaking bird named Tweety, screeching, "What are you doing? Did you do that?" Why, yes we did. Lucky he is in a cage!

We run and tumble and dance throughout. We play with toys and tumble about. We knock things down and spread stuff around. Later we act as though we were not around.

Then as we begin to run out of gas and registered our fun, we slowly creep off for another rerun. Sorry about the mess, but we deny everything. We are sphynx cats and live for the fun!

Chinese Crested Puppies Run Amok!

2012-02-13T17:59:00.000-08:00

Chinese Crested are toy dogs and these two are on the small side, but perfectly matched. Mini Me is an HL crested female and Rudy a male Powder Puff. You never know what you will get in a litter. Mini is Rudy's aunt. Puppies love to play and these two chase on another all the time. I had to get down to catch the action on their level. Enjoy!

And they're off

Mini Me on the left, Rudy on the right

Mini has the lead by half a length

Mini stops to bark

Rounding the patio, they pause to listen and gawk

Rudy braces for the wind, collects his thoughts

Rudy approaches as Mini is out of gas


Rudy stands alone, wants more but it is over for now!

Both of these dogs are currently available and would make great pets. Both are very petite and very charming. You can read more about them and see their galleries on our website.

Sphynx Cats Eat, Eat, Eat ...

2012-01-15T16:38:00.000-08:00

by Autumn-Argus

Sphynx,like any other cat, are obligate carnivores, which means that they needmuscle-based meats in their diets. They have a higher than normal bodytemperature, have no fur coat and consequently they eat quite a bit andoften. While you are sound asleep in the middle of the night, these catsare at the kibble bowl gnawing away. They love to lounge in the windowsfor the sunlight during the day, play around, eat and rest some more. Theirmetabolisms burn off calories faster. So what do you feed your lovingcuddly bares?

Iam not a feline nutritionist, nor am I a veterinarian, but I have bred, shownand lived with them for over twenty years and have learned from my experiencewhat works with these cats. Surely there are others that may debate a point ortwo, but I am not writing this to debate the "purrfect" Sphynx diet,just what works for us. I am so convinced of what I feed, that I include90 day contractual diet recommendations with any Sphynx I place. I do thisbecause it is important to the health of the animal if the new caregiver isobligated to follow a diet for at least 90 days. I am hopeful the pet Iplaced stands a better chance of avoiding dietary issues down the road and thecaregiver that gives the diet a chance may not switch over to something else.

Ihave tried numerous brands of dry cat food. I keep coming back to Royal CaninSpecial 33 because my Sphynx love it and it loves their systems. Ithas Taurine in it and is easily digestible. Although theoretically, they mightget enough protein from plant material to exist, they need the amino acid Taurinein order to thrive. Taurine is found primarily in the muscle meat of animals. Ihave a multiple cat environment, so I have several “feeding stations” locatedin my home. I free feed and just keep the bowls from becoming empty and do notoverfill to prevent the product from becoming stale. They like it fresh andavailable.

Rawmeat is especially important to cats and especially Sphynx. There are quite anumber of articles in support of this fact and I have them throughout mywebsite. If you are not sure aboutfeeding raw meat, then I encourage you to read up on the facts before you thinkthis is bad. Okay, I do not buy high priced raw meat from healthy pet foodstores. Why? It is a waste of money. I buy lean ground chuck from the grocerystore and serve it at room temperature to my Sphynx three or four times a week.They devour it! It boosts their immunesystems and gives them a bump in their metabolisms. Do not cook it at all, goraw broken into small chunks. Do not free feed it or leave it out tospoil. I buy five pound tubes and breakit down into small tubs for easy handling throughout the week. These carnivoresneed the meat and the taurine, and this supplies it.

Ialso provide yogurt and cottage cheese once or twice a week to bump up theirimmune systems. There is nothing clever here, just plain yogurt and small curdcottage cheese served on a small plate. Try it and you will be glad you did.

Nowfor those Sphynx that seem to be off their game and has not eaten in the last 24 hours, I use a large syringe and force them baby food meatright out of the jar. I do this lovingly and try to get at least half a jar in them. If you have acouple jars of this around the kitchen, you may very well save a life until youcan get to the vet if there is a medical issue causing them not to eat.

Thereyou have it - a simple diet that works and keeps your Sphynx healthy. After all, is that not what we all want forour loving suede hot bods?

Happy Client Holiday Card!

2011-12-28T20:00:00.000-08:00

Las Vegas hair stylist that adopted our Autumn-Argus Pepper earlier this year sent us this nice Holiday card. You know pets are part of our family and should be included, and why not? Thanks for the card and go Pepper! You lucky dog. LOL

Autumn-Argus Poppy

2011-12-25T19:07:00.000-08:00

Just took some photos of Poppy today and put them up on our website!

ColorCountry Jazzmatazz

2011-12-17T03:16:00.000-08:00

ColorCountry Jazzmatazz

Jazz has delivered us three lovely kittens. She brought us two red boys, and a red and white female. Dad, Autumn-Argus Levi is the proud father and Jazz is busy tending to her kittens. Look for a complete photo gallery of her babies on our website soon. All that Jazz!

Seam-A-Willow

2011-12-15T23:41:00.000-08:00

Willow, my dream horse, has the breeding of champions throughout her fine bloodlines in her pedigree, from Argus on her maternal side, along with Man-O-War, and several Olympic horses on both sides. Her father was a bronze medal winner during the Atlanta Games in '96 with Michelle Gibson up, to the maternal grandmother's half sister who was on the Canadian Olympic team for the Montreal games, Just A Star. She is registered with the NA/WPN, as well as the Trakehner Association.

Autumn-Argus Famke

2011-12-15T23:32:00.000-08:00

Famke is such a delightful sphynx cat. Our odd-eyed girl, is the granddaughter of our wonderfully successful SCG Autumn-Argus Scarlet O' Hairless. She is due later this month and, of course, we are watching her very close. Here's a few pictures of her to enjoy now. For more on my little Famke ..

2011-12-15T23:08:00.000-08:00

Chinese Crested Powder Puff Puppies are so cute!