Finding Noodle

 

Say Hello Wave Goodbye

This is one of the photographs on the advertisement I found offering the cat who became Noodle for re-sale. 

Her original owner had named her Fluffykins but this was not a name I could keep. Luckily she had not had this name long so changing it was very easy. Not that when I got her u had a clear idea of what I would name her. 

Her Pedigree name - Elizabeth Amber - had been given to her by her breeder upon her registration. I do not know and have never been able to find her breeder (though I did find my way to contacting the breeder of her maternal Grandmother in Russia!)

Finding Noodle 🐠 

The kitten Elizabeth Amber had originally been sold to a lady named Louise, whose intent in buying an active registered female kitten was to set up a new breeding Cattery to run alongside her existing Chihuahua breeding business. She had also bought a male kitten though I know hardly anything about him other than just that they were both offered for sale together. 

Pedigreed kittens sold on active are most commonly sold to people who wish to breed. They may come with or without breeding restrictions and their price is higher than a kitten who is sold inactive who has already been - or is to be - neutered. 

Due to a sudden alteration in Louise’s circumstances her new Sphynx breeding venture needed to be put on hold and recognising that her newly acquired kittens would sell more easily right away rather than if they got older she decided to sell them immediately. This was the advert I came across. I made contact to enquire whether or not the female cat could be sold alone and was thrilled Louise was open to this so I paid the requested deposit right away. 

Four days later on August 20th, 2016 I set off to collect my new cat. Louise's home was only about an hour’s drive away from my home at the time.  I was shown into a kitchen-diner where two litters of waggly-tailed excitable Chihuahua puppies were corralled in pens. I was invited to sit down when suddenly my obviously nosey curious new kitten appeared on the stairs. Louise scooped her up & brought her over to me. Oh, the dear. little 19 week old kitten immediately bubbled over with intoxicated purring as she settled in for a cuddle on my chest.

I knew nothing at this time about my new cat, other than her age . I had been wondering what her name was and if I would change it . If I did, what to? I’d thought perhaps I’d know as soon as I saw her but nothing was there right away. 

I asked Louise what she’d called her…  I understood the intended tongue in cheek humour of calling a hairless cat ‘Fluffikins’ but no, I knew right away it was right for me. Never mind, on the journey back I’d thibk of something. We exchanged paperwork and money and as I was getting ready to take possession of my new cat, thinking about the humour that had been used in this cat’s name, I asked what had the boy been called. She told me Noodle. I didn’t immediately catch on. I guess I was looking for the very obvious kind of humour involved in Fluffikins but I totally failed to grasp any clue… 

Uunending seconds ticked slowly by…. Nope. It’s can’t find the funny - I asked Louise “why was he called Noodle?”

Her answer; "Well, because he is NOOD!" Now, that did make me smile! It appealed to me being a more subtle bald cat humour hidden within..

I said my farewells and chatted to my cat on the way back. It was one sided. She slept the entire way back! Later that day the more I thought about it the more I thought that reusing the name of her intended consort would keep intact the short link they both shared.  My girl became Noodle, Noodle-Doodle. Doodle or NooNoo.

Never in a million years did I ever imagine I’d get to own a Sphynx cat. I now belonged to a special chosen group of people. I learned and connected as I wanted to give my lovely girl the best care possible. 

I talked and talked with my childhood friend who for 40+ years had been a breeder of British Shorthair cats. In fact Sally had often encouraged me to breed too, generously offering me her own kittens to get started. I’d never taken the plunge though. Perhaps because BSH -while lovely - did not grab at my heart like the Siamese, Oriental, Rex and the Sphynx cat. But, now that I had found myself with a cat on the active registry who had been purchased to launch a new Cattery with a view to breeding, was it a sign?  Should I grasp this unexpected opportunity? Just like the name I’d decided to keep a link to her beginnings, here is a way to fulfil her original destiny too! 

For the next few months I learned and prepared for that to happen. 

(I wonder if the boy cat kept his name or if he underwent a change too? )

. 

Who could resist?
'Fluffikins' - aka Noodle

In the past I had coveted photos found online of other people’s Sphynx cats. At a particularly dark time looking to help resolve or to ease my worsening mental health, I found a way to own and - what for me was most important aspect - how to care for one.

Despite all of my research I was not at all prepared for the massive fall I would subsequently experience .

Yes a fall!!!

Head over heels, utterly and deeply in love. 

Oh my, this dinky little lady was so endearing & ever so very snuggly & unexpectedly warm. Rather than be timid in a new home she actually swaggered making herself right at home, never once getting lost & never once having an accident - even though her little legs had to get her from upstairs to down, all the way through the downstairs to the ground floor bathroom extension where her litter tray was placed. 

That first day & night with Noodle were amazing. I was dying to bath her & in particular to clean her very dirty ears, but I didn't feel it would be good to do any of that during her first few days in case I made her feel uncomfortable, so we just spent time getting to know one another. More accurately perhaps would be to say that she trained me to do her bidding!

Before she had arrived I'd bought her a little cat cave which had a white faux sheepskin interior and cushion.  Thankfully she liked it right away. She required quite a bit of sleep during that first day, perhaps unsurprising since she had been living in a very busy household, then had a car journey with a new (strange!) mum followed by a whole new home to explore.  I let her be, watching her in her little cave which I'd cunningly placed within reach & in direct line of sight. I looked on & adored her as she slept. I fell ever deeper in love with her cute wrinkly face and attempted to jbit her her first cat jumper . It was not the right shape at all and I have improved on that no end. Like a super star even though it was awful, she did wear it! Photos further down this page show her wearing this garment!

Day 1 - It's been a long day!

So cute!

First bath & the sharp learning curve!

After a day or two, Noodle’s energy levels picked up & her confidence was amazing so I decided I could give her her first bath here. Unfortunately, my keenness and false expectations coupled as they were with my inexperience meant that this did not prove to be terribly successful.

It proved to be the clearly marked deep pit in what was a rather steep learning curve. It turned out that all of the You Tube videos I’d been fawning over of Sphynx cats loving their baths were not normal My ignorance came to a screeching halt. I felt like I’d been lied to!!!! This breed of cat did not magically like water! 

Hers what happened….

I had decided, her being so tiny and cute a bath in the kitchen sink would be a good idea. In my naive inexperienced head it represented a completely sensible place - it was high up so it would be kind on my spine. It had lots of solid surfaces so everything I 'd need would be set out and within easy reach. She would be in the water and free to play to her heart’s content .

LAll the expectations I had built up having watched endless Sphynx Cat bathing videos were torn down and left dripping from counter top to floor with shampoo bottle and nail clippers gone one way and cotton wool and ear buds in another! 

Her royal ladyship made it abundantly clear that this set up was not acceptable. And, no water no matter how warm it was or how many toys I might try were going to ease the process. Not at all. The most positive thing I can say is that we did (I guess) manage a clean-up of sorts. (namely my kitchen!) but my inexperience certainly hadn't helped matters for either of us! 

Having tried this once it would bow need to be at least another week before trying this again. This gave me 7 days to research. I learned that apparently a deeper depth with water up to her chest/neck would calm her. That put to bed any further ideas of using the kitchen sink again (or of looking after my back!

So what to do....I do have two bathrooms but I did not have an actual bath in waiter one of them. While my wet rooms looked lovely and were functional for me, for Noodle it didn’t matter which floor of the house they were on, what colour the tiles, neither was going to cut the mustard ( at least not yet!).

The solution I next came up with that would achieve this deeper chest level of water was to use is a trug-tub which I filled using the shower. That worked pretty well even if not so good for my back to be sat on the floor scrunched up, nor when trying to tip it slowly over to control its flow when being emptied. 

I have moved on a lot since but I used that turf set up for months.  Nowadays I simply get myself naked and onto the floor so I can use the shower handset. This allows me to rinse the cats with clean water and for the most part the fear of the water is kept in abeyance .improvements to this could include a showerhead with a start stop button to stop water flow completely when bot actively wetting or rinsing a cat.

I’ve found that some cats are better if they have a cat shower cap on. Water in the ears is I think what they most fear will happen. Not all of my cats like the cap so I let them decide. 

I keep the shower spray as warm as I would have it, setting the spray to tight & fairly narrow rather than wide thus it keeps any over spraying minimal. The very narrow setting is too tight and can create a splash back they object to. I shower holding the showerhead close to their body going from neck and down the spine and under the tummy eliminating as much as possible the sight and sound of the water.. 

After they have been wet down the showerhead is set aside with my foot resting on it to prevent it inadvertently flipping over. The sudden water fountain is startling to us both! I soap up quickly working from back of the neck, going round to under the jaw/chin, then I go down the back, then each arm and paw, I next go further down the back and so each leg and foot. Next I go cheat, under the tummy and undercarriage and front genitalia Now the tail and bottom. Once this is done I rinse well from top to bottom. I don’t linger so that I can prevent them becoming cold. As soon as the water is off, a burrito is made with the cat being the filling to my warmed towel. I ensure limbs are contained well. 

Cuddling them dry, I clean each side of the face, with new wipe or cotton wool used on each side. Eye first with clean water, then cloth of head, cheeks and under chin. Then comes ear cleaning  before finishing up with one arm or leg being pulled out of the wrapping and it’s claws cleaned and trimmed before being returned and secured. 

Teeth cleaning is done now. 

Myth busted: The Sphynx Cat does NOT naturally like a bath. 

However, that’s not to say that with patience and persuasion they can’t be trained and even learn to overcome their version.

The Sphynx is utterly trainable but you do need to have dedication and patience plus lots of treats they can’t resist. You have to go at your cats pace.

They can learn to see this as a game they can’t wait to play once they’ve overcome the inborn fear of water. These  are the Instagram and TikTok cats!

I have tried to facilitate a love of bathing with treats and toys but unfortunately my back is very painful so giving them the time and togetherness needed to get to this calm state is beyond my capabilities. Just getting on the floor is hard enough. 

At best my adults come to tolerate this grooming but they do everything possible to avoid it. 

When we have kittens, I try to begin their bathing with positive experiences. What I learned here is that bathing a litter of kittens together as a group is not something that can be done.  I’m just one woman whose body is passed it’s best and unfortunately my contingent quantity of available arms and hands is wholly inadequate. 

Anyway, back to Noodle; when it was just us two we did get to the stage of grudging acceptance. I was able to keep her clean and fresh and discovered that bathing is better if it’s NOT done weekly. This routine simply makes the oil appear more quickly. A bit like over washed hair. It produces more oils to compensate .

I have a routine of two weeks but this can be stretched to three or even four with maybe a little touch up. Some breeders I have met tell me they never bath theirs. 

Bathing the Sphynx cat is important. The oil on the skin which furred cats groom to coat each hair strand to condition and waterproof it and which is redundant but still produced by the Sphynx if left, accumulates and does several unwanted things.. it transfers onto your soft furnishings, your clothing, bedding, their perching spots. Which can include walls and radiators. Left on the skin it hardens and can block pores creating blackheads which can become painful infected cysts. 

As part of the bath - as mentioned - ears need cleaning. Some cats, seem to have ears that are very very mucky. Others have ears that are just mucky. Noodle's ears were often an issue in the early days with a horrid black tarry gunge deep inside and accumulated in the ear shell congregating in the nooks and crannies and crevices.  If you scroll up and look agin at the first image of Noodle - this is one of the photos used in her for sale ad . Zoom in to look at her ears. Can you see the black gunk in the shell of her ears? It is created deep inside the ear and is waxy, oily and tarry. It fills the ear canal and it works its way up and out as the cat is lying to sleep. You may see your cat whacking their head. This is often to force ear or eye gunk out because it’s causing discomfort. Clean it! But if your cat is new, or is rubbing an eye or ear a lot with their paws there could be something else going on and that could be as simple as ear mites. Easily remedied with ear drops. One of the symptoms you see in cats with ear mite is black waxy muck. Hard to know what you cat has if it’s not examined. Your vet can quickly take a swab and examine it under a microscope. They’ll see immediately if there are ear mites present. If they feel it’s needed the sample can go to a lab for more testing to rule out other bacteria or fungi as causes. 

Speaking of a vet - any new pet should be taken to your regular vet regardless if they’ve just seen the vet of the breeder . 

When Noodle arrived with me I  headed off to our vet within a few days of her arrival . They did on this occasion give her medicated ear drops despite no mite being present under the microscope. I think the Sphynx breed without hair to absorb or spread any waxes or oils appears to have more accumulation than other furred breeds. 

For those very very funky eared cats I’d recommend a weekly ear care routine with a suitable ear cleaner like Epi-Otic by Virbac. Oddly I’ve noticed the ears appear to get less funky as they age… 

The claw bed is also very prone to accumulation of hardened gunk. I have found that baby wipes are best to remove this. Do though make sure to choose biodegradable, fragrance free versions! 

The last task I do is teeth cleaning . I’ve a few products I’ve tried and unfortunately none are acceptable to all of my pets and none are asked for enthusiastically.

Some pet keepers will clip the cats claws while they are sleeping. Some will do the various little grooming tasks Ashas at different times. However, because my cats dislike nail cleaning or ear cleaning and definitely tooth cleaning my chosen solution is to have a routine whereby all tasks are undertaken as one full procedure. This means that my every move need not be viewed with suspicion. 

Instead, to avoid and prevent the inevitable escape and the cats inevitably heading for high or dangerous spots where I can’t get to them and a total lack of trust for every move I make when a bath is due I will wait until they are all settled down under blankets on their heat mats . I will then get up and look as if I’m leaving the room. Nothing to see here! But then, I close the door. Now I have all three cats in my bedroom and I will then take them one at a time into the en-suite to perform the cleanup routine. It takes about ten minutes per cat and when everything has been sone and the bedroom door is opened, they exodus as I replace every heat mats cover and blankets with clean fresh ones.They may not appreciate it but I do! 

Having done the process, I go straight back to being normal and one by one they start to return to the bedroom. They might panic a bit if they think I may close the bedroom door (such as getting an item hung on a hanger behind it!) and exodus they style it out once they realise I posed no kind of water based threat! 

I don’t know if my way (do it all on one day in the shortest possible time is less traumatic than if I were to wrangle them on any given day at any given ven time but I’d really be upset if they took to always avoiding me. .

What if I can’t bath my cat?

I broke my ankle in April 2020 just into the first Covid lockdown. I’m in the clinically extremely vulnerable group due to immunosuppressant medications I must take so there was no option of asking someone else to help. 

I found waterless baths and pet wipes and also bed bath wipes.for people! None of them are - for me - a totally viable substitute for fully replacing warm water and pet shampoo but when needs must, they definitely can help. The wipes are better if microwaved as they are lovely and warm against the skin. I’m sure like us, our cats appreciate a warm wipe down rather than a cold one.  The bed bath wipes have microwave instructions. Open each wipe up and give it a shake so that the intensity of the heat and steam is released so that you don’t burn the cat.

The waterless bath products are a foam and I found in the end it was better to soak a flannel with the foam and use that like a wipe. If I was on my feet and therefore more able I might have stood the cat on a towel and applied the foam onto the cats body then towelled it off. I found the cats did not like the foam spray sound.

• You do need a fair few pet wipes to bath the whole cat to any kind of standard. 
• For me, I feel that wipes are better used as spot or between bath cleanups when those are required. 
• I have a few products I like more than others. These products are discussed throughout the pages of this website as I write on various aspects but can also be found on my dedicated Product Recommendations page.
• As well as at bath times, you can keep on top of ear cleaning between baths using a product like Virbac EpiOtic (or other suitable ear cleaner) 
• I like PetKin wipes which I use for any spot or interim cleans when needed. PetKin brand have several wipes for specific tasks as well as general use ones. They are a good thickness and are nicely moistened so perform well.
• Teeth cleaning should be done daily not just at bath time. PetKin also make tooth wipes! 

Please see the Product Recommendations page listing products I use & can recommend as well as some that I have come across that I haven't yet used - or have but won’t use ever again. 

Self-Suckling

When Noodle is in the midst of one of her soppiest purr sessions she turns her felt into a typical cat curl poison but she tucks her head further around stretching it toward her side. In this position she will begin to suckle on the skin of her own tummy. At the same time, she puts her arms out in front of her kneading the air but it’s in the same way that a newborn kitten does on the mothers breast area as they feed which serves to encourage her milk flow. 

Some cats do continue to suckle in adulthood. It is not a sign that they were taken from their mother too soon. I have had several cats who do this suckling & kneading throughout their lives albeit this is the first time I’ve seen it done on their own skin as Noodle would do..  I feel this suckling is a bit like thumb sucking & children & is simply a form of self -soothing showing the cat has extreme contentment & happiness expressing total trust in their surroundings. Perhaps unconsciously this act returns them to similar feelings they would have experienced of deep well-being when feeding from their mother? Maybe when they do it in adulthood it is like having a warm cuddle with their mum?

Ziggy, who was my first ever cat in the early 80’s, a black moggy, used to do it sucking on anything made of nylon fabric. Luckily for her nylon bedspreads were quite 'the thing to have' in any ‘working-class’ home at that time. Maybe the bedding she & her siblings shared with their mum at birth was lined with one of these bed spreads as her most favoured fabric was the thinest material that would have been softly draped down the sides of a bed. She would suckle for ages & ages moving herself along as an area she had been suckling became too wet. The bed spreads became 'stained' with stiff little oval patches of dried-on cat saliva.  My mum didn't half used to moan about it!

Filbert was a big ol' roughty-toughty ex-feral farm tomcat I’d taken in off the dairy farm we lived at. He would have been born in a barn, probably tucked in to a den between straw bales. He used to suckle too choosing for himself a bright yellow acrylic jumper that I used to wear (stylish I know!) For his whole life with us that jumper was always placed on a chair as his bed & he would lay & purr happily (when he home between his hunting missions that could last for several days). When in just the right mood he would engage in a deep-down soppy suckle session which would last for absolutely ages & knead the heck out of that jumper. 

Lily, my lilac pointed siamese, would also suckle. She would do this for about 10-20 minutes each night at bedtime with her head pushed right up into the crook of my neck & shoulder (mostly favouring the right hand side). Independent & aloof in the daytime, at night she would wait for me to get into bed & settle down then saunter herself up the bed, flopping down into the space above my shoulder. Pushing her head in tight & hard she would begin purring her head off (very loudly when so close to my ear) suckling my hair. Once finished & in the some she would get up, move back down to the end of the bed where she would settle down for her night of beauty sleep. She never ever did this suckling to anyone else. 

I miss that feeling & that little girl so very much. Like the bond I had with Noodle, she & I were close too. I'd had her since she was 11 months old. She died aged just 4 having been knocked down by a passing police car. I was bereft. 

All of my beloved cats including the non-sucklers are described on the page Loved & Remembered.

Feline Fashion

As a keen knitter, I decided that I would make a little jumper for my naked kitten, however, without a pattern & with a very wriggly playful kitten it was hard to get any decent measurements or to form a decent plan or pattern shape, let alone even to knit without her helping. 

I knitted the multicolour jumper shown in the photos below from instinct/guesswork for its shape and size. It was a little short and anyway it did not fit for long.

My human knitted me a jumper!

Looking out from bed

Wiped out after all the cat-walk modelling

Other places I like to keep warm

It wasn't long after that that I found people online who handmade clothing that was much better fitting and designed specifically for Sphynx cats. Below are the first cosy clothes purchased. They were available tailored to Noodle's actual measurements and purchased on Etsy. I late purchased a very lovely knitting pattern which I adapted a little & which hugged over the ‘rump’ beautifully. To be honest my cats seem happier without clothing. They have heat mats & blankets & live in a warm home so I know they’re fine. If your home is not warm Ior particularly draughty through its worth making/investment in clothing.  It does also help with avoiding some of the stains Sphynx cats make due to their naked skin but I prefer a happy cat so stains just get washed. Have lots of blankets and throws.

Snuggly, girly in her after bath/ bedtime fleece

She'll grow into it - Her bought too big onesie!

Noodle in her 1st Christmas outfit (made to measure!). The pale pink fleece has white snowflakes on it. She also got a heat mat to sleep on too. Toasty!

Family & Friends

I've got a small but lovely family and they soon came to meet Noodle. A couple of my favourite snaps are included below of those first meetings. I've also taken Noodle on two 'holidays" going off to stay with my mum. She likes it at my mums flat where out of the windows she can see birds, other cats and lots of squirrels too.... Noodle is no trouble at all with travelling and, once again, there have been no accidents even when in a strange place (meaning my mum is kept relatively happy!)

Meeting Ari (my daughter in law)

Meeting Tia (my granddaughter)

She & Smiling T