Clancy: Our orange "hypoallergenic", Siberian Forrest Cat, trick performing kitten.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Hey guys. Me and my wife recently bought a Siberian Kitten we named Clancy and I would like to share my story, the YouTube channel I started for him, and a few pictures.

First off, we live in the United States in South Carolina and we got married this past October, and me and my wife moved into an apartment together. I have never had an indoor pet, but grew up on a farm and always had pets, just outside. Dogs, cats, and various farm animals. My wife grew up with different pets, cats and dogs, and for the past ten years or so she had 1-4 indoor cats at any given time, and had 3 at the time we got married.

I am highly allergic to cats. When I would go to her her house while dating I had to make sure I almost never touched her cats, and if I did I had to force myself to not touch my face at all, and had to wash my hands anytime I touched one of the cats or anything the cats came in contact with a lot.

My wife knew this even before we started dating, and she was fine with it. She lived with her parents, so her cats were just as much hers and even if I weren’t allergic we would have left the cats there at her house with her parents since they are inside/outside cats and can come and go as they please, and wouldn’t be happy moving to an exclusively indoor setting. We talked about getting a dog, a Boston Terrier, something we will still eventually do. It is just with us in the apartment right now, on the second floor and with both of us working full time, we don’t think the time is right for a puppy. That is when we started to seriously look into the Siberian cat breed. We talked about it while dating, so it came up again.

Long story short, we found a somewhat local Siberian breeder in Georgia, reserved a kitten in May, and picked him up on June 7th at 11 weeks old with the final cost being $950+$300 pet fee at our apartment (yes, I paid over $1k for a cat). He meowed half the way home, and for the first week he did it here in the apartment almost nonstop. We kept him in the office with all of his stuff when neither of us were home and at night when we were asleep, and let him out with us when we were there and awake. after just a few days we then allowed him to roam around the entire apartment except for our bedroom - I’m trying to keep that one room cat free for now. Since we started leaving him out he has been a totally different cat, much happier and just more well rounded. I guess that goes without saying, but we thought that would be the best way to do it to start with.

I am also thrilled to report that I haven’t had a single allergic to him at all other than maybe an itchy nose a time or two from a single hair going up my nose, but that’s to be expected and I’m not used to an animal being indoors. It is just freakin’ amazing. He can be right in my face cuddling up with me asleep and it doesn’t bother me a single bit. I never in a million years thought I could have a cat inside like this. For those of you curious about the Siberian breed, I HIGHLY recommend it, especially if you are typically allergic to cats. Or heck, even if you just want an awesome cat.

We also decided to start clicker training him with freeze dried chicken treats. So far he can play fetch, sit, stand/beg, shake, high five lay down, roll over, kiss, and wave goodbye. He is a very clever and smart cat, but it is apparently the breed that is also very trainable and “dog like”, and not just Clancy. He is also growing, fast. We went to PetSmart the other day and they had kittens a month older than Clancy, and he is already twice their size. It’s crazy. At five months old, he is now almost 9 pounds. This is going to be one big cat.

Here are a few pictures of him here in the apartment.

We have also started a YouTube channel for him. When we first started looking into the breed, we had a hard time finding too many videos featuring them. There are a few of course, but not nearly as many or exactly of what we were wanting to see. We hope that the videos that we post may help other people when looking for videos of the Siberian breed, to help them make a decision. Here is the YouTube Channel link…

ClancyCam

So that is pretty much it, I wanted to share this with everyone, and if any of you have or are familiar with the Siberian breed I’d love to make some connections with other Siberian owners! If you have any questions about the breed feel free to ask. If you are allergic to cats, there is a very good chance that you have an option other than living in misery or constant shots and medications.

2

Awwww, who’s a cutie patootie?

It sounds like you live in the upstate portion of SC – I used to live in that area and found my boston terrorist in Traveler’s Rest. She came from a backyard breeder, however, so I wouldn’t recommend. (I just wanted to get one of the puppies OUT of there.) If you’re getting a dog eventually, some words of advice from a cat and dog person:

•You’re starting with the cat first, so I’d get a dog while the cat is still relatively young. The reason I got my dog is because I had this cat who seemed bored, but clearly didn’t like other cats. She was pretty friendly toward dogs, so I got her a dog to keep her company. They were great friends until the cat got killed when we moved to FL.

•Bostons are great apartment dogs – one brisk, quick walk each day is all they need, they don’t shed too much, and they can be crate-trained. When I got my BT puppy, I was working graveyard shift and couldn’t get home to let her out in the middle of my shift. She started out, from day one, being crated 8-9 hours a day and was basically fine with it. She finally graduated from the crate to roaming free all day when she was about three.

Did I mention your cat is super cute? Really adorable. She’ll help you teach the dog tricks.

3

I was trying to edit to make this easier to show, but I don’t believe that’s possible. Here are the two main videos of tricks if anyone cares…

All of his tricks up to the point this video was made: Clancy the Siberian Performs All of His Tricks (so far...)! - YouTube

And here is the latest one, Clancy waving goodbye: Clancy Says Goodbye... (or, Clancy Learns to Wave Bye Bye) - YouTube

4

Awesome, love hearing from people who are at least familiar with the area. Boston Terrorist is the truth btw, lol. Those dogs can be insane

For what it’s worth, I’m truly a dog person. I mainly gave in to the cat for my wife since she had cats for so long, and essentially gave them up to get married to me. One reason I like Clancy so much is because he acts so much like a dog. He follows us around, greets us at the door when we get home, is so submissive with the tricks and everything, and to make it even better he’ll get larger than most small breed dogs, and about the size of a freakin’ Boston Terrier when he’s full grown.

[quote•Bostons are great apartment dogs – one brisk, quick walk each day is all they need, they don’t shed too much, and they can be crate-trained. When I got my BT puppy, I was working graveyard shift and couldn’t get home to let her out in the middle of my shift. She started out, from day one, being crated 8-9 hours a day and was basically fine with it. She finally graduated from the crate to roaming free all day when she was about three. [/quote]

Awesome information, I’ll keep all of that in mind. I still fully plan on getting a BT. We almost bought one at a flea market (the Anderson Jockey Lot, yeah, I know), but passed at the last second, then when we went back our pick had been taken.

Thanks, and yeah, Clancy could teach a lot of dogs a thing or two, lol.

5

Now I wish I lived in South Carolina just so I could be near that kitty. Awwww! He’s darling.

I have a Maine coon. The only “tricks” she can manage are to mew me for food seventeen times a day and run like the wind when the baby gets within three feet of her tail.

6

I wish I could get a Maine Coon. I believe it may be the one fully domesticated cat larger than the Siberian. They are awesome.

7

Great job training Clancy!

8

Wow, pretty cat! And smart! Good job, and congratulations! I am now wondering if my cats are at least part, if not all, Siberians as well. Their coats are so long, and they have the same look and that ruff, too. Hope we get to move north someday; I suspect they might actually LIKE the snow, their fur is so thick. Yet so pretty and non-tangly, too; always amazes me. Never had a tangle with either of them.

9

Well you never know! They do love snow, yeah. I can’t wait for us to have a little here and I can let Clancy walk around in it on a harness and leash. I bet he’d go crazy over it.

10

Skinner’s pigeons would be proud. :slight_smile:

11

Lord Washoe, I literally laughed out loud.

12

I had a very dear friend called Clancy. (anybody remember the 70’s Old Maid cards, I think it was “Clancy Clown?”)

And orange cats rock! My Orange Julius is my best friend in the whole world!

13

me too, super allergic and have a Siberian. great cat, I haven’t tried to teach her any tricks, but I might now, I can probably make her do anything for liver bites. if you are on Facebook, look for “siberian sweethearts” (there are actually a few pages on facebook), you can share the love of the breed - people there are totally nuts over siberians and lots of breeders are there. Best $950 I ever spent! luckily I only had to travel about 3 hours to get her. everybody on Facebook would love that video. if I knew how to post a pic I would, I have tons of pics of my little babe

14

Awesome to find another Siberian owner, especially someone also allergic to cats. If you decide to try training let me know! How old are yours and how much does she way?

Awesome, I just asked to join the group so once I’m accepted I’ll for sure post the videos and pictures there. I even noticed that our breeder is already a member of it as well. I guess you went with a local breeder, or did you drive to the airport? I ask because the $950 was our total also, but we bought from a local breeder near Atlanta, about two hours from us. She is a flight attendant and personally deliverers her kittens to people all around the world.

If you have the images on your computer, go here:

Imgur

Click “computer”, search for the location you have the images saved to, pick the ones you want, then upload. You can also edit pictures in the process. In the end it’ll give you a list of links to use to show people.

15

Hey, I know you from PI don’t I? Clancy’s so cool. :slight_smile:

Do you vary the order in which you ask him to do tricks? When I was little, our relatives had a Curly-Coated Retriever who knew “sit”, “shake”, “shake the other paw” and “lie down”…but they always asked her the tricks in the same order, so whenever you’d ask her to sit she’d sit-shake-shake-liedown and then look up expecting treats.

16

auRa, yep, I believe so!

Clancy can do the tricks in any order, and will do any of them individually. He does have a “routine” down though, the one in the video I posted of him doing them all one after the other. You can even see him in the video start to do what comes up next before me asking for it. I’m glad he will do them individually as well.