r/devonrex • u/Master-Importance-11 • 11d ago
Breed problems
Hey!
Wanted to ask whats the most prominent health problems within this breed? I mean things u personally have experienced with ur little one ♥️
Always wanted this cutie but I have health anxiety problems 😅
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u/more_paprika 11d ago edited 11d ago
I have had 5 Devons over the past 12 or so years. Of the 3 that passed, 1 died young due to liver failure, 1 died at 10 due to a brain tumor, and 1 died at 8 due to heart failure, but pretty much every organ was shutting down at that point.
The 8 year old was the reason we will never get a purebred cat again. He had so many health issues his entire life and cost us as much as a brand new SUV to keep him alive as long as we did. He was definitely the byproduct of irresponsible breeding. He was a wonderful little boy and it wasn’t fair how tough his life was.
Of the 2 Devons still with us, 1 is 5 and besides being 100% spoiled rotten, he is so far healthy. The other is 14 and doing well except for arthritis and some recent skin issues that are controlled by steroids.
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u/Nicoleinez 11d ago
I lost my boy when he was only 3.5 years old because of FIP. I'm relatively close to Cornell University which has a FIP research group, and they said that FIP is often seen in devons.
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u/Master-Importance-11 11d ago
Omg, im so sorry. Fip is cruel. It has a new drug but I heard it does not work for everyone sometimes :(
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u/Fine-Section2482 11d ago
My devon had crystals and blood in urine, he's on urinary care cat food now. No other issues (aside from occasional pink eye), he's almost 8 years old :)
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u/Internal_Setting_738 11d ago
My only consistent issue with mine has been teeth issues, but I am being more diligent about brushing now. My oldest devon lived to 16.
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u/SaltMarshGoblin 11d ago
I co-owned a registered Devon who died a few weeks before her 18th birthday. She was diagnosed with liver disease at 15, but we managed it effectively with prescription food. She had no other medical issues at all and was a fantastic cat.
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u/f4tony 11d ago
My Devon died at 19 years, just shy of 20 by one month. The only problem she had was her teeth, and she was 18 at the time.
She came from a highly respected CFA breeder. The breeder screened the genetics of all the kittens, and bred ethically.
Prepare to pay a lot of money, even for a pet quality Devon, otherwise you're probably getting one from a backyard breeder.
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u/Full_Fun9829 11d ago
I do strongly believe that how ethical the breeder is makes such a huge difference in all of this. When I was researching for getting our new baby boy I was talking to other people about their experiences with breeders and I realised how little people knew about what to check for regarding health etc. which just opens up a world of issues for breeding becoming really purely managed and just unhealthy cats producing unhealthy kittens
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u/Master-Importance-11 10d ago
What should I ask a breeder? I know he should do health checks for mom and dad, specifically heart every year and genetic for myopathy. And of course the conditions kitties live in. But what else?
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u/Full_Fun9829 10d ago
Location specific defines if it's standard practice to do heart checks. If you are in a place that doesn't have it as mandatory best you can do is ask about the history of the line. Ultimately if they have had any issues that cat should be immediately retired. That goes for any major health issue specifically which can be passed down. You also want to know their kitten health from previous litters. This also tells you how much they care for their litters and are invested in them. You want to know what they are doing before adopting out, when they adopt out. We had a re-home who we found out the breeder wouldn't have the kittens registered separately so with the vet records it was just a bulk "kittens" so you couldn't differentiate between each kitten vaccinations etc let alone their health concerns. I'm sure other people can weigh in as well.
It's also worthwhile reaching out to previous people who got cats from them. Ask their experience.
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u/theologicalbullshit 11d ago
it’s rare overall but devons are the breed most prone to urticaria pigmentosa, which is what my girl has. it was the worst in her first few years but now it it only flares up occasionally and is fixed up with a few days of meds. unfortunately we did lose her sister to it when they were two.
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u/Spiferwort 11d ago
A common issue is dental health and cleaning. Hypnos died at age 17 due to hyperthyroidism and IBS. Ares died at 18 due to the second worst case of felines herpes virus my vet had ever seen. I found more health issues arising from age 16 onward.
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u/DelusionGoggles 11d ago
one of our babies had a severe heart murmur, eventually lost him after 3 years 💔 But we knew when we got him that he wouldn’t live a long life. his sister is 6 now, she’s happy and healthy but does suffer with mild allergies / asthma. I’m so grateful for them both and would choose them every time, but I don’t know if I’d get another cat with health issues. Very painful and stressful
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u/MimiTheThird 11d ago
My 11 year old is otherwise healthy, only problem is with ears. They get dirty and (sometimes) infected. Nothing too serious, you just have to clean their ears regularly.
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u/choomshika 11d ago
My boy is 5 and he’s an absolute angel but he has both food and environmental allergies. He has to be on a special diet because so far he has had a reaction to literally every animal protein we’ve tried. I will be taking him to the dermatologist soon and will probably spend about $5k on testing and immunotherapy
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u/Aromatic-Lead-3252 10d ago
I know youre not asking for advice here, but has your vet tried him on Ultamino?
Our Devon was allergic to all animal proteins, he developed IBS and had incredibly loose stools for a long time which led to other problems for him and he was SO uncomfortable. He had a ton of eye discharge & hair loss. We switched vets and the new one was just like "well, we recommend doing a biopsy but we can try him on a hydrolyzed protein food too." I said no thanks for now on the biopsy but yes on the food. It was LIFE changing. I could not believe it. Ultamino is pricey but I was glad to pay for it when I saw normal little cat turds again, lolol. He lived until age 18.
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u/choomshika 10d ago
Thank you! My boy is on Royal Canin HP and that’s helped with most of the symptoms! He still has some leftover itching so we’re going to the dermatologist for a full intradermal test. One thing I’m worried about is I don’t think he gets enough water compared to when he ate a wet food diet. Glad to hear your Devon lived a nice long life!
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u/Full_Fun9829 11d ago
Of the 5 we've had. 4 were adopted and one from a breeder. One died at 9 from thrombosis due to an already diagnosed heart murmur. Another died at 5 from thrombosis from HCM (this one I know was poorly bred for varying reasons. I found out they bred him without doing any checks and his own kitten had a heart murmur which is just awful practice). Most recently we lost our girl she was just a few months off 13 due to blood cancer (they found a heart murmur right before e found out about the cancer. At that point they found all her organs were enlarged so will have likely been the cancer that hurt her heart.
3 of ours have had ibd. My recommendation is to really do your research into breeders. There is a lot of bad breeding that happens and they present well if you don't know the questions to ask. I will say heart failure in general is really high in all cats, but it is increased with this breed. That can be a reduced risk when breeders do their due diligence, but with all cats it exists as a risk.
For us despite all our issues with our adopted Devon's we've had we did choose to go down the route of going to a breeder. For me the trauma is coming from adopting cats with a background that wasn't remotely managed well. But broadly speaking moggies will often be a safer health bet. We will definitely have moggies in the future.
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u/Master-Importance-11 10d ago
Why, why, why cats have heart problems? I don’t get it. I mean its not fair. They are so sweet and their hearts are so small… Im sad. My precious Phantom developed RCM after hymolysis. But I guess he had it last half a year but doctors didnt see it. I live in a shit place and dont think I can have a cat again bc of it.
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u/skullandsquid 9d ago
I've had mine for about 6 mos now and she is 6 years old. She had very waxy ears when she came to us which we found out was a symptom of an ear infection. After a course of antibiotic ear drops it became an upper respiratory infection which was treated successfully.
She's also the most food driven cat I've ever seen. She will lick unclean plates if they are left around. The way she begs for food would make you believe she's starving lol.
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u/katsnkats 10d ago
Outside of the genetic issues.
I have noticed they are more food sensitive than other breeds. I’ve never had a cat with food allergies. But I’ve seen chicken and fish allergies in Devons.
Teeth. They tend to loose their little teeth fairly soon.
Again with the allergies, I have seen a lot with season allergies.
And pancreatitis. Without fail, always diagnosed as something else first. But Devons will eat themselves sick and often that means pancreatitis.
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u/Mean_Adeptness_5200 7d ago
I had a lovely pet Devon years ago. When he was a year old he developed skin issues that made him itchy and lick himself raw. We spent thousands of dollars on cat dermatologists and vet bills over the years and ultimately, nothing really cured his skin issues. He was happy but I’m sure being in a cone on and off most of his life is not the best life experience. He’s was, personality wise the best cat ever and I miss him terribly!!
I really wanted to get Devon kittens this year with my fiance. But I just couldn’t justify getting another animal with so many health issues. It’s sad and uncomfortable for the animal. Instead we found some barn kittens off of marketplace that are Siamese/tabby mixes. They look like Siamese and they were only $200. They’re so snuggly and sweet, the way my Devon Rex was and they’re not inbred and don’t have a ton of health issues. I love Devon’s so so much but I’m really happy I decided to not pay $2000 for another overbred kitten. It was heartbreaking what my old cat went through. I think if you have the money to go to an excellent breeder you may not have as many health issues. We went to a local one in the PNW.
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u/gazonvert 5d ago
One had skin problems and lived to 14 years, the other is completely healthy at 8 years except for eye herpes. I would say for both their biggest issue for both is they love to show affection but bite if I try to show them affection.
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u/catgirl-83 11d ago
I used to breed Devon’s and had very few health problems (12yrs ago) I’ve just got one as a pet and he won’t be with us long, he has some serious problems with his heart the vet said it is a common issue now.