Oh yeah, about the trick I mentioned earlier. You probably have to use the press-pause-when-the-game-starts-trick when the screen is still black. You can then open your inventory and drop your familiar on the ground. If you don't do this it will probably be removed like all other items if you have anything in your inventory.
Anywayz, I still don't know if all this actually works. Spades, have you tried it out yet?
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