# Reporting a bad breeder......



## Linx (May 1, 2006)

Hi, Im new to the board, but I needed to get some help on a very important issue that Im dealing with. Heres the deal, Ive had a full bread Maine **** for 8 years and it lives with my parents now that Im married and moved into my new home. My wife and I wanted to purchase a full breed Maine **** MALE kitten so I did a search on the internet, looking for a breeder that had kittens available. Well there were no local breeders, so I found an adorable blue tabby kitten on a breeder's site that was going to be ready for a home in a couple weeks. 
Well, it was my fault to begin with for not doing my research, but I trusted the breeder and all the cats and kittens on her site looked very healthy and adorable. So I paid for the kitten and had it sent to me via plane from Texas to Jersey. The kitten arrived under weight and looked a little unhealthy. Well the kitten I picked out was supposed to be a male and it even said male on all the paper work, but a week after I had it, I realized it was a female. I called the breeder and told her I wanted my money back and I would send the kitten back once she gave me the airfare to do so. She insisted that instead of giving my money back that she would send me a free kitten from her next litter, so I said that would work.
Well, I picked out a beautiful looking male kitten and it arrived 2 weeks ago. Now, heres where the trouble started. It showed up extremely under weight, looked very sickly, had ear mites, fleas, and had a big patch of hair missing from behind it ear. I checked the health certificate and the vet mentioned the ear mites and that he had a fever but still signed off on it. Well, 2 weeks later, I was able to get rid of the ear mites, he put a little weight on, but he has ring worm which started getting bad, there are patches of hair missing all over the place. Ive had him on meds for the ring worm for about 5 days now and it doesnt seem to be helping, I feel so bad for the little guy. 
I called the vet in texas that signed the health cert and he told me that she had never seen the breeder before and that he signed the cert but told her that the cat didnt look that good, was under weight and shouldnt be sent to its new home yet. He was very nice and has helped me with curing the ring worm. 
Something needs to be done about this breeder and since Im new to this, I dont know how to go about reporting her. She hasnt returned my last email about the ring worm, but answered the one before that just stating that she didnt notice the missing patch of hair when she sent it. 
What should I do, Im extremely worried that she is not taking care of her cats and kittens, and something needs to be done or looked into. What do you suggest I do?
Thankyou for any help you can give.


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## Jimmyness (Dec 31, 2005)

First of all, you kitten is very lucky to have such a careing owner  
You should report it to your local animal welfare people, did you take any pictures of your kitten when he had the earmites etc? If you did bring those and the vets papers. 

Im sorry im only guessing here but i hope it all goes well.


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## ericalynn429 (Apr 9, 2006)

the poor kittens. Im glad they get a new chance at life with your family. Im sure they appreciate how much u are doing for them. THeyve probably had a very bad life. 
This is what i would do:

If you know the area that they live in, look for a local shelter that cunducts animal cruelty investigations or you could contact the local police department around where they live. They will go look at the aniamls she has and by the way you described the previous kittens, im thinking they are all having this issue so they will probably sieze all the animals she has and than put a Animal Cruelty Charge on her. Than i would take her to court again, and sue her for what you had to pay in vet bills. 

i dont think that contacting your local shelter will do much. Because they obviously are unable to conduct the investigation but they could however get in contact with a shelter in TX that could help you out. 

But i do agree that you should take pics of the condition as well as save your vet papers and possibly have the TX vet give you a statement since he agrees the kittens were not in good shape. 


I hope this helps. Im sure someone with more knowledge can come along. Im going based on the many Animal cop Animal planet shows ive watched and what theyve done.


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## Lisa 216 (Oct 25, 2004)

Since there is already a discussion on this topic in Cat Chat, I'll lock this thread up to prevent confusion. :wink: 

Here's a link to the other thread: http://www.catforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=31766


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