I'd really appreciate some advice to my VERY long and complicated problem. I didn't want to post the details on the board a few weeks ago hwnre it fisrt started as I know people can be a little judgemental and I feel really really stupid for trusting the breeder. Some people on here have been really helpful by private message but though it better to get a wider view.

Brought my new kitten home on 2 weeks ago from the breeder..the same one I had a few problems with. She was rubbish with communication (never rang when she’d say she would, wouldn’t hear from her for weeks despite numerous emails, phone calls and texts from me). She had potential ringworm with one of her other cats (which she did tell me about but then the tests for that cat were negative) She had also sexed my kitten incorrectly (originally were told she was a male). Naively I gave her another chance and thought everything would be fine as the ringworm tests came back negative etc and she seemed genuinely sorry about the sexing problem.

Anyway, on getting the kitten home on sat I noticed she had some white crusty scabs over her body (hidden by her fur but one very noticeable one by her left ear) Her left ear was also very very dirty so I though it might be ear mites. (stupidly not knowing much about kittens and being excited a picking her up I stupidly didn’t check her over properly when I picked her up from the breeders)
On the Monday I took the kitten to the vets for a check up and to get her ear and scabs checked over. The vet confirmed that she has pus in her left ear and suspects that she also has ringworm. Her other ear also looks like it has had a section of fur shaved at the fold possibly by a vet to take samples.

My vet took taken a sample of her fur and the scabs for testing and I have ear drops to give her for a week.

Today’s appointment has cost me £43.00 + £27.00 for the culture testing + £24.04 when I go back in 1 week = TOTAL £94.04

I tried ringing the breeder as soon as I was back from the vets to tell her that my vet suspects ringworm, she has lots of flee dirt on her and her ear is infected. Surprise surprise she did not answer her phone (always give me some excuse like one of her cats dying or her being stressed etc) I then found her landline number on the bt directory which I rang and she answered but clamed I had the wrong number! So I have sent her an email basically saying the above.

I just don’t understand how she could have the morals to sell me this kitten. There’s no question of me giving her back but I’m just really angry and think she’s taken me for a fool.

She later rang me back and apparently the kitten was fine when she left her and her husband had inspected her ears and they were okay.....we noticed the white scaby patches on the kitten about an hour after having her home so they wouln;t have just appeared as they looked like they had been there a while. Her husband and the vet had also apparently checked her ears and they were fine...and the kiten didn't have flees when she left her and none of her cats have ever had flees. (we haven't seen a flee on her just the dirt)

as usual she was very nice about it but tried to make it sound like I was either lying or trying to make her pay for something thats not down to her.

The kitten is a gorgeous loving bundle of fluff so I wouldn’t consider giving her back.

My vet is concerned about ringworm because of the previous problem with one of her other cats so thats what she is testing for. The breeder was concerned as her problem cats tests had come back as negative so wants me to keep her informed.

She also said that the kitten had been in a food fight with a brother and they'd had to clean her up..which is the first thing I thought it could have been..dried food, but my vet has discounted this. The breeder also said it could have been the mothers milk as her milk had been drying up but she's still been trying to feed the kittens.


She said she's registered and I have the reg numbers of the kittens parents and a certificate etc but anything is possible now..

UPDATED:

ahhhhh, the results today have come back as ringworm so all 3 of my cats need treatment for it now just in case..... this has just cost me another £80 for the medicine and Lola will need to go back again in 9 weeks to be re-tested for ringworm and then if she or any of the other cats still have it they will need further treatment…not to mention that I have been itching madly

This is her reply to the email I sent her at 4pm today saying that the tests were positive for ringworm (after she ignored my phone calls):

"hi
my cats have been tested as you know and are negative, she can not catch ringworm for my cats as we are not suffering from ringworm. the other owners have not had any problems. you paid a very good price for her as i had taken £35 off the price.
jo"

This is the reply I've just sent to the above:

"I can send you over a copy of the results, which were taken from a sample of her fur on the monday after we picked her up from you on the saturday.

Have all of your cats been tested? I remember you saying that only a spot few had. She came to us with the ringworm so would have caught it from one of them and your vet must have thought there was ringworm with one of your cats else he would not have conducted the tests in the first place. It was visible when we picked her up as we checked her over on the way home. I told you that par of her fur had been shaved and you rpelied that the vet had taken a sample from some of the kittens…therefore could you send me copies of all of the ‘negative’ test results including my kittens ones.

Yes £35 was taken off the price but that was because you had sexed her incorrectly as i was originally told she was males and so the £35 off was so I could get her spayed.

If you like you can ring my vets and speak to them. My 2 other cats do not currently have ringworm however they have to treated aswell to prevent it spreading to them.

I can send you over a copy of her test results if you don't believe me and also the invoices for their treatment."
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Is there anything I can do? She’s giving up breeding so there’s no point in reporting her. Ideally I’d like her to pay for the kittens treatment but I don’t think there’s any chance of her doing that and I except I’ll never here from her again. I bet I never receive the GCCF reg documents she promised (said there was a delay at the GCCF). She has some cats for sale at the moment on pets4homes.co.uk

Her website says it all really “With great sadness
We will be giving up breeding British shorthair Cats
This due to ill health and lies being told about us and our beloved cats” I except those 'lies' are mostly true!

Oh, and to top it all of, it turns out that my kittens parents are mother and son!!!

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Owned By:

1 British Blue Kittens: Lola
1 working cocker spaniel: Bodie (Bo)

Winston the British Blue: 23/09/2008 - 26/12/2010 xx

wow - what a horrid tale - it seems you have been done and you are unlikely to get any where with it either - i feel very sorry for you and the kitten. I wish you all the best.

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please look at my website - www.finesthourcats.webs.com - for gorgeous GCCF registered RagaMuffins

thank you. The costs don't bother me too much its more the fact that she has ringworm and potentially will pass it onto the other 2 cats (plus the 4 bunnies have been in a room she had been in so I'm worried they may have caught it too)

She's just rung me and said that she would not knowingly sell a kitten with ringworm as its against GCCF rules and her ethics and her ringworm tests were all negative. My argument was that yes her tests were negative but I only have proof that it was negative for one cat and no proof of my kittens test results

her reply was that all 18 cats were tested;her vet took a sample off each and cultured each one, they all came back as neagtive, however it was all done as a batch to be costs effective and so there are not test results for each individual kitten.

Would a vet test all cats in one big batch? How would he know which results belonged to which cat??


She also said that none of the other kitten owners have had any problems (I must add that my kitten was the remaming one when I went to pick her up...all of the other kittens had been picked up already on the Friday, I picked Lola up on the sat after much begging as she wanted me originally to pick her up on the sun....why 2 days after all of the others????

She asked me what exactly I was hoping to gain from this and to be honest I think its going to be a lot of hassel getting her to pay for the treatment as she won't accept that Lola came to me with ringworm and an ear infection. I just hope that other kittens are okay and the cats she is currently selling do not have the same problems!

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Owned By:

1 British Blue Kittens: Lola
1 working cocker spaniel: Bodie (Bo)

Winston the British Blue: 23/09/2008 - 26/12/2010 xx

I feel so very sorry for you to have been treated so shabbily. I would still be inclined to report her to the GCCF - they may be able to help you sort out the paperwork for your kit if she is being awkward. She may only be saying she is giving up breeding but may carry on.

I hope you manage to sort out the ringworm problem and enjoy your kitten - she has had a lucky escape I think.

What details would I ned in order to report her?

I've told her I will get my vet to confirm with her vet tomorrow the story about the batch testing as I know thats something my vets would not do. She also seems to think that one cat cannot have ringworm if the others don't..and so beacuse her adult cats reults came back as negative it means all the other would have been negative too

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Owned By:

1 British Blue Kittens: Lola
1 working cocker spaniel: Bodie (Bo)

Winston the British Blue: 23/09/2008 - 26/12/2010 xx

Just a random bit of input here.. cats can also catch ringworm off humans.. just because the cats were tested... well you know what I'm saying.
Anyway.. I would also recommend you treat yourself + family. I say this from experience as I only found out my cats might have got worms when I got incredibly ill. Let's just say what happened next wasn't nice! These kinds of things are impossible to prove really, because it can be passed across species.
My cats didn't show any signs of worms, but I ended up having to treat myself, Mike, Merlin, Lancelot and the whole house..

I would definitely report her she is closing down her breeding because she knows that the GCCF will ban her anyway for selling a kitten with ring worm and ear mites.

I just feel so bad for you. What a horrible horrible person to knowingly sell you a kitten like this knowing full well you have other cats too. Im sure the ring worm will be cleared eventually, mites can be a pain but with the right treatment you will get sorted. Did your vet suggest stronghold for your kitten? its very very good for ear mites and with canuaral ear treatment the kitten will be right in no time at all.

Keep all mails you have sent to her and all replied mails and forward them to the GCCF. She has to be punished as she will just do it again and again otherwise.

Izzie

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She's been adament in all her phone calls that the kitten was fine when it left her and sh would not have sold it to me with any problems plus says her vet gave her a clean bill of health to leave. I don't believe what she's telling me about her vets though and suspect that despite what she says she's is lying and knew the kitten had ringworm...she had scabby white patches all over her...i feel silly for not noticing until we got her home but I suppose at least I'm getting her the treatment she deserves.

She also tried telling me on the phone that my time line was all wrong and that I did not tell her about my vet testing for ringworm until the other day..i have the email I sent her prooving I informed her on the Monday (2 days after we took the kitten home) plus the texts I send informing her the kitten had white scabby patches.

Ooh it just makes me mad that she would sell a kitten like this. Despite what she says I'm convinced now that she knew the kitten had these problems and saw me with 'sucker' on my head and knew i'd accept her shoddy excuses and not take it further I just hope that other kittens are okay, unfortunately I have no way of contcating the other new owners to warn them their kittens may have ringworm too and I doubt that she will contact them..as she said herself "i do not want a reputation for having ringworm in my cats"

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Owned By:

1 British Blue Kittens: Lola
1 working cocker spaniel: Bodie (Bo)

Winston the British Blue: 23/09/2008 - 26/12/2010 xx

Hi,

She knows she is in the wrong and is desperately backpaddling to get out of it. She knows that the GCCF will fine her and ban her for ages for doing this, she has done so many wrong things to you its awful.

For what its worth you aren't a sucker either, she has done it to others and they were probably so excited about getting their kittens they didn't notice either. Hopefully they will also report her but the main thing is that the kitten is treated and she is in a good home with you, in a few months this will be a distant memory and you will have that little kitten all well again.

Best of luck. Definitely pursue it with the GCCF though.

Izzie

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Thank you all for your advice. Its been reassuring.

I think I'll wait until my vet speaks to hers to confirm the story about the batch testing and to check my kitten did not have positive results (although she said she would rather speak to my vet..so i doubt her vet will talk to mine unless she says it okay)

Going to go to my doctors asap too to get treated just in case. I have been realy itchy the past few days but not sure if this is just a psychological thing?!

Poor Claude was castrated today aswell so not only is he a bit sore but he's going to have medicine each day too (and he is semi-feral so that should be interesting and result in a LOT of scratches)

Wintson was supposed to castrated in a week but thats now had to be porsponed for another 5 weeks as the vet is not happy to anethatise whilst he's on the medicine

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Owned By:

1 British Blue Kittens: Lola
1 working cocker spaniel: Bodie (Bo)

Winston the British Blue: 23/09/2008 - 26/12/2010 xx