Breeder sold us a very sick cat 😹 :(

[HustleVandango]

Any advice gratefully received.

My DM recently adopted a cat from a high profile breeder. He is a 3 yr old Siamese ex-stud and altho DM had some reservations about the way the breeder treated him (rough handling) once she saw him she loved him and took him home. It cost her 250 pounds. The breeder advised the cat was on a grain free diet due to stomach issues.

Since she brought him home six weeks ago he has been sick on a day basis, sometimes up to four, five times. He has diarrhoea and painful bowel movements. He is otherwise affectionate and loving. My DM is beside herself with worry. She has been back and forth to the vets who have put him in high dose steroids (not working) and different diets (not working). It has so far cost her over a thousand pounds in treatment. When contacted the breeder admitted he had never seen a vet and claims he was never sick when with her. This is BOLLOCKS obvs

My poor mum and this poor cat. I've tentatively suggested to her that his quality of life is most probably horrible atm. I don't know what to do. She has recently retired and doesn't have a lot of money and even though she loves him cleaning up sick and poo every day is draining for her and pretty miserable. Vet is now talking about removing part of his bowel. Breeder obviously won't discuss anymore, and can't can't offer medical history.

Anyone got any ideas? I think this is beyond a dietary issue. Cat is a Siamese (I have one too) so sensitive tummy anyway :(

Hello all, quick update. He has been given an anti-sickness injection so that they can get food into him. Also rehydrated him. New vet now thinks problem is in his pancreas.

Is there anyone you can report the breeder to? Poor cat. I hope the vets can help him in some way.

See, too much guesswork from the vets for me.

The first one was sure it was his small intestine. If he'd have done the bloods first pancreas would be ruled in or out already.

My mum had this with her vet- kept trying all sorts of expensive treatments and consultations, none of which worked. Cost her thousands over the years and cat no better.

In the end i took her to my vet. Offered a scan to provide a definitive diagnosis- yes it cost but it was a one off, then we knew how to treat and the endless visits and medications stopped. Would have saved a fortune if they'd just done the scan first.

Get the vet to cost up investigations and talk through how they will help diagnose.

The breeder won't give you the details of his previous vet? Oh My.

Think about contacting your local paper and doing an appeal. Sounds like it would be right up the Daily Mail's street! Ask pet shops if they would make a donation in return for publicity. Set up a justgiving page.
Also wonder if any animal charities might help. The Blue Cross helps owners who can't afford treatment, I think. Might be worth approaching Celia Hammond too.
Contact the rspca as well and tell them about the breeder. Possibly also your local trading standards.
Poor cat. And your poor mum.

There's also PDSA who offer treatment, you donate as much as you can afford towards the treatment.

Poor boy.

Sorry, yes, was thinking of PDSA not Blue Cross!

PDSA treated my cat for free when I was younger and had no funds. (I gave them a chunky donation when I was able to afford it.)

Hi again all - cozie no, she the breeder said to my DM to just be 'guided by her own vet' which is essentially, passing responsibility. She won't provide any other info, or tell us where we can find it. I don't think she wants to admit how ill he is.

I think you need to be in receipt of certain benefits for the PDSA - I know because I had to use them when I lost my job with my Siamese (and fuck, their resources are s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d).

I've just spoken to DM - they have tested his pancreas and it is fine - I've just relayed a lot of what has been said on here and made her call the vet back. I've told her to ask exactly what they're looking for - they are keeping him in tonight as well and advised her to go back to his original diet for now. But they still haven't told her what's wrong with him - he hasn't been sick at the vets but that's because he has had an anti-sickness injection. They told DM the stool samples came back clear but she doesn't know what they were testing for so I've made her call back and be a bit firmer about what has already been ruled out and that a scan should be the next step. They seem to think he 'definitely' has Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome but they haven't told her how they know this.

Considering reporting the breeder who so far has not contacted my mum back to advise - once again, thanks all!

Keep everything.

It's worth an extra £150 to collect your expenses in court.

Has he had full bloods yet? It's suspicious that the first vet didn't do that... if he has, do you have the results?

I doubt you will have any recourse with the breeder . I'm sure that somewhere there are some good cat breeders but I think they are well hidden . My mum has a Ragdoll who became seriously ill the day after we got him home ( 16weeks) , again a top show winning breeder, we as a courtesy rang her to tell her and she couldn't have been less interested . In your mums case I think if I wanted to complain about someone it would be the first vet as that sounds like 1k wasted - no blood work , no scans . Hope you get to the bottom of the poor cats problem .

I bought a sick kitten off a breeder once.

However she was very open about the issues. The mum had caught a virus in pregnancy which had led to a couple of congenital issues. The vet had been seen and she gave us all the medical history.

She only sold us the cat because i was a nurse and had a full understanding of what we were taking on. She sold also because she wanted to completely clear her main breeding queens of any illness so if she found a suitable home for any of the others she grabbed the opportunity.

I think we paid £5 for transfer of ownership, and got a lovely thank you card for taking the cat on.

Just to put the good breeders side :). There are some.

There are indeed. You need to do your homework, as with most things.

As your Mum is a pensioner, have you tried the Cinnamon Trust? Might be something they can do to help with vet's fees?

Hope the wee man has a settled night.. Awful and the vet doesn't sound much cop tbh...
when one of my dogs went dramatically downhill after a year of strange behaviour/increasing confusion I took him to vet- we had a very open and honest talk about what I could and couldn't afford and the vet said that he wasn't keen to do any expensive tests as he knew the results would be such that nothing could be done to help ( it was likely to be an end stage neurological condition that was only going to get worse quickly). I would have borrowed the money if needed via bank loan but we both agreed it wasn't fair to put the dog or my kids through it...
My new kitten came with a contract that basically says I have a lifetime back up from breeder- she is to go back to breeder if I find myself in the position I have to rehome, I have to provide regular/at least yearly updates on her progress/any health issues I have to contact her for backup and she came fully vaccinated/neutered/wormed/deflead..there are some very decent breeders out there and I'm so sorry that your poor Mum ended up with one who isn't being helpful at all

Who would you report breeder to, and for what?

all very sad op but v familiar ime

the vets just dont always have the answers and it gets hugely expensive to keep investigating - not to mention v distressing for the poor cat

the breed welfare club and the breed club should all be made aware of the breeder.it may help to raise awareness to swerve these dodgy breeders

good luck

lljkk I thought about the Siamese breeders association but she does ''designer' cats, not purebreeds so don't think they would pay much attention tbh. It's more important to DM to get his medical history from her I think.

potential So sorry to hear about your dog - I dread my cat's final months, it's always heart breaking to see them struggle. I think this is the thing - poorcat wasn't living in great conditions so even if dealer offered (unlikely) she wouldn't want him back there.

DM is asking for full bloods and a scan - hopefully that will give a better indication of his condition. She is looking forward to him coming home - she was in tears last night :(

Dog was one of two... The other dog pinned badly for about a month then suddenly decided he liked being he only dog in the house- mainly because he was been spoiled and there was no pee all over the kitchen because the other dog became incontinent the last few weeks..
Here's hoping the bloods get to bottom ( no joke intended) of it and he settles into what will be the lap of luxury fur him by the sounds of it....
We came home yesterday with a rescue hamster....it's hard to leave a wee creature that needs a decent home behind no matter what our heads say...

Designer cats - I've heard it all now. Just another name for unregistered backstreet breeding.

One of the reasons pedigrees are on the register is to ensure blood types are compatable, congenital problems, etc. etc. I'd eat my shoes AND the contents of my ashtray if he were on the GCCF register, let alone their breeding register.

The vaccinations card the "breeder" provided, did it not have the vet surgery's name on it? Had it been scribbled out? My cats' vaccination cards have the name, phone number plastered across the front and the name of my cats. Then inside, stickers taken off each of the vaccinations, then dated and signed by the vet who administered them. It's very shady indeed to refuse disclosure of his previous vet.

I'm even a bit suspicious that he's never had any vaccinations, was it an original copy breeder gave your DM, or a copy?

I really hope a good vet will find out what's wrong with the poor lad - it must be heartbreaking.

I think he was an imported cat - i've gone back through her FB posts like a crazy stalker and she imports a lot of the studs and queens. She had him neutered before handover so he has seen a vet, but has not been treated as all the breeder suggested was to put him on a grain free diet.

Anyway. Spoke to DM this morning. Cat at vets but she is collecting him at 5 today. He has not been sick since he went on but he has had an anti-sickness injection, so.
She asked vet about bloods and he said "we could do them" which has annoyed us both as it should have been the first thing they did. They have ruled out pancreas and bowels (tests done apparently) but we are no further on despite his hospital stay. Vet said he would advise seeing a consultant in the next county for x-ray and scans - it will cost thousands though and involve travel. He offered to keep him in till Tuesday (!) but DM just wants him home. Also, the cost! I'm pretty angry and too far away to go in myself. I feel they are being vague about what they are charging her for and we are no closer to finding out what it is. She is away next week unavoidably so will press for bloods when she comes back. She has cat sitter booked. Fingers crossed he is okay. He is off the steroids as they were making sickness worse.

Where in the country are you?

Is it a chain vet practice?

I could recommend you a couple of vets around the country who have been excellent with my dodgy siamese.

I would honestly take the cat to a different vet.

I don't see how they can have ruled out a pancreas problem without bloods or a scan . Just a thought but it might be worth asking the vet to test for Addison's disease .

Just a thought...my cat became allergic to chicken, apparently allergy to chicken isn't rare, also other common proteins. We out her on a duck based cat food (duck being a rare protein for cat food) and she did much better