Complaint Review: Avondell Bengals - California

I paid a deposit on Craigslist a couple years ago for an Abysinian kitten.  Terry accepted a deposit of $200 agreeing to keep me informed when the

kitten would be ready to go home.  The kitten mysteriously "died" and my money was not refunded nor did Terry contact me again when she had

available kittens.  She lived in a mobile home (I believe) on some acreage and I felt she wasn't a good breeder so I didn't pursue getting a kitten

from her.  I sent her money through PayPal but there was no attempt to refund my money.

Terry is a known animal hoarder who keeps her animals in fiithy conditions. This is not the first time she has sold sick cats and dogs! Buyers beware! She will always blame you for her bad breeding and practices. Look her up - she has other reports on her here. She is bad bad news!!

Ms Leslie Leddo presents an interesting and clearly viciously intended distortion of facts.  The kittens she purchased from me were clean and

healthy when the transporter she hired picked them up at my home.  The transporter herself will attest to this.  The idea that they were

anything else upon arrival  refutes what Ms Leddo herself reported to me later that same day - both by phone and by email.

 Ms Leddo reported NO problems whatsoever with the kittens (although she was in nearly constant contact with me with questions and

commentary about everything from color of kitty litter to size of food bowls) for the first several weeks after acquiring them.  It was when

one kitten eventually developed a  spot on her neck that I first heard anything AT ALL negative from Ms. Leddo..  The spot turned out to be

ringworm, and Ms Leddo determined that she did not want the kittens at that point.  I told her she was welcome to return them and have her

purchase price returned in full.  Two days  later she called and reported that she decided not to return them and asked my advice in

treating them, which I gave her. Being a retired veterinary assistant and practitioner of holistic health care, I felt  fully qualified in

advising. as to how to address what amounts to a self limiting fungus infection.

Awhile later, Ms Leddo again contacted me and told me the kittens were now under veterinary treatment for ringworm, and it had been

determined that they now had the intestinal parasite giardia, as well. I told her that was not surprising as their immune systems were

compromised and intestinal parasites will often present under such conditions.  Ms Leddo then told me that it was her veterinarian's

determination that the kittens had caught the ringworm from my two dairy goats, and I should pay her vet bill. (!)

My two dairy goats do not and NEVER have had ringworm, as the rancher who boarded them for me can and will attest .  As well,  neither do my

cats have ringworm, including, to date, ALL FOUR littermates of Ms Leddo's two kittens, all of which have been placed in other, and well

satisfied  homes. My veterinarian can and will also attest to this. Being that ringworm is highly contagious among littermates, it was my

determination that the ringworm Ms Leddo's kittens eventually acquired came from somewhere NOT my home. The fact that they additionally

presented with the fungus several weeks after leaving here, I felt, and still feel, made this a reasonable conclusion.

I told Ms Leddo that despite the fact I was initially agreeable to taking the kittens back and refunding her  money, I neither felt

responsible for the kittens having ringworm nor did I approve of the veterinary treatment she was using which includes  the use of an

internal medication KNOWN to cause liver damage (a drug many other veterinarians refuse to use).

Ms Leddo replied that she was very upset about "having to" go and get the kittens cultured repeatedly for ringworm and it was as this point

I suggested a mercenary  outlook on the part of her much heralded veterinarian. Her response was that if I was not going to pay the vet

bills there was no purpose in furthering the conversation.  This was the last I heard from Ms Leddo until someone advised me of this nasty,

vindictive and highly misleading posting.

As an aside, and because of it being mentioned in yet another intentionally misleading light, I will say that I have bred a total of

eleven litters of Collies in a forty five year period.  I have also bred a total of three litters  of Shelties and two litters of American

Eskimo Dogs in the same time period. AKC records will attest to these numbers. Despite this limited amount of breeding, I have shown dogs of

all three breeds to their championships including international championships as well as to performance titles. Additionally, I am one of the founders of the Cashmere or long coated variety of Bengal (which has just been accepted by TICA for show status). and was one the formulators and long time chair person of the The International Bengal Cat Society's Breeder of Distinction program. I have bred a number of Bengal cat champions, and bred and owned the grandsire of the lovely silver Bengal pictured on the Earthborn cat food bag.  I have wonderful and ongoing relationships

with MANY of the people who have purchased kittens from me over the past twenty three years - and those references are available to my

potential kitten buyers. I do not place cats or kittens which are not in optimal health and condition. I cannot, however, be responsible for

what happens o ANY animal once it  leaves my home and care, and certainly not weeks, months and years later.

Ms Leddo needs to cease and desist attempting to publically vilify me and my animals on the basis of the simple fact that she chooses to

employ a veterinarian she would prefer not to pay, as this, ultimately, is the incentive for this disgustingly inaccurate post.