unhappy cat lover
Pacific Grove,#2Author of original report
Fri, February 22, 2013
If you had read through Heather's response and think like we did she might have some validity and be a nice breeder of persians and exotics please reconsider. We would have no reason to make this kind of story up. We had her show up at our house in an irate state demanding we give her our pets back. We were scared of her and my husband didn't ever want to see her again so he urged us to do what she asked. Later we all wished we would have locked our door and called the police.
She does not have time for this hobby, she works many hours, she has a small,overcrowded house filled with ringworm and other illness with her cats. We know because we have stayed there. She has her teenage children doing the chores.
She ignores a young child who does not even have a room of her own. She tries to find new homes for cats all over, farming them out to other homes to take care of the vet expenses or care because of this.
She has some deep control issues which is why she became mad at us and showed up unannounced at our door which is always a very scary and crazy thing for anyone to do. We could hear her child screaming in the car and our children had to watch their cats shoved into a minivan in a very uncaring way. These were cats she told us she didn't want. The reason she became mad was we would not take more cats from her or continue to show her cats. We spent quite a lot of our own time and money being used by Heather for about a year.
It was no fun showing up to a show being asked to show an underweight cat with ringworm on medication and another highly aggressive cat that violently bites. In all our years of showing we never would have done this. It was a nightmare. I should have driven home and refused that day. I think my daughter and I were in shock and still feeling sorry for this individual and wanting to help mentor her in a better way.Then if this were not enough we witnessed more child neglect, her child choking several times, left to wander without any adult supervision and a teenage daughter to look after her. She was lost at one point, tired, hungry being only fed chips and candy and left with a babysitter with a high fever. This was so upsetting as the cats were always most important. This was most of all disturbing. This child would be forced to ride in a car if we ever met to exchange cats. Heather would never drive to us or see our house. She wanted to push the work off onto anyone, especially me since I used to be quite good at this hobby. I can groom better than she could, loved to do it and loved cats. I also have a great reputation and a good eye for judging a nice cat. She also seemed as time went on to be using me and jealous of me at the same time.
As all this was going on I would hear in emails from Heather how sick some of her cats were from shipping to other breeders to show her cats any and everywhere. These other breeders have too many cats too and didn't care about Heather's cats. I told her that. She does not care, she is not in this for the cats or children. She tries to fill something inside herself that is missing with this hobby. The other thing is she tries to control and if she can't she becomes upset.
Last and not least she has time to take all the RippOff Reports DID YOU FIND THIS POST HELPFUL or UNHELPFUL to click to her benefit. I have tried to even them out by clicking them back but will stop. It is so obvious she has set her teenage daughter or son or herself up to keep clicking them.She didn't even defend all the illness claims or child neglect. She simply cares about making money breeding cats and recouping some of the money she spent starting out in this hobby. She is a compulsive buyer and buys more cats than she will admit. I would be happy to supply the emails she sends asking me to take more cats all the time and confiding in me that her cats were sick.
I hope something good shifts for the innocent animals and children involved. I hope with the benefit of the internet others can read this and avoid her. I am not the type of person to make up a silly story of this type for any other reason than to expose this sad situation. I don't care to show, breed (I believe more in rescues now anyway) and would rather spend time with my precious children enjoying life.
Heather Colbert
California,#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Sun, December 09, 2012
This is a fraudulent report. I just started breeding exotics about 2 years ago and I have placed exactly 7 kittens in pet homes to date. I am in touch with every family with whom I have placed a pet kitten. None of my kittens has died or had any significant health problems. This is a complete fabrication.
The individual who wrote this report has been stalking me on my website and email for almost a year now. She is a former collaborator whom I decided to part ways with due to her bizarre behavior. A couple of years ago when I first started this hobby she contacted me, initially wanting to purchase a pet, and then expressing an interest in getting back into breeding. She presented herself as very knowledgeable in the areas of breeding and grooming/showing. In order to help her achieve her goals and in return receive help in these areas, we agreed I would let her keep two of my breeding females free of charge at her house. They would be bred to my males, and she would keep the proceeds from the sale of the pet kittens. The females I gave her cost $2500 each. I have the receipts to prove this. They remained in my name. She paid for nothing. I provided grooming supplies, a new blow dryer, show expenses, etc. She never assisted me in any area.
She began to complain about the cats, that they weren't any good from a breeding perspective and that she needed better ones. She asked for another top show female that I had, and then for a kitten that she could show. I tried to accommodate her. Then she refused to allow me to breed the cats stating that something could go wrong, they could require C-sections, etc. She had the cats for almost a year. Finally, after a year, she told me the cats were very sick and she needed me to pay for her holistic vet to make a house call ($350 a visit). I was worried and went down and picked up the cats to take them to my vet. For the sake of her children, I let her keep one spayed cat as a pet at no charge. I have countless emails to substantiate all of this.
Since I picked up my cats, she has sent me at least 50 emails threatening me in various ways, trying to blackmail me, demanding that I return all 4 cats to her for free (worth $10K) or she would file complaints about me and ruin my reputation. She has sent emails to every breeder that I have gotten a cat from, accusing me of all kinds of heinous behavior. I know this because they have forwarded the emails to me. In some cases she has forwarded my emails to other breeders after doctoring them in various ways. Luckily I know many of the breeders in this area and have a solid reputation. Several have visited my house and know the conditions my cats are kept in.
This individual has misrepresented herself as a pet buyer in order to defame me. It's a shame that someone would hijack this forum for a personal vendetta. I have already lost thousands of dollars as a result of this woman. One of the cats I took back had pyometra as a result of her refusal to allow me to breed her, and had to be spayed. She could have died from this. Now she's in a loving pet home, thank goodness.
For anyone questioning the validity of my account, I encourage you to contact any exotic breeder in CA or to come to my house to see the condition of my cats for yourself. I was reluctant to reply to this report because I really want no contact with this individual, but I see no alternative. In addition to filing this false report, she has encouraged another breeder with whom I had a dispute to file a second report. Fortunately there are a lot of wonderful people out there looking for pets and that makes up for people like this. I still remember the look on her husband's face when I came to pick up my cats and this individual threw a fit and threatened to take me to court. He looked at her with shock and dismay, and said, "For what? Taking her own cats back?"