In early 2007 I purchased an Ocicat from Kate Bynum's Catoninetails. It was the second cat I had adopted in two months. The first was a Burmese. The burmese breeder was a professional and a real lover of the breed. After doing a little (too little ) research I went with catoninetails ,after all she was the president of the Ocicat society etc. How could I go wrong?
When I drove to Indiana to pick up our cat I could not believe the difference between the two breeders and living situations of the animals .The whole setup didn't look right. Very shabby and the way she handled the cat was like she was taking a lobster out of a tank in the grocery store. I SHOULD HAVE ASKED FOR MY MONEY BACK AND RAN !!! I didn't . I was there with my son who was the one who insisted on having an Ocicat , and we had come a long way, plus there weren't a lot of options in purchasing this breed.
When we got the cat we found all cats in cages in some sort of attached garage. There was no love for the animals there,only greed. The Ocicats in cages were right by dogs that were being bred there also. I don't recall the breed . Apparently living in a cage next to barking dogs makes for a very skid-dish cat.
Day one. cat sneezing on way home .next day went to vet got on antibiotics.
Week two. off antibiotics,find cat has Giardia .It was a good thing cat was confined to sons room,it was covered in diarrhea. It took a couple months or so to get her sorted out.
We gave her a lot of love to overcome this terrible beginning, but she was still a very odd scared cat. I have always felt I should warned other potential owners,but was complacent until now.
Last night at four and a half years old our cat Dahlia DIED from heart problems.
It was not until now that I saw all the other complaints I realized that the website name was changed by dropping the e in nine tails. Hmmmm.