Complaint Review: Chat-Paws Exotics - Port Saint Lucie Florida

In Oct 2004, I was searching for an Exotic Shorthair kitty and found a breeder on the CFA website. I assumed that the breeders listed there must be upstanding, but boy was I wrong. Unfortunately, I missed a lot of red flags.

On November 14, 2004, I purchased a black and white Exotic Shorthair kitten from Vicky Chatburn of Chat-Paws Cattery. We met in Deerfield Beach in front of a Pet Supermarket to complete the transaction. I paid Vicky $450 in cash and she agreed to mail me a contract (for some reason she didn't have one with her) within a few days. She also promised to send me registration papers later on as she hadn't had a chance to register the litter yet. To this day, I have NOT received any of the above.

I took the kitten to the vet the day after the purchase (November 15) and he was diagnosed with ear mites and fleas. He had to have a special bath and I had to apply drops to his ears daily. This was definitely a sign of things to come. I contacted Vicky to let her know the kitty had fleas and mites and she stated he had been at her friends home for a while as she had hurricane damage.

In mid 2005, I noticed my cat (Sam) was being less active than in the past. I didn't think much of it, just figured he was "growing up" and becoming more mellow! This continued for a while and then on December 3rd of 2005, I took him to the vet for what appeared to be an upper uespiratory infection...runny nose and sneezing. At that appointment, they also discovered he had a mass in his abdomen. I was about to go out of town (with Sam) and they advised me to bring him in for an ultrasound when we returned from our trip.

While on the trip, I ended up having to take Sam to two vets in NJ as he stopped eating. We force fed him for a few days, but he became worse and had to be admitted to the hospital. $1400.00 later, Sam ended up having to be put to sleep as he was in severe respiratory distress and had organ failure. The diagnosis was FIP (feline infectious peritonitis) a viral illness. He passed away on December 10th, 2005 at 16 months of age.

I was rather devastated and angry about my loss after finding out what FIP was. I contacted Vicky Chatburn the last week of December and told her what had happened. She asked me for documentation and I sent her the info on Jan 1, 2006. I also advised her to contact the vet if she had any questions. She was very apologetic and immediately offered to refund my money and provide me with another kitten. I declined to the offer of another kitten as I didn't want to go through this heartbreak again and I advised her I would be happy to have my $450 back.

After she received the papers she called me several times, and promised to return my money. It has been 4 1/2 months since Vicky promised me my money and all I keep receiving are EXCUSES. I even offered to accept the money in increments and she still hasn't sent a single payment to this day. Now she is trying to suggest that Sam couldn't have had FIP because her other cats are OK. I have done a lot of research on FIP and many cats carry the corona virus and never develop FIP.

I have emails from Vicky promising to refund my money. I guess I will have to present those to a judge, as I am about to take her to small claims court to get my money back. I have posted this here so others will be very cautious when purchasing a cat from Chat-Paws Cattery.

Nicole

Miami, Florida
U.S.A.