Cat Breeders who don't care...
Teresa Semeling and Bill Payne are what they describe as "small breeders". They claim they have only one male and one female cat that they breed. Maybe, this is why money would seem more important than a positive transaction to them. When the health of one their kittens is in question, they refuse to take the appropriate measures to rectify the situation! They may have had success with the sale of "healthy" kittens in the past, however, my experience is; when faced with the loss of a kitten they sold, (the loss occurring within the usual probationary time period as viewed by the "Lemon" laws of this state for animal sales) their concern, seemed to lay more with the monetary loss they would face rather than "appropriate business action" in a timely manner.
I purchased a Blue Persian kitten from these breeders via an ad. They told me they would deliver the "healthy" kitten to California from Idaho on the 4th of October. I paid in full both a deposit and then final payment prior to their departure.
They delivered a kitten that was docile and frail. I was concerned about her habits almost immediately. I did contact the breeders regarding my concerns and decided to gave the kitten a day or so on the suggestion from the breeders that it was most likely just stress and not an issue to be too concerned about. (They said they had taken her to the vet a week prior, at 5weeks old and the vet gave authorization for her to be shipped and sold the next week.) Still by the next day the kitten continued to act uncharacteristically calm and frightfully lethargic.
The kitten was in fact ill or injured, (I'm not sure as to whether Teresa or Bill knew this kitten was suffering from an ailment, they claim they did not have any awareness of her being ill or injured in anyway) and in less than 52 hours was in a vet's care. Unfortunately, within a couple of hours the kitten had died. The vet sent all the reports from this incident as she was concerned about the loss occurring so soon after the purchase of this kitten and even suggested I confront the breeders. The kitten displayed extreme dehydration, traces of bile in her stool indicating a possible internal seeping, her abdomen was tight and distended and she expressed pain when touched in that area, she may have been too new to the solids or digesting improperly as she had just been introduced to the food by the breeders recently, she was barely 6 weeks old. This untimely death occurred just 2 days after we'd received her! We were so disappointed as you can imagine!
At first the breeders seem sympathetic and promised a replacement kitten with one of her siblings in 4 weeks. I felt this would be fine and more than fair, as I was convinced the kittens were a bit young, at 6 weeks to leave their mother anyway. When Teresa contacted me to inform me they were no longer willing to drive to California to deliver the sibling-kitten, I tried to work a shipping arrangement with a shared cost. They were not willing to cover the part of the expenses I'd requested from them, (less than 1/2) to ship the kitten. This was understandable, though, if it was too difficult for them to drive back to California from Idaho and the shipping cost were too extravagant, I thought, they should be willing refund even a small amount of my investment in the deceased kitten, to assist us in finding a new family pet. I then proceeded to request a partial refund; they refused and requested no further contact, that was more than 2 weeks ago.
I enlightened them to my feelings of "money over good business". This obviously upset them as they just referred to me as a "nasty person" (a pointless comment; as there really was no need for name calling in this situation) and again proceeded to act in counter-productive manner to any solution.
Thus the reason I have found it necessary to post this article. I would strongly caution anyone who deals with these breeders/cattery. From my prospective; they are the type to not consider your circumstance and position in a negative seller/buyer situation, cast blame rather than accept responsibility, act as if they've done nothing and then threaten you for making the issue a public matter. I feel, they do not deserve to keep their breeders status due to a breech of CFA (Cat Fanciers' Association) "Code of Ethics" in this profound situation, but all I can do is lodge a complaint.
It's always a shame and a disappointment when people are willing to put money between them and integrity, but, it would seem, this is a prime example of such behavior. Please be aware of the possibility of a severely negative buying experience from these breeders.
Thank you for your time.
*update! 10-28-08:
They offered me a small fraction of the money I paid initially to be refunded today, if I would close this site. I agreed to mark this site as a resolved issue when I received the money. They refused to pay, just as they refused to give up the second kitten. They called my actions "blackmail" and referred to me as an "extortionist"! These people are truly toxic to deal with and I urge anyone who would even consider entering a sales agreement with them to remember; They have yet to do one thing they've promised here!
They have a seller site you may visit:
Zimmer
Kern County, California
U.S.A.
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