1st Complaint Against:
Breeder: Honey Walker
Cattery: Mi Cattery
Address: 1415 Herzel Blvd
City W. Babylon, NY 11704
Phone: 631-523-5825
Complaintant: Karen Solomon, NY
Date: 4/20/06
Share your Comments Read Comments
What would satisfy your complaint?
"Payment of all vet and meds for MoJo and Bao for life will satisfy my complaint."
"This is a valid complaint!!! I purchased a siamese kitten (Bao) from mi cattery on 10-31-04. The day after I brought him home, he started sneezing and coughing. 2 days later I brought him to my local vet, who told me he had URI. Within a week, my older Balinese (12 yrs. Old) became infected in her eyes. I was then told that it was Herpes virus and that she was infected by the kitten and would have to be medicated for life. Now, kitten has been infected in his eyes. Have been to numerous vets... My local vet who is O& Animal Hospital in Southampton, (Dr. A&), Dr. G — , Vetinary Opthomologist in Westbury, N.Y., and finally Dr. When in Westhampton, NY. (These cats will be infected forever and, in addition, I no longer can have a life because every day revolves around meds. MoJo, the Balinese, gets 3 meds 6x/day. Bao, the kitten, gets meds 2x/day. Expenses are more than I can handle. I have all of the bills necessary for this application. But, I have no idea what future bills could be because Herpes will never end. My kitten was infected with herpes virus from the breeder and brought it home to MoJo, who was perfectly healthy for her entire life.
So far, I have spent at least $2,500 on vets and meds. I've no way to estimate what the future bills will be. Meds will be constant as will vet visits. I have all vet bills and diagnosis available"Feline Herpes Virus
Proof of bills, there is 20 pages of bills adding up to $2,500.00.
[Page 1-20]
October 31st - 11/17/06 My husband and I went to Mi Cattery to see siamese kittens.
Honey Walker was there with another couple and their child picking out a kitten. She was becoming very agitated because they were taking too long to choose a kitten and asked us to be patient and wait. They finally made their selection, paid and left.
While were were waiting we looked at all of the kittens (at least 20) plus the older cats and breeding cats. There were probably 30 cats in this house which had uncleaned litter pans everywhere and smelled vile. One of the older cats was sneezing and Honey explained that this was her oldest cat who suffered from allergies.
Initially Honey thought I would like a chocolate (there were 2 who were locked up in cages in the back of the house) but, although they had such sweet dispositions, we noticed that their eyes were red. My husband even remarked to me that he wanted a cat with blue eyes and therefore the chocolates were not even an option.
That's when we found Bao — a seal point siamese. We decided to purchase him at a price of $550 and brought him home that day. He was somewhat rambunctious during the car ride but we managed to get him into our house.
Since I had an older Balinese at home and knew that it would take time for the two to get acquainted, so I separated them, locking Bao in another bedroom with his own litter pan. I allowed them supervised visitation and immediately saw that the older Balinese was accepting baby Bao, the newcomer.
In these initial visits, Bao would have sneezing fits (10-20 sneezes at a time) and so I scheduled an appointment at my local vet. (This was 2 days after I brought him home) He said Bao had URI and prescribed medication for him. (I believe it was amox) I immediately called Honey and informed her and she said that "she hates when that happens." She also said that she didn't think I should medicate a young kitten — he would probably grow out of it. Well he didn't!
Approximately 2-3 weeks later MoJo's eyes became inflamed with puss and blood pouring down her face. I immediately brought her to the vet and he prescribed meds - eye drops, oral meds and gave me information on feline herpes virus because he said that the kitten infected the Balinese with Herpes by his sneezing. The meds didn't help and he prescribed another.in a short period of time when I saw there was no improvement, scheduled yet another appointment with the vet and he told me there was nothing more he could do and recommended that I see a veterinary opthomologist.
So I scheduled an appointment with the VO immediately who was located in Westbury, N.Y. Which is a 4hr. Round trip drive for me. The opthomologist examined MoJo and confirmed that the infection must have come from the kitten since MoJo was perfectly healthy for her entire life — lived alone, never boarded, never exposed to another animal. She put MoJo on numerous medications, i.E., oral meds, eye salves, eye drops, to be administered 6X/day which did eventually get the infection under control after months of treatment.
11/18/06 I e-mailed Honey and told her of the situation and this is what she said: " Hearing about MoJo prompted me to make a few calls. Lo and behold a family that bought from me a week ago before you had a cat at home with a runny eye. She never thought to mention it (I find that hard to believe). Anyway she brought it into my home and apparently a few of my kittens contracted it. None of my adults show any signs and I do not have any kittens left. But three kittens that i have sold since have shown signs."
Honey then goes on to say "I am truly sorry for this inconvenience and I feel at least partially responsible. I would be willing to send you a check to at least compensate for the medication." She goes on to say, "Please accept my deepest apologies. According to this moron her cat has had it for years and it "comes" and "goes", but she was never concerned so her cat has never been diagnosed." Honey did send me a check in the amount fo $200.00.
It was not too much longer after MoJo became infected in her eyes, that Bao became so infected that his eyes were inflamed and bloody and almost swollen shut. His eyes were inflamed and red, the same look one of Honeys adult cats looked when we were at her home. I immediately brought him to my new vet in Westhampton Beach, Dr. Wen, where they are both treated now. Likewise, Bao was put on eye salve and antibiotics and herb pills. Bao and MoJo have shown great improvement, however it took approximately 1 year of constant medication and vet visits to get this point.
What Honey Walker does not understand or care about is that Herpes if for life. This virus will flare up and then calm down but it is forever. For my babies, eye salves, eye drops that sting, and oral meds are what it takes when they have an inflammation. They cry, scratch and do anything to get way from me when I try to administer the meds. And I feel so badly because I don't want to hurt them and it breaks my heart. She calls this an "inconvenience"!
Than when I went to board my cats in order to get away from medicating them for a couple of days (since I was going out of my mind with the medication — cats were scratching me, hiding, biting) the vet informed me that Bao and Mojo and would have to be isolated from any other cat in boarding because they are highly contagious. They had to keep them in a separate room in their own cat cases.
Now, I give MoJo and Bao L-Lysine every day. (1 500 mg. Tab. Each). I truly think that's what keeps the herpes outbreaks under control. They seem to get symtoms now and then but disappear much more quickly and don't develop into the full blown virus.
I do love my babies dearly, and this has been a long road but I will continue to care for them for the rest of my life.
This is the experience I had dealing with purchasing a siamese kitten from Honey Walker of Mi Cattery in W Babylon, NY. What was suppose to be a glorious experince of buying a kitten quickly turned into a total nightmare full of pain and suffering and this illness of Herpes will be forever with my 2 cats.
0 comments