New cat became seriously ill and died within week of getting her...

FelinePrincess

Hi all,

Sorry this is a really long post but want to give all the facts before asking advice..

I brought a maine coon cat and her kitten on saturday from a breeder. They both seemed fine when we got them and the breeder said they were both healthy and described the mother as a strong muscular cat. We got them home at about 11 on sat night as it was a long journey home. Both the mother and kitten got out the cat carrier, had a look around and went and hid in separete places. We left food, water and a litter tray out for them and left them to it as I understood it was best to let them settle in on their own. I woke up to the mother coughing on sunday morning and they both remiained in hiding for the day, apart from a bit of exploring. On monday the mother spend the day either hidden inside or sat behind an armchair in the bedroom whilst the kitten explored down stairs. I had not seen the mother eat anything since she arrived despite having her usual food in a bowl both up and downstairs, I presumed this was just due to her being very scared. At about 6ish I noticed the mother didn't seem 100%, because of how she was lying down and also her breathing seemed a little loud. I had to go to work at 7pm and when I got back at 4am her breathing was more noticeable. The next morning at 8pm her breathing was quite loud and it seemed a real effort for her to breath. I rang the vets straight away and got an appointment for 9.30. By then she had crawled inside the armchair and I had to pull her out to put her in the cat carrier, she didn't protest when I did this. By the time she got to the vets her breather was even louder and the vets said there was something in her chest and she was seriously ill. After my consent he did some x rays and found she had pluorsy and had lots of fluid on her lungs which was making it very hard for her to breath. She had an op to drain the liquid and the vet said we would have to see if she got better or she may need another op to drain more fluid. They kept an eye on her for a couple of days and there was no improvement. The cat had been spayed 2 days before we got her so my vet spoke to the vet that did the spaying to see if there had been anything unusual then, the other vet said everything had gone fine. My vet thought it to very unusual that it had come on so quickly since then, he also thought it had already started when we got her as she was coughing on sun morning. This afternoon the vet rang to say her condition was deteriorating and said he wouldn't usually say this but he suggested we seriously think about euthenasia. The other option would be to try another op to drain more fluid, this time leaving a tube in which would continue to drain the fluid for a couple of days. For such an op he said she would need a mild sedative but because her breathing was so bad, using a sedative might kill her. He said if she made it through the op she would have a medium chance. Just as he finished explaining this to me, he was told by the lady who was keeping an eye on our cat that she had just died.

I am very upset about the whole thing, we only had the poor cat 2 days in which she was very scared and upset before she had to be taken to the vet. Even though I wasn't to know and the vet said we couldn't have known I feel very guilty for dragging the poor cat to a new home and putting her through extra stress when she must have already been suffering. I feel so sad that her last week was such a traumatic one.

The vet bills have come to over £300 and on top of this I now need to buy another kitten to keep her daughter company as the whole reason we got the pair was so they would have each other for company whilst we are out.

The vet says it is quite likely the breeder did not know she was ill and I believe this to be right. The breeder e-mailed me on monday evening to ask how they were getting on and to check we had read the info she had given us about poisenous house plants. I replied saying I was worried about the mother as she hadn't eaten and was breathing heavily and that I was going to take her to the vets. She replied saying she probably wasn't eating due to the stress of moving but she was concerned about the breathing as she had always known her to be a strong cat and asked us to let her know what the vet said, I waiting to get back in touch with her until I had a better idea wether our cat would get better.

Now our cat has died I want to let her know, and I do feel that I should get some of my money back even thought she probably didn't know she was ill the fact is I have spent over £500 on 1 cat which I had for only 2 day, and as previously stated I want to get another kitten so ours isn't lonely. I am aware that she probably wont give us any money back.

I am planning on e-mailing her as I can't face speaking about it over the phone, I don't really want to have to ask for some money back but I would like to hint at it in a nice way, does anyone have any ideas how I could do this?

Please no comments about how we didn't have to spend all this money getting maine coon cats when there are plenty of cats in rescue - I would have been more then happy with rescue cats but unfortunatly my boyfriend is allergic so after alot of thought we chose maine coons as they are much better for people with allergies and he has had no reaction to them.

If anyone is still reading at this point any thoughts would be very much appreciated and sorry again for the essay!

Feline Princess

lowis

i am really sorry you lost your cat, so sad for you, please don't feel bad you have done nothing wrong.

now onto the horrid economics of this all. i would most definitely request all of your money back plus the vet bills, or ask for the breeder to let you have a kitten from her next litter (if she has one due very soon). you bought an item that within days of purchase 'broke'. i am pretty sure you would be covered under the sale of goods act. do you have receipts etc from the breeder?

perhaps you should contact the breeder, tell her what has happened, and see what she offers before you go in all guns blazing? she may actually be very sympathetic. i am a little worried though that she seems to have stressed that the cat was strong and then when you called her she warned you about poisonous house plants before you even mentioned the cat was poorly...it's almost as if she is covering her tracks already. or maybe i have got the wrong end of the stick from your post.

the law, i am sure, is definitely on your side.

by the way, i have never heard of maine coon cats being good for people with allergies. has your OH spent lots of time with them? more than a few visits etc? just checkng, cos i know of people whose allergies took a few months to kick in after purchasing supposed hypo-allergenic breed cats...afterall, it is cat spittle that most peolle are allergic to.

good luck x

donnac2558

Sorry to read about the poor cat. Contact the breeder, by phone no email and explain what has happened. If she is worth her salt she will be shocked and want to help.

By the way its the dander on the cats skin which causes most allergies.

scotsgirl_3

I would definitely speak to the breeder - if it is a decent, reputable breeder you may find you don't even need to actually ask for your money back. I have two Maine Coons myself, from different breeders, and I know that neither of them would hve hesitated.

I must back OP up on the coon/allergies front. They aren't guaranteed to not trigge allergies, however I have 2 friends who are very allergic to cats, yet neither reacts to the coons. I know it is often said that cat allergies are due entirely to dander however having seen this, and heard of many others who experienced the same, I'm not convinced!! Although they do shed hair, it tends to be in little tufts which will stick to the carpet, rather than our moggy boy, whos hair tends to fly around and get up your nose!

UKTigerlily

So sorry about your Cat, try speaking to the Breeder, not the same but I once had a French Lop that passed on aged 4 months due to illness, it was nothing I or the breeder could've prevented or known about, but she told me I could have another free if I wanted at any point, it may be the breeder will give you another as company for the first without you needing to ask.

I don't see that you could claim Vet bills from the breeder who didn't know she was ill & the Vet confirmed she probably wouldn't have known, but check the contract as sometimes they say if you have a health check within 24/48hrs of purchase & anything is found they will refund or something.

Failing that, the Insurance will pay as it wasn't pre existing & all pedigrees will come with 4/6 weeks Pet Plan insurance (Assuming it's a decent breeder)

lowis

scotsgirl wrote: »

I know it is often said that cat allergies are due entirely to dander however having seen this, and heard of many others who experienced the same, I'm not convinced!! Although they do shed hair, it tends to be in little tufts which will stick to the carpet, rather than our moggy boy, whos hair tends to fly around and get up your nose!

Allergies are definitely not entirely down to dander (dry spittle), some people are allergic to the hair, some the dander...whoever says allergies are caused entirely by dander are very wrong!

That's very interesting about people managing with the Maine Coons, I guess with it suddenly becoming a very popular breed over the past few years this piece of info is only just coming to the fore perhaps?

I really hope the breeder does the honourable thing here though...a cat shouldn't pass away within 3 days of leaving it's home if it was 100% healthy.

Fleago

lowis wrote: »

Allergies are definitely not entirely down to dander (dry spittle), some people are allergic to the hair, some the dander...whoever says allergies are caused entirely by dander are very wrong!

I've never heard of dander being dry spittle; the dictionary definition is that it is scales from skin and feathers.

Feline Princess, I'm really sorry to hear about your poor cat. I agree with everyone else, speak to the breeder and see what she says.

BitterAndTwisted

I'm sure the breeder will be mortified to hear about what's happened to your little cat. I thought it was charming of her to email to enquire about they were getting on and to warn you about poisonous plants. I take that as a very good sign

lowis

Fleago wrote: »

I've never heard of dander being dry spittle; the dictionary definition is that it is scales from skin and feathers.

Feline Princess, I'm really sorry to hear about your poor cat. I agree with everyone else, speak to the breeder and see what she says.

Haven't you? I did loads of research on allergies many years ago due to personal circumstance and have seen dry skin called dander many times.

This is from VetInfo, dander is commonly used as a generic term for the flakes found on cats, sometimes called 'pet pollen'...which can be a mix of dried saliva and dead skin:

Cat dander allergies are due to an allergen called Fel d 1, which is found in cat saliva and dander from sebaceous and anal glands. Cats produce this allergen in fairly large amounts, especially male cats who have not been neutered.
http://www.vetinfo.com/cat-dander-allergies.html

FelinePrincess

Hi all,

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this thread and reply. Do you think I should explain what happened and ask for money back or just explain what happened and see if she volunteers? Getting a replacement from her wouldn't really be an option that I would be happy with, she only had 2 other kittens both of whom were boys and we specifically wanted girls and I wouldn't want to wait for the next litter as I'd like company for my kitten now and I think it would be easier for them to mix the sooner we got one rather then my kitten being an only cat for a few months then have a newcomer come along. On top of this I'm a bit funny and supercticious about dealing with somewhere which brought us such misfortune last time.

I don't expect the vet fees back but I would feel alot better if I had a refund for what we paid for the poor cat, even though this would only be a small fraction of the vet fees and what we will have to pay for a new kitten I wouldn't have this feeling that I have been ripped off (even though I understand she probably wasn't aware). The money would have been much less of an issue if the poor cat had survived but to have spent all this money only for her to suffer so much in the short time we had her is very upsetting.

Unfortunatley the cat wasn't insured, the kitten is insured for a month but the cat was not.

With regards to cat allergies I did quite a bit of reading on cats which were good for allergies and thats how I found out about maine coons, but they definetley seem much less well known for this then other cats such as russian blues for example. We chose maine coons above the other cats as they sounded like just the type of cats we were looking for, friendly, affectionate, playfull - they are very sweet cats!

Feline Princess

Doodles22

FelinePrincess wrote: »

Hi all,

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this thread and reply. Do you think I should explain what happened and ask for money back or just explain what happened and see if she volunteers? Getting a replacement from her wouldn't really be an option that I would be happy with, she only had 2 other kittens both of whom were boys and we specifically wanted girls and I wouldn't want to wait for the next litter as I'd like company for my kitten now and I think it would be easier for them to mix the sooner we got one rather then my kitten being an only cat for a few months then have a newcomer come along. On top of this I'm a bit funny and supercticious about dealing with somewhere which brought us such misfortune last time.

I don't expect the vet fees back but I would feel alot better if I had a refund for what we paid for the poor cat, even though this would only be a small fraction of the vet fees and what we will have to pay for a new kitten I wouldn't have this feeling that I have been ripped off (even though I understand she probably wasn't aware). The money would have been much less of an issue if the poor cat had survived but to have spent all this money only for her to suffer so much in the short time we had her is very upsetting.

Unfortunatley the cat wasn't insured, the kitten is insured for a month but the cat was not.

With regards to cat allergies I did quite a bit of reading on cats which were good for allergies and thats how I found out about maine coons, but they definetley seem much less well known for this then other cats such as russian blues for example. We chose maine coons above the other cats as they sounded like just the type of cats we were looking for, friendly, affectionate, playfull - they are very sweet cats!

Feline Princess

Awwww


Bless you, I'm sorry to hear this