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The Owner of Summerwood Savannahs, Donna Lawver, sold me a sick male savannah cat in October of 2013. She is the owner and breeder at Summerwood Savannahs in Illinois. We had a kitten contract that was signed guaranteeing a healthy kitten "free from any birth defects." I signed this contract and gave a deposit of half the cost of the kitten ($2, 000) after seeing vet papers saying he was a healthy kitten. This kitten was NOT healthy and had feline herpes, which is incurable, and the worst case my vet had ever seen. He also had cataracts and was over 50% blind in one of his eyes. Donna accused me of making him sick, even though he was sick immediately and only got worse. How could I give him anything when my other cat was not sick and confined to another room. Additionally, one can't catch cataracts, it's hereditary. I took him to my local vet within the first 48 hours per our contract, and my vet diagnosed both cataracts and feline herpes right away. He also noted that the kitten was not very well socialized, which of course she debated. Donna and I tried to work it out, as I was becoming attached to the kitten, so my vet gave him a dose of antibiotics to hopefully help with the herpes and referred me to a veterinary specialist of the eyes. The specialist came to the same conclusion as my vet, and he was not getting any better from being sick with herpes. He explained that herpes flares up when the cat gets stressed out, and probably came out due to leaving his mother he was confined with in a room. I could not reasonably keep a kitten I had paid $4, 000 for after being misled into believing he was perfectly healthy. Donna did reimburse the purchase price, but there are several expenses I am still out. I am out over $1, 500 in medical costs, flights, gas, travel expenses, and cleaning of my carpets and walls of sick kitten after being told and mislead into believing he was healthy, even admitting to me she never had his eyes checked for anything or tested for feline herpes, which would have been passed to him by his mother. Donna wouldn't pay my expenses to return her "Guaranteed healthy and free from birth defects" kitten. She was too busy at cat shows in Wisconsin to even come meet me! She sent a friend and the closest she would drive was 4 hours from me so I drove a total of 8 hours to return this sick cat and was never refunded for even that trip! She never responded to any emails from me ever again or apologized once.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I am Donna Lawver and the kitten was fully vet checked twice before going to the new home. Kitten was healthy when Taylor picked him up. Her vet did find an issue with a cataract in one eye. This was not found by my vet. I told her I would 1. give a full refund and she could return the kitten 2. take the female in the litter in exchange for the male with a partial refund given for her time and trouble or 3. return him and I would replace him with another kitten at a discount at a later date. Then do to the stress of the new home he did come down with a URI. that was treated by her vet ( I paid for medication and vet visit) . I arranged for the kitten to be returned with a full refund. She did decide she wanted to take him to an eye specialist for his eye and again I paid for the kitten to be checked by the specialist vet. The kitten was found to have partial vision loss and a URI, and her vet stats that URIs are very common in kittens. He was treated and improved quickly on the medication, as when she did return him to me (less than two weeks after meds) he already was almost 100% cleared of the URI. She says he vet said he was not well socialized, but she sent me pictures of this kitten on her shoulder and also curled up under her chin within a few days of her getting him home. At this time a second arrangement was made to exchange kitten for full refund. She was given a full refund in addition to my paying the vet bills. She signed paperwork at the exchange of kitten for her full refund that no further compensation will be paid by myself. Later she emailed me requesting additional payment for carpets to be cleaned, walls to be painted, flight to look at kitten before deciding to purchase, 250.00 payment for taking him to vet, etc. I fulfilled the contract we signed and agreed to at the time of pick up of the kitten.
Sorry to hear about your experience. You are very fortunate to get your purchase price back. Most breeders refuse and only give a replacement at their "own discretion". It is normal for the purchaser to pay all medical bills after leaving the breeder. I am going through a situation now from a established Cornish Rex cattery. My kitten who is 11 months now has always been sick with upper respiratory problems.. He now has Ringworm and it is believed this is caused by his suppressed immune system. I love this kitten dearly but so unfair that I paid what I did to take care of a cat who may be sick the rest of his life.