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BastetsBengals/Penelope Duerksen-Hughes is a Bengal Breeder in Redlands, California and within the last year one of the bengal kittens she sold tested postive for FeLV / FIV.
The purchaser of this kitten had taken the sick kitten to her vet and had to euthanize it as result of this illness, and while she did not win the lawsuit, she presented her case poorly and did not explain that infected FeLV and FIV kittens are infected directly via their mother or from others in the cattery. It is the breeder's fault and the breeder has a responsibility to keep the cattery free of disease! The judge -TV program Judge Judy- did not even admonish Mrs. Duerksen-Hughes for selling a sick kitten nor tell her she needs to test all of her cats and make sure she's breeding healthy cats, producing healthy offspring -which she should have done.
Mrs. Duerksen-Hughes is on notice her cattery has at least one positive case of FeLV or FIV and continues to breed bengals. I do not know if she has since had all her sires and queens tested for these diseases to determine which one/s have it so she can stop breeding the diseased cat/s and remove them from the cattery so they don't continue to infect others cats/kittens, esp. the one's she's selling. But if she has not and FeLV and/or FIV remains in her cattery please be aware of this before you purchase a bengal cat from BastetBengals, breeder Penelope Duerksen-Hughes - AND be sure she has tested the kitten for FeLV and FIV and can provide you with a veterinarian verified Negative test prior to buying and taking a kitten home.
All good honest breeders should keep their cattery free of disease, have their cats routinely vet checked and tested, and provide paperwork proving the kittens they are selling are healthy! This is just to make people/purchasers aware of this so they due their due diligence esp. if the breeders are not being responsible to say the least. --This is not just about losing money on purchase of a purebred cat, but losing a part of your family (and such a loss of life that could've/can be prevented)!
As the owner of Bastet’s Bengals, I am sorry for Jessica’s loss. However, I strongly disagree with her allegations. We have never knowingly sold a kitten that was unhealthy, nor will we ever. To ensure this, our breeding cats, as well as all kittens that we sell, are routinely checked by our veterinarian. This particular kitten was in good health when delivered, and we provided to Ms. Isham the industry standard veterinary records as proof. Three weeks after her purchase, Ms. Isham took her kitten to a vet for an unrelated wound, and sometime after that, the kitten was diagnosed with FIP (not FeLV or FIV, as incorrectly stated above). Because of this delay, there is no way of knowing when or where this fatal disease originated. Nevertheless, on several occasions, we offered to refund the cost of the kitten, but this offer was refused. This matter was litigated on Judge Judy's show, and Ms. Isham did not prevail. See the Judge Judy episode that aired Oct 7, 2020.