Menu
MakeBelieve Ragdolls

MakeBelieve Ragdolls review: Sick Kittens 2

A
Author of the review
4:37 pm EDT
Resolved
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Featured review
This review was chosen algorithmically as the most valued customer feedback.

A kitten I bought from Debbie Corrado last year died of FIP around December. She recently offered to give me a replacement kitten - I was tempted to decline because of her husbandry practices. But in the end, it's a free Ragdoll kitten and she would be taking a loss on it, so I decided it was worth the risk.
Though Debbie was very nice to me and seems to know what she's talking about in writing, in person it is an entirely different story. I feel I need to warn potential customers.
Debbie asked me to meet her in a parking lot. In emails she would ignore requests to see her home. Last Friday she opened the back of her Jeep and an overwhelming odor hit me like a wall. She took out the kitten and handed him to me - he was scruffy and tiny (I had known he was the runt, but he had a potbelly and seemed skinny). I instantly noticed fleas crawling around on his legs. My mother had come with me, and she held him too. Then, suddenly, he had diarrhea all over her. I was so horrified. My mom was a good sport about it (she was luckily wearing a shirt underneath) and waved it off, though we were both nervous. But we weren't about to let this woman take this poor baby back with her. As soon as Debbie drove away, we administered some Advantage and fed him a Capstar pill to kill the fleas (we'd come prepared, as my previous kitten from her had had some fleas too). The poor baby looked sad and miserable. By the time we got him home, most of the fleas seemed to be dead or dying.
The kitten had one more bout of very loose diarrhea as soon as we took him out of the carrier - we washed him off and put him down, and he crawled behind a chair and slept for the rest of the afternoon.
The next day, he went to the vet. They wormed him, and couldn't find anything obviously wrong with him. Thank goodness.

No mistake - this kitten was rescued.

He is slowly learning to use the litterbox. He seems to be a bit constipated so he's having trouble with going #2 in the box. We're being very patient with him, but we went through this with the last kitten too - what kind of breeder doesn't litter train her kittens? Judging by how he smelled last weekend, her whole house is the litter box.

This kitten is rebounding noticeably. At the vet's, he weighed just 1.7 lbs. In a week he's gained almost half a pound, and he no longer looks potbellied from worms. I believe that is down to proper care and nutrition. He's crated when we can't keep an eye on him, but has lots of time to exercise, and is very playful. We're optimistic about his future. But if I had paid money for this kitten, I would be livid. Please don't give Deb your business. I've learned my lesson.

A few last points:
--- Her breeding cats are old. When she has photos of her 'foundation stock' on her webpage from 2006, and still breeding these females in 2013 at age 8+, that's wrong.
--- She doesn't bring the kittens to the vet for vaccinations. She does it at home - how does she know if there's a problem with the kitten if they don't have a normal kitten check up?
--- She's been known to take deposits and cease communication.

Don't be fooled by the testimonials on her website. Debbie should not be breeding animals. Stay away.

Resolved

The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

More MakeBelieve Ragdolls reviews & complaints

MakeBelieve Ragdolls - Dodgy breeder 2
Resolved
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
MakeBelieve Ragdolls - FIP 4
Resolved
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
2 comments
L
L
luv2korinna
Tansboro, US
Mar 15, 2015 9:43 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Health contracts from breeders covered congenital issues. FIP is caused by a virus. Health guarantees don't cover viruses. It is not a congenital problem. The breeder can't control what viruses your cat is exposed to once it leaves their home. Why would this be the breeders responsibility? The cat became ill after it left their home and while it was in your care.

B
B
bunnyhunny
Sayre, US
Mar 12, 2015 11:36 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

This person seems reasonable but doesn't at all reflect my experience with Deb! I have two of Debs kittens and they are just wonderful, happy, healthy kittens! Big gorgeous floppy dolls and so sweet, I could not be happier with my kittens! As far as staying in contact, we had a good deal of contact back and forth all along from deposit to delivery meeting and on that note, we even had a great talk during the meeting. She really went above and beyond with my kittens and I actually enjoyed my interactions with Deb. I'm very glad I went to Deb for my kittens, they adjusted right off and were box trained from the get go. It made us all laugh how the kittens just seemed to be getting a kick out of using the box, just adorable!