My name is Alisha. My mom and I are the owners of AJ's Kool Katz. I'm 14 years old and I would like to warn everyone about a breeder named Kim Jaros who is affiliated with Barbara Redalia of Tuleburg Cattery. I contacted Barbara because I was looking for a show quality chocolate kitten. She recommended I talk to her partner who she breeds with. I ended up paying Kim Jaros $1000 (In full, including shipping costs). Just a few days the kitten was to be shipped, she told us she'd be including some medication along with the kitten and carrier so I could administer it myself, this was for Chlamydia. My mom and I started to wonder if there was anything else wrong with the kitten. Kim mentioned how the kitten had a pooping problem because it was upset about being quarantined to a cage! My mom noticed in one of the photos of the kitten, it had patches of missing fur so she asked what it was. Kim said "it's just a fungus" and tried to change the subject so my mom said "it sounds like Ringworm". She finally admitted it was but then said it was gone. My mom told her not to ship the kitten until it is retested to make sure the Ringworm was gone and was able to speak to the veterinarian on the phone. She promised to do this. The next day, she said she already booked the flight without retesting the kitten so I asked for a refund. She became furious. She said Ringworm was "Piddly-### ###" and to "go to hell" and then hung up. The next day, she promised to send my refund. It's been several months and I have not received a penny. I cannot believe someone would steal $1000 from a kid! It took me forever to earn that money. I babysat, cleaned houses, and saved Christmas money and Birthday money to buy my dream cat to enter in shows. I asked her how does she sleep at night, and she said "she sleeps rather well". Any other breeder would had offered another kitten in place or money back. I would hate for anyone else to be scammed by this crook.
Here is this woman's information:
Kim Jaros and Barbara Redalia (Her Partner)
www.tuleburg.net
[protected]@aol.com
[protected]@sonic.net
In the first place, Barbara Redalia of Tuleburg Cattery is not Kim DiNubilo's partner, and never has been.
They have two separate unaffiliated catteries which are 100 miles apart, not even in the same county.
The kittem in question was successfully treated for chlamydia and fungus when quite young, and was vet-checked and found healthy before the scheduled flight. The air freight shipping was cancelled at the last minute by the complainant's mother, Pam Hessler.
For more information about Pam and Alisha Hessler and Cageless Cattery, visit Squeaky Wheel and do a search on 'hessler'.
Here is the complaint filed at Squeaky Wheel on April 19, 2008, by breeder Janine Jarvis about Pam and Alisha Hessler's cattery:
"Persian cat breeder neglectful and deceptive
I had a terrible experience with this cat breeder. Here is the story:
Pam Hessler purchased two show quality kittens from me in July 2007. She lied to me from the very beginning; she said she wanted two pets for herself since her mother was moving out with her two cats. After several months passed by, I got a call from her 13 year old daughter saying she wanted to purchase breeding rights. I NEVER sell breeding rights; I sell my kittens as pets only, try to screen potential buyers, and make them sign a spay/neuter contract.
During several phone calls over a couple months, Pam Hessler told me numerous lies. It would take too long to explain all of them, However, it turns out that she runs a "cattery" herself (more like a cat mill) and had purchased my kittens with the intent to breed one of them and resell the other out of state at a higher price (a white male).
Out of concern for the cats, I offered to buy the cats back from her in January 2008. She told me her sister had the white one up in Missouri, but she would sell me back the red male. When I went to pick him up, she was out of the house. Her daughter let us in, and there were cats everywhere. They and the house were dirty. We waited for Pam to return.
She brought my cat in a closed cardboard box, with no holes cut out for light or air circulation. I hurriedly paid for the cat and left. The cat was matted all over, was covered in fleas, and had sores, diarrhea, and a runny nose.
Do not buy from this breeder! Despite what she says, she does not care for her cats. She admitted to me that she had financial problems, and her socioeconomic status is lower class. It appears she is turning out kittens solely to make money.
Does anyone have Janine’s contact information?
On the Squeaky Wheel website on 7/29/2008, under the heading 'Breeder stole $1000 from kid', Pam and Alisha Hessler posted more lies about Barbara Redalia.
They claim to have e-mails suggesting that Alisha pay a kitten deposit to Barbara Redalia and the remaining balance to Kim DiNubilo. If so, Barbara is unaware of this. Barbara has told me that she did not request any money from the Hesslers and has not received any. The kitten that Alisha was attempting to buy belonged to Kim DiNubilo and lived with her.
At first the Hesslers were insisting that Barbara and Kim were partners, so they could file suit against both of them, but now that it's obvious they don't even live in the same county, the Hesslers are maintaining other covert connections between the two.
Pam and Alisha Hessler also made the claim that 'Barbara Redalia advertises her friend Kim DiNubilo's kittens for her', and they posted the Tuleburg website address as proof. However, none of the cats or kittens on the website belong to Kim DiNubilo at present. There are two adult cats there which have Kim's Deauneaumaux prefix, since she bred them, but they no longer belong to Kim and are not for sale.
I am posting this here instead of at Squeaky Wheel because I can't see why I should pay $5 to post on Squeaky Wheel each time the Hesslers lie about something.
It seems to me that if the ailments discussed were when the kitten was young and were successfully treated, there shouldn't hve been a problem to ship three to four months later, especially if she had a Health Certificate from a vet. No one changes their mind that quickly unless they want some money and feel that "babysitting" for free is okay. Sounds as if the breeder took good care and didn't neglect the kitten, rather spent money for a vet and medicines to care for it. I feel for the breeder as she has been in the business a long time according to her. Plus, to involve the other lady who just made a referral is out right WRONG. They should get no money back. No one works for free!
I think that these people should never have tried selling a sick cat in the first place. If I wanted to purchase a cat or any other animal, I would never buy one that I have to give it medicine too, that right there tells me that the animal is ill. It seems to me that the person who wanted the cat should have simply gotten a different cat to replace the one that needed medicine. Not necessarily a refund, but a cat in which needed no medication. When people are paying that much money for a cat, I am sure they just want to make sure they are getting one that is healthy.
I was at Barbara Redalia's cattery this weekend and made a complaint to animal control. FIRST OF ALL, The building the cats were in smelled TERRIBLY bad. The cats reeked also. The smell lingered on my clothing for the rest of the day. That's how bad it was.
Plus, the building was stifling HOT. At least 80 degrees, if not hotter. Those poor cats! She had no fans on, or air conditioning to make them comfortable.
At least two of the adult cats coats were matted. One had glazed over eyes. At least two had forked looking tongues. (imbreeding?)
The kitten that was purchased from her had balding on it's ear and a small scab (Ringworm?) She claimed that another cat had chewed on it's ear... Yeah, right! To boot, this tiny kitten was starved and ate a FULL can of soft food at her new home. My adult cats cannot eat a full can!
This woman obviously does not care about or for her cats.
I am thoroughly disgusted! She should be ashamed of herself!
To begin with, we did have visitors to our cattery on the weekend, who had come to take home a kitten they had purchased. They were happy with the kitten and have emailed me several times to tell me how well the kitten is doing, how it gets along well with their small dogs, and how well it is eating. It was a very hot day when they came, about 90 degrees. I'm sorry that I am not able to control that, as they seem to think I should. I have learned to bring in cool air with the window fan at night when it is cool, rather than to bring in the hot air from outside in the daytime. It is normal for kittens that are healthy and growing rapidly to eat well--we would be concerned if a kitten did NOT have a good appetite, rather than at the amount it eats. And, yes sometimes kittens do chew on one another's ears.
On Sunday morning after the kitten went to its new home we were visited by an officer from Animal Control who apologized, and said he had received a complaint about the condition of our cats. We invited him to come in, and he looked at the cats, the cleanliness of the room, their food, their water, their state of health, and the lack of odor. He expressed satisfaction with the care we were providing. I do not know what could have possessed this woman to make such an unwarranted complaint, but--
BE CAREFUL WHO YOU LET IN YOUR HOUSE--THEY MAY SEEM NICE TO YOUR FACE BUT BE LOOKING FOR EVIDENCE TO MAKE A POLICE COMPLAINT THAT COULD RESULT IN YOUR LOSING YOUR CATS. THEY COULD EVEN BE PETA.
You are VERY lucky that all that happened is animal control called to your home! Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to let strangers be coming over? Yes, some can be animal rights people who don't believe animals should ever be bred, they will come back and poison your animals, burn down the premises, or steal all of the animals. Others are just thieves, they will come in groups of 3-4 and spread out looking for a chance to grab an animal and sneak it away, or they will make note of where all your valuables might be kept and stake out your home. The minute you leave they'll break in and rob you blind! There have been hundreds of cases of breeders being robbed or even killed because they allowed people to come into their home. I understand that you may want to show off your beautiful animals to prospective buyers and show them how nice they are and how well they are cared for . . . but it is just not safe! Not in this day and age. If people want to see the condition of your animals before buying send them pictures. It is very easy to do with internet and digital cameras nowdays. If they want to see the animal in person meet them someplace in public. NEVER give out your home address and please for your safety do not invite strangers over to your home agian.
Wow. The above rant makes you seem very delusional and paranoid! It is counter intuitive to say that an animal activist would kill an animal.
Secondly, reputable breeders have agreed with me that the cattery smells REALLY BAD. Stop lying, Barbara. You know it's the truth. I also have pictures of the cats' ears if you'd like me to post a visual.
And lastly, are you anticipating complaints, Barbara? Is that why you immediately responded? What, do you search your name on google, DAILY? It's very odd that you would come across a complaint so promptly...
Animal Activists do not kill animals but they steal cats. An Animal Activist-neighbor stole mine.
I do not know you Janealicepeters but why do you character assassinate people who didn't hurt you at all? I do not know you, as well, Barbara but why not make sure your cattery smells good all the time?
There seemed to be a cat and a cat ears involved here. To stop reading about both of you, why don't you show proof, Barbara, that you sold a healthy cat? Why don't you ask the buyer for a photo of this controversial cat and show us here? It he/she is healthy, again, if the CAT is HEALTHY, then both of you SHUT UP! I'm sick of reading negative vives!
I am a breeder who was contacted by Alissia who told me she wants to breed and loved my blue cream girl and was saying she wanted her that day. I don't know how old she is but I had a 13 and 15 year old who save money and want to breed bicolors but would never file a complaint that would ruin someones cattery. Your mom had to tell you that was a not nice thing. She said I want that cat and I was taking it to the vet and then she was getting another blue-cream from another breeder and backed out. that was fine, happens, but she said over and over she is concerned about ringworm and her mom bought a cat for $10 and their whole cattery was infested and it took a long time to get rid of if ever. Alissia kept talking about ringworm. When I sent her the pedigrees and parents and she saw they were reputable breeders of mind Kim and Barbara who she trashed. And our phone conversation was about that and she said, that was me...I have a wonderful lilac boy from them. They are not partners but friends. What an awful venue that peoples lives can be ruined by people like you. Everybody should consider if you are having a bad day, keep it to yourself.
A complaint does not ruin a cattery --- neglect ruins the cattery -- The TRUTH is the Truth. And Tuleberg is horrendous and it is known by Many that this is a neglectful operation. And it is a sufferance to live in the existence those cats are subjected to.