I purchased a black and white sphynx kitten from Elizabeth in March 2005 that was born January 2005. Our vet found a slight heart murmur at his 1-year check up, but it was so slight that we just kept an eye on it. At his 2-year checkup, it was progressed to a 2/6 and he had a dangerously high heart rate. She referred us to a cardiologist. We saw the specialist on 6/07 and, unfortunately, received a very grave diagnosis. The cardiologist ran an EKG and ECG and our baby was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which, as you know, is a congenital disease. His heart rate was consistently registering a dangerous level of 310 beats per minute, whereas the normal rate is 140-160. He had secondary diagnoses of early congestive heart failure, mild pericardial effusion, supraventricular tachycardia, moderate left ventricular hypertrophy, systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve with moderate mitral regurgitation, and moderate left ventricular outflow obstruction. There was also fluid build up around the heart itself, and, according to the cardiologist, the murmur was actually a 4/6. I contacted the breeder twice through a registered letter to her PO Box, so she would have to sign for it and I would know that she received it, but she would never pick up the letters and they were returned. I finally scanned a copy of the report and emailed her several times. Nothing was done. I was told that it was past the "one year guarantee" and there was nothing she could do.
Sadly, about 4 weeks ago, we lost our baby due to complications with the HCM. He went into multisystem organ failure. He was only a few months shy of being 4 years old. I contacted Elizabeth about the loss, but still wasn't offered anything from her by way of another kitten or partial refund, etc. No amount of money would ever make up for the loss, but as the breeder, I feel she should take responsibility for what happened. He was our baby, and I wouldn't trade the time we had with him for anything in this world, but he didn't deserve the pain that he went through. She is stating now that she does HCM scans on her breeding pairs, but I would ask for proof of this before any purchases and do A LOT of research before any purchases no matter who you use. Please be wary of using this breeder.
