Woodwillows Cattery review: British shorthair kittens 4

Deposit taken without reasonable expectation of selling a healthy kitten.

We first contacted Pam Lanners of Woodwillow cattery on March 24th, 2021. She told my husband that between herself and a network of “friends” in other states, could could sell us a British Shorthair kitten for $1000. She said she had a waiting list of 2-3 years, so we should sign up quickly. On April 15th of that year we signed up to be on her waiting list.

On Aug 30th, Pam informed me that the wait would be longer because of an usually small litter size from one of her breeding females. She volunteered to give me an adult male instead with “a litter box preference” (unusual toilet hang-ups), but added that adopting him would be “a lot to ask of anyone”. I declined this offer; she said the next litter could be expected in Spring of 2022 — a much shorter wait!

On March 2nd 2022, Pam suddenly informed me that “you are next on my list for a kitten” from her new litter, again of three kittens. This litter was from a third female cat, as the “blue” mother (s?) were still experiencing problems. Pam’s regular "blue" mothers had lost a portion of their litter (s?) for reasons Pam was still trying to identify. She didn’t tell me which kitten from this third mother would be mine nor the date of birth. When I offered to make a deposit that same day, funny games started. Her reply was:

“Please slow down. Which kitten. As I said 2 of them are spoken for and I am not taking a deposit on the last one yet. It is too early. These kittens are just a few weeks old and we have weaning and getting through all the struggles of getting ready to go. I don't let kittens go till 16 weeks. I don't take deposits until at least 8 weeks and sometimes later depending on how they are doing. I prefer Paypal if you have ever worked with it. It provides a documentation of all payments. Kitten cost is $1000.00 and deposit is $100.00. I will take a check for deposit but prefer cash or paypal for final payment. Please tell me which kitten you like and I will keep it in mind.”

Kittens that were “a few weeks old” on March 2nd 2022 should be old enough to consider adoption by mid June of that year.

She took my deposit on April 9th. At the end of May, I contacted Pam to arrange a date to travel north and pick up my kitten. (It’s a few hours drive for me one-way.) She would not set a date at that time because her sister was sick and her grandson had a graduation. She said she’d “try” to have them ready by June 11th.

Of course when I contacted her on June 12th to settle a pick-up date, she wouldn’t commit to one then either as her sister had died.

When I contacted her on June 25th to set up a date, she wouldn’t commit because she had her “grandson's graduation party today” and had failed to make vet appointments. She said she’d “try” for the week of July 9th.

On June 30th, Pam informed me that my kitten had temperament issues, a pronounced fear of humans, and she was “concerned if you will be happy with her”. Pam said this was not the first time the mother had produced kittens with these issues and with this third instance she’d now spay the mother. I asked that Pam remove me from her waiting list and return my deposit. Pam became abusive and threatened me with: “Good luck with finding another breeder in the future. You have no understanding of the difficulty of breeding and raising cats or anything else for that matter.”

Pam has a difficult personality and doesn’t follow ethical or even prudent business practices. As of July 24th 2022 she has not returned my deposit, and I strongly suspect that in my case she took the deposit without having reasonable expectations to sell me a kitten. I think she scammed me during a period her income was tight.

However a bigger issue here is the health of her cats. I’ve been exposed to the British Shorthair breed all my life, they’re lovely cats but do have some health issues. Having said that, I’ve never heard of a breeder having quite so many health issues as Pam Lanners has claimed to have had. In my opinion, it would be a service to her animals and the breed not to do business with her. Pam Lanners' website is woodwillows.com.