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First, I want to say that Life's a Beach Cattery makes beautiful Scottish Fold kittens. BUT, we have major, Major, MAJOR concerns for the kennel that they are being bred and kept in.
On Nov 10th, 2019, we met the breeder to receive our kitten. He was gorgeous and sweet, but he was COVERED in scabs and his eyes were runny. Given the price of the kitten, and the owner's social media, we just assumed that he must have had allergies or something. She addressed the runny eyes as "something they have until they are about 8 or 9 months old, " but did not answer the 3 times I said he was covered in scabs. On the way home, he had runny diarrhea three times. We thought it was just that he had been in the car for 5 hours that probably upset his tummy. But, this was persistent through the next week.
On Nov 15th, 2019, we took him to our vet because he continued to scratch and have diarrhea AND my family started getting these bites all over our bodies. Our Vet said that he had Cheyletiella (Walking dandruff/mites) AND that he was "glowing" on his backside for Ringworm via a Woods Lamp. She cultured him and said it would take a week or so to grow, which it did. He was also positive for Giardia, an intestinal parasite which was causing the diarrhea. We isolated him immediately, as all of these are highly contagious to humans and other pets. Our vet told us that she is required by law to report these diseases to the U.S.D.A.
Our family is now recovering from the mite bites but, now we are also treating the Ringworms that each and every one of us have on our bodies. We have to wash our clothes and bed sheets every day as well as vacuum several times a day just to keep the spores of the Ringworm at a minimum. Our other pets are at risk as well. As for the kitten, we have to dip him 2 times a week in lime sulfur as well as give him oral medication for at least 4 weeks. The medications to treat the ringworm and giardia had to be compounded because he is so small, and there is concern that the medications will be hard on his body. AND, he must be isolated during this time. The hardest part is that he is so young and this is such a crucial time for him to bond with us -but he can't come out of his room for weeks! We have to love him with gloves and gowns. It's just not right.
It's been a heartbreaking experience. I hope that whoever purchases from this Cattery takes the pet immediately to their vet the very next day! Better yet, you should probably search for another breeder.
The reason I say that you should search for another breeder is because when I notified the owner, Gretta Griffin, she stated that her vet (Laurell Tovrea -Ft. Walton Beach Fla) cleared him with a clean bill of health and that he was clear from communicable diseases. BUT HE HAD 2 COMMUNICABLE DISEASES! The focus of that visit with her vet apparently was for his FIRST vaccines (at 13 weeks?) and to neuter him. She guarantees the cattery is FIV and FLV negative, but gave us no indication our kitten had been tested for either. We are going to now have him checked for FIV and Leukemia as we don't trust her vet's checkup. When I notified the owner of the Ringworms - she actually implied that it must have come from us? Not a chance………
I’m so sorry Nicole. I wanted to reach out and let you know I’ve been informed you are not the only one who received a kitten from Gretta that had mites and ringworm. She is a mill, but is just really good at covering her tracks.
I knew that must be the case with litter and kennel mates! We are still dipping and treating our little isolated kitten we have had for 2 months now. The mites and giardia are gone, but that sure was expensive! The vet said he's still not clear of the ring worm, do another month of dipping and medication (also expensive). We all still have ringworm, it's in our house now. Just praying the other pets don't get it. The worst part is our kitten is almost 6 months old and doesn't get to play with a family yet. It's so sad.
This breeder needs to be stopped there have been too many cats harmed from her greed to make a profit off of these poor things. Her veterinarian is a friend, and that is why she is able to get these “health certificates” to deem these kittens healthy when they clearly ARE NOT.
I had a bad experience too. Will post my own. Sorry you went through what you did. My kitten didn't make it :(
She is now on Facebook as CLAWS IN THE SAND CATTERY and changed her personal Facebook page name to MAGGIE GRIFFIN!
And now she is back to Lifes A Beach. She is constantly changing her name. Beware!
I purchased a female kitten from Marcy on 1/2/2021. On 1/3/2021 at 9:22pm I informed her that she had diarrhea both days. Marcy assured me this was normal - due to stress & not to worry as she had also just been dewormed the Friday prior. On 1/6/2021 I messaged Marcy again because bloody mucus came out while bathing her. She responded by saying she’d drop off Panacur & Flagyl so I didn’t have to make a vet visit. On 1/10/2021 I again messaged Marcy - no difference in stool after the meds had been give for 4 days at this point. She advised me to give her distilled water to potentially rule out that. On 1/18/2021 I took our baby girl to the vet for vaccines. He prescribed probiotics for 5 days. On 1/20/2021 I messaged Marcy again - more frustrated at this point because this baby has been suffering & pooping liquid for 18 days at this point. The response received from Marcy was basically that I was being over dramatic about the situation- this is ALL NORMAL & to be patient. To add some perspective to this, our girl can’t free roam without poop uncontrollably coming out of her. She is easily getting 2-3 baths DAILY because she is covered in poop. There is minimal solidly to her stool - it’s filled with mucus. I messaged Marcy again on 1/24/2021 this time I received no response. I brought blood filled mucus stool to the vet today 1/25/2021 & they are sending it off to a board certified lab. I then messaged Marcy again today to let her know what was going on because now our baby has decided to stop eating - again no response. I logged into FaceBook & see that she has removed me as a friend & blocked me. If that doesn’t scream GUILTY I don’t know what does. As a breeder she certified that I was receiving a HEALTHY kitten - that was not the case. There was/is a pre-existing condition with this kitten & she refuses to take any responsibility for it.
I wish I did more research on this breeder as I decided to do tonight & find out that she also has a relative in FL doing the same backyard breeding & has had nothing but complaints of kittens being sick and/or dying.
DO YOUR RESEARCH! DO NOT PURCHASE A KITTEN FROM MARCY GRIFFIN / GRETA GRIFFIN / MAGGIE GRIFFIN
I'm so sorry you fell victim to these awful breeders. I do hope your kitten recovers. Please get her DNA tested for PKD and duplicate fold gene (if she's a folded ear SF). Look up UC Davis Scottish Fold DNA testing.
When I started making my complaints, Gretta immediately blocked me and then posted on her Facebook pages that I was mentally ill and that she had talked with my family members (FALSE) saying that I needed help and had tried to destroy other businesses with my lies.
Thing is, I have proof that I've posted on my complaints backing up everything I've ever said about Gretta and my poor kitten that had to be euthanized 3 weeks after we brought him home from her.
My replacement kitten appeared to be healthy (Gretta refused to refund me) but now at just a year old, has to be medicated daily to prevent pain from signs of Osteochondrodysplasia.
The only way these people will stop breeding is if the word gets out to potential buyers that they're breeding program is continually putting sick and dying kittens out in the world. Thank you for your complaint and again, I hope your kitten recovers.
**update**
This is the latest update from today (1/26/21) / message went unanswered from Marcy:
I know you received the call today from the vet as they told me they reached out to you. So obviously tested positive for Giardia; if I listened to you & decided to “be patient” cause it’s “normal” Callie could have died. How dare you! Not only did you know about this, but this is contagious to HUMANS. YOU PUT MY CHILD AT RISK. I have no idea how you are still allowed to breed. I have no idea how you sleep at night. You & your unethical breeding practices disgust me. This is/was a pre-existing condition it only comes from groups of cats in a small space using the same litter. It all makes sense now on why you gave me that perfect combination of Panacur/Flagyl... because that’s exactly what treats Giardia. It should have been a red flag that a breeder was dispensing antibiotics & you lied to me & said “Flagyl isn’t an antibiotic”... did you think I wouldn’t check what you were giving me? I have everything documented. This has costs me HUNDREDS of dollars after giving you almost 2k. A respectable ethical breeder would take on these charges. You have shown ZERO compassion. ZERO sympathy. ZERO willingness to actually help & provide assistance.
I can not believe you insisted this was all normal & knew Callie had been suffering this entire time; which caused a delay in getting the proper dosage of medicine to help her. Add on that each day that you knew about this the possibility of my child being infected. Absolutely disgusting.
We got a nice kitten from this cattery several years ago. She is still healthy thank the lord. So many horror stories