Discussing with my son the cost of pedigree cats such as Siamese and Maine Coons I decided to have a look at Gumtree (similar to Craigs List). Came across an advert for four white kittens and I ended up being horrified and shocked.
One of the kittens was advertised as having only two paws and one ear shorter than the other (close inbreeding I think). The sellers/breeders wanted £130 for this poor kitten and £130 for two of her siblings and £230 for the other kitten who had one green eye and one blue eye.
I've done rescue off and on for 40 years but this was something I'd never encountered before and it really upset me. What to do? Discussed it with Ian. Should we buy the kitten? Ian said doing that would only encourage these awful people to breed more like her. Report it to the RSPCA? Not always the best solution and they often ignore reports.
The area the kitten was in is over 200 miles away and an area where, shall we say, some areas are "no go" areas. I left the tab on my PC open so I could go back to the advert as it was late at night I saw the advert and too late to do anything constructive.
Next day I noticed the advert had been edited and now read that the kitten had NO PAWS. There were photographs of all the kittens, including this one. It was difficult to see from the pic exactly what was going on but the front stump looked as if it had dried blood on it and one rear stump looked to me like it wasn't a congenital deformity, but again, I couldn't be sure. Something had to be done so I set about finding a rescue local to that area and did find one which had an email address. I sent them an email with a link to the advert but so far, I've heard nothing back. I just hope this rescue can do something, even if it's to get the kitten, take her to a vet and have her PTS as there's no way she'd ever be able to live even a partly normal life.
This has profoundly upset me and I can't get her out of my mind.
One of the kittens was advertised as having only two paws and one ear shorter than the other (close inbreeding I think). The sellers/breeders wanted £130 for this poor kitten and £130 for two of her siblings and £230 for the other kitten who had one green eye and one blue eye.
I've done rescue off and on for 40 years but this was something I'd never encountered before and it really upset me. What to do? Discussed it with Ian. Should we buy the kitten? Ian said doing that would only encourage these awful people to breed more like her. Report it to the RSPCA? Not always the best solution and they often ignore reports.
The area the kitten was in is over 200 miles away and an area where, shall we say, some areas are "no go" areas. I left the tab on my PC open so I could go back to the advert as it was late at night I saw the advert and too late to do anything constructive.
Next day I noticed the advert had been edited and now read that the kitten had NO PAWS. There were photographs of all the kittens, including this one. It was difficult to see from the pic exactly what was going on but the front stump looked as if it had dried blood on it and one rear stump looked to me like it wasn't a congenital deformity, but again, I couldn't be sure. Something had to be done so I set about finding a rescue local to that area and did find one which had an email address. I sent them an email with a link to the advert but so far, I've heard nothing back. I just hope this rescue can do something, even if it's to get the kitten, take her to a vet and have her PTS as there's no way she'd ever be able to live even a partly normal life.
This has profoundly upset me and I can't get her out of my mind.
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