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This breeder/cattery Blue Mountain Ragdolls, Sharron Smith sold us a sick kitten infested with ringworm which we acquired on July 23, 2016. We've spent well over $1500 trying to bring our kitten back to health and rid our home of this monstrous infectious monster. Both my husband and I contracted ringworm and we're still fighting it to this day. Not to mention we saw over a week ago that she was still advertising our same kitten (a picture) under "available kittens" that we bought back in July on her website when she's not even available. She had since removed the picture claiming the kitten again was reserved. I questioned her about it and she said all pictures of the kittens on her website are in her possession. That's NOT possible as that kitten was supposedly sold to us back in May and would be in our possession. She is posting past pictures of kittens claiming they are available when they're clearly not!
Sharron comes across as a very nice woman which I thought she was but I feel greatly deceived by her warm and friendly persona. The very first day we received our kitten she had an upper respiratory infection and had to go to urgent care the very next day. And then as indicated it wasn't until 10 days later when ringworm popped up all over my chest that we realized that the kitten herself was covered in ringworm. Bald spots on her temples, the kitten weighed a mere 2.7 pounds when we got her. She was extremely tiny. When I brought it to her attention about the ringworm she knew exactly how to take care of it and what to buy in order to bathe her and she did admit that she had a kitten brought in from another cattery in Texas for a couple of days that she thought had ringworm. I communicated to Sharron that I am at a total loss and could not understand how she could ever deliver a kitten to us that is infested with ringworm that is extremely hard to get rid of. We live in such a moist environment where ringworm would thrive but let's be clear, it's hard to get rid of ringworm in any environment and I do not wish this horrific NIGHTMARE on anyone! We have asked the breeder for half the amount back on the kitten, which she agreed to, which would be $425 as we paid $850. This is the least that she should refund back to us. In all honesty, we should receive the full amount of the cat $850. She did offer a full refund if we returned the kitten however, we refused to return the kitten for her own well-being as it would be returning her to a home infested with ringworm again. How else could she have contracted it. We did not sign up to receive a kitten that was sick from day one ever since we brought her home and not to mention the poor kitten herself has to go to the vet week after week after week for lime sulfur dip's and now she's on medicine to try to clear this ringworm. We've been battling this going on 4 months. Our lives have become been put on complete hold. My advice, stay away from this breeder. You cannot trust that you're going to get a kitten that's healthy. I was told in a text direct from the breeder that this kitten was, "oh so healthy!" WHAT A LIE! Buyer, please beware!
Sorry to disagree but the shampoo Sharron recommended by itself certainly would not rid the kitten of the ringworm, or the household as a whole, not at all! In fact we had to go to two different veterinarians because the ringworm was so severe the sulphur dips themselves would not cure the kitten of the ringworm so we finally had to put her on a low-dose medicine to finally cure the kitten of the ringworm. We had two cultures done both of which came back positive which is why we had to do two separate rounds of sulfur dip's and then had to again go through two rounds of cultures again after more treatments to finally get two back-to-back negatives to ensure the kitten was cured. In the meantime we had to toss any furniture with fabric as before we knew the kitten had ringworm she was all over everything, the entire house, so we had to ensure the ringworm was out of any area, even though we tried to have the furniture cleaned it just wouldn't completely rid the fabric of the ringworm. Not to mention every four days washing the bed linens, bedspreads, towels, etc. etc. with a special cleaning solution especially for this type of situation as ringworm can live in an environment for up to two years if it's not eradicated. I sincerely doubt that Sharron did that within her household to rid the ringworm within her house, it's not just on the kitten it's everywhere in the household. I have to say I'm insulted by the fact that you seem to insinuate that this should've been an easy fix when in fact it was far from. After four months the kitten is finally cured of it thanks to our consistent care and concern and love for the kitten who is now 10 months old. Please educate yourself more on the subject and don't comment on something that you obviously know nothing about!
I know Sharrin very well and she did have a kitten shipped to her from Texas that had ring worm. That was the 1st time in 15 years she had experienced ring worm and was very upset about it. She takes care of her cats meticulously and with love. I'm sure she shared with you the shampoos to use and there is no reason you would have to take the kitten to a vet for sulfur dipping when you can buy and apply it yourself from Revival or Amazon very cheaply. Ring worm is stubborn to get rid of granted but spending that kind of money to get rid of it is just not nrcessary.
I too had the same problem but I bought two kittens $1600 . They were very ill with ear mites, ringworm and respiratory infections, in fact I almost lost one of the kittens it was very traumatic and extremely expensive. It took us several months to nurse these beautiful babies back to health. Sharon said she would send me back some money but I never received it. I would never think to send them back because she had so many cats and I knew there was no way she could battle this. She also suggested things to me but nothing helped except a very, very expensive oral medicine from the vet, my husband and I also got ringworm but we were able to eradicate it from us and the home fairly quick. I felt like I was pumping these babies full of medicine the first few months I had them, between the ringworm and respiratory infection, I'm surprised they survived but I love them and would do anything for them. This was in november 2016 the daily baths for the ringworm were difficult on them in the winter, ok I'm done venting.
I'm sorry you had to go through that with your babies. I'm glad to hear that your babies are healthy now and that your love and care brought them back to health. As I specified quite some time ago buyer beware. Our kitty is healthy now, over a year old, her hair has finally grown back. She's fairly petite, our veterinarian indicates she'll l always remain probably no more than eight pounds as she was so small to begin with but as long as she's healthy that's all we can ask for. We love her so much and are glad that the horrific nightmare of ringworm and everything else we had to endure to nurse her back to health is over.
@julieluke and horrified buyer. Your stories are mine to a T. We also purchased 2 cats for my sons birthday - Happy birthday with a side of extreme ringworm! My son had over 100 lesions, my daughter 50 and this kicked off an auto immune response so bad in my husband that he has had to be hospitalized! We had to go to the dermatologist to get the ringworm resolved - we had to shave them to skin! but our story doesn't end with the ringworm. One of the cats had a malinclusion on one tooth and has since had to have a tooth removed (these babies are just over a year old!) The other cat sadly has to be put down tomorrow due to cancer! Freaking Cancer! Seriously! Thank you Sharon for ruining my sons birthday, causing extreme distress in our lives, not to mention the HUGE financial burden this has become all because you (in my opinion) overbred, and mistreated these amazing babies! I will never forgive you for the heartache my children are enduring because of you! And Beebles - you are insane! No amount of shampoo, lyme dip and other over the counter meds were ever going to resolve the ringworm issue. I did everything and more to the letter and could not resolve it! Sharon knew this was a problem and NEVER should have sold these kittens!
We bought a kitten from Sharron as well (January 2016). Our sweet boy had ringworm and earmites. I called Sharron and she said there may be ringworm in her cattery but it's easy to get rid of. Oh my gosh! That was not the case! It took us four months and numerous vet visits, pet dermotologist visits, medications (one costing $350 that finally worked) to get rid of. He had to be shaved (it's very difficult to find someone who will shave a cat with ringworm) and I had to quarantine him. Poor boy! It was a nightmare! We all got ringworm! Our dog got it! Several of our friends got ringworm! One of our friends demanded we pay for their doctor/medicine. We had to have our house cleaned thoroughly top to bottom due to our kitty having free run before we found out. His bedding and surroundings had to be washed daily with an expensive antifungal solution. She offered to take him back to treat him. I felt that it was better to treat him myself since it was very likely her entire cattery had it! Her husband just passed away so I didn't press her to reimburse any of the costs. This was such a horrible experience!
This is so upsetting but I have to share my story/experience regarding Sharron and Blue Mountain Ragdolls. I bought a ragdoll about 5 years ago from Sharron in 2014. Dispositon wise I couldn’t have asked for a better Ragdoll. But we just found out she has severe asthma, an enlarged heart, and heart disease. Her prognosis doesn’t look good and she’s only 5 years old. My family is heartbroken. I blame Sharron and all other bad breeders who are in it to make money and have no regard for the animals or the loving families who buy them. As much as I love animals, the only way to put an end to these bad breeding/shipping practices, is to stop buying these poor animals and decrease the demand so these greedy breeders will stop selling unhealthy animals.