In Sep, 2009, I drove from Nova Scotia, Canada to Massachuttes to buy a Maine Coon cat from Maureen Sheehan of Rivermore Cattery. She sold me a beautiful, three month old purebred Maine Coon cat. On the drive home, the kitten was lethargic, he was held the whole time, he didn't once try to move. We thought what a sweet kitten, he loves to cuddle. This was an 11 hour drive. Two days after getting him home he had to go to the vet with runny eyes, green runny nose and sneezing and still very lethargic. He was clearly a sick kitten, I emailed Maureen and asked her point blank "did you sell me a sick kitten?" She denied it. This was only the begining, he had ear mites, and chronic ear infections and my vet said he had kitty herpes. He always had a dirty, stinky, infested ear. We tried everything, even to the point of having him sedated and the ear cleaned. The very next day it was back again. This went on his whole life. We paid $600 for him and I estimate vet bills of $1500-2000 in less than two years. There were vet visits, antibiotics, steroids, it just never ended. In June of 2011 he was peeing blood, he had a bladder infection, off to the vet again. In July, the ear had gotten so bad, when he shook his head goop was coming out, mixed with blood and a big red, nasty growth coming out of it. Off to the vet again, more antibiotics, more steroids, more money. One week later on July 13, 2011 he went back for a checkup, all seemed good, but he was losing weight. I could feel literally every bone but he seemed on the mend. On Tuesday July 16 we went out of province on vacation. On Thursday July 18 the people caring for my cat and dog called to say the cat wasn't well. On Friday July 19 he was taken to the vet, his bladder was blocked and his kidneys failed and without one of us being there for him or to see him one last time, the only humane thing to do was euthanize him. This breeder sells sick kittens, they are raised in a dirty environment. Smelly, dirty home equals sick kittens. I emailed her but I never did get a response. Please be very careful of where you buy your kitten, it is truely heartbreaking.

I also bought a cat from Maureen Sheehan in Swampscott, MA. The cat was born 12/30/2008 and was noted to under weight when I got her. Weighting only 2.12 ibs. at 12 weeks old. My vet just did the cat's yearly physical and she was noted to be losing weight, so the vet requested a stool sample which was submitted and was fine but after reading this article, I am concerned about her having problems that might be related to the bladder and kidneys. I hope I don't have the same heartbreak that the previous writer did, I just phoned my vet and left her an urgent message to call me.