Moosecoons Maine Coons in Maryland Susan Blevins Not a good breeder Internet

I found Susan Blevins of Moosecoons cattery from an internet search. She was CFA registered. We contracted to buy a kitten from her cattery for $800. I sent her  a $400 check for the deposit. She required $400 in cash at pick up.

She is not a good breeder or ethical business person. I feel she's running a kitten mill based on the number of litters she advertises. She was hard to deal with when I wanted a full refund after I returned the kitten to her within three days of picking her up.

The prep for the kitten included Susan insisting that we buy a certain type of cat food. When I told her I was having a hard time finding it in stores and couldn't even get it through my vet she said I would have to order it and she sent me a link. She then badgered me until she was notified by the company that I placed my order - Susan gets kick backs from the cat food company for each client she refers to them.

When we picked up the kitten I was appalled at the sight of her home. She has so many cats my daughter couldn't even count them all and that was only the females - she said the males were all upstairs. One of the adults was pregnant and due in January. Recently her website indicated that she may have two litters available at the same time. She had black plastic garbage bags covering her furniture and told my husband and I to check the sofa and chair before we sat down to make sure there wasn't cat pee on it. My daughter refused to sit down in her house.

Against my better judgement, we brought the kitten home since my daughter was so excited.  Once home the kitten shook for the first 24 hours. She wouldn't eat which I expected on the first day but she was also spotting blood and wreaked of cigarette smoke - so bad that I wiped her down with kitten wipes. I emailed the breeder that night and she called to say the bleeding was either from the stress poop she did in the cat carrier on the way home or from a UTI (which one of the kitten's litter mates also had. She told me that the other kitten was on meds for the UTI as well as a vaginal infection).  I also told her the kitten was not litterbox trained and she said that I would have to use pine pellets or the kitten would continue to go outside the box. Pine pellets are a problem for me since I'm allergic to pine but I went out and got them anyway and the kitten still went on the floor.

I told Susan I had an appointment at the vet in three days and would have her checked out which Susan did not recommend - she said it would be too much for the kitten after leaving the cattery and coming into a new environment...but other breeders I have dealt with say the exact opposite and recommend that the new kitten visit a vet within a week.

After the kitten's first day of shaking, bleeding and pooping and peeing all over my bathroom she then started to bite. Not cute kitten nibbles but actual biting. She bit my husband in the leg while he was brushing his teeth and bit me in the face when I was reading a book. Susan told me that I would have to teach the kitten how to lick instead of bite which is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. This would have been my fifth kitten/cat and I've never had to "teach" a cat not to bite. The kitten also couldn't seem to settle down. If you closed the door to the commode room (attached to the bathroom - bedroom we had her in the first two days) the kitten would meow and throw herself at the door like she couldn't stand to be alone. My daughter became fearful of the kitten.

On the third day I realized the kitten was not going to work out for us and I told Susan I wanted to return her for a refund. She said ok but when I brought the kitten back (with all the supplies/toys/kitty bed I purchased for the kitten) Susan said I wouldn't be getting a refund until she sold the kitten. When I asked how much she said she'd refund 1/2 but she was going to sell the kitten for the full $800 to another person which I told her was unethical. Mine was the second kitten that was returned to her. She said the other kitten was returned from the litter before my kitten's because the guy was afraid that the kitten was going to hurt his resident cat because she was so rough. She also said that she did not refund his money.

When I tried to talk to Susan about the refund she lamented about how she can't make ends meet and I was basically out of luck. Eventually she did return $500 after a back and forth with a third party but as for the last $300 that she still owes me...I imagine I'll never see that even though I know she sold the kitten within a couple of weeks of it's return to someone else while at a cat show.

Buyer beware - I would not recommend this cattery to anyone who wants a Maine Coon cat. The kitten's are not socialized well and it could end up costing you a lot of money in the long run.