Bella Mia Persians- Heather Colbert Please if you are considering selling a cat, buying or helping read through this and decide for yourself Mountain View, California

  First of all, I am thankful for this site to expose to everyone who does a search on this cattery that they can see for themselves there are clear problems.   Please do read the full story as it will go into detail how this breeder is  an example of having children and pets as objects, no time for them  and in the saddest way a disturbed cat lady not concerned in the least  about improving the breed or following contracts. 
 
  I believe I am the person she is referring to who she said she worked  with.  That is again not true. I never shared a name or any ownership.    I am not afraid of Heather or her attempts to lie or hide this situation.
 I have nothing to lie about and the only reason I will write this is to help others, the children  involved and the cats.  I declined when she suggested I be a partner to her  as she was relentless in trying to get me to so very much for her. The mix up is I love Persians, love children and I have the luxury of time.  I stay home and love to have a fun project so I blindly became a perfect  target to be used. I am also out so much time and money and most importantly have traumatized my children. All my old cat friends told  me not to help this individual as it was so clear to them but for some reason I kept helping her for 8-9 months. 
  
I was alerted by Rip off report and the other breeder who remains anonymous which is important because of that persons reputation. I used to breed and show over 10 years ago. I had the luck of meeting great mentors and working with special cats. I did however  decide after spending a significant amount financially, I also didn't want to have  10 cats in my house . I also felt it was not responsible  to breed a cat that has many predisposed health conditions and requires  so much maintenance that most pet owners would never maintain properly.

Often times persians are left with matted fur, and eyes are never wiped. In addition I didn't feel I wanted to achieve my goals in life by going to  cat shows. It was no longer a goal of mine. The last reason is I don't 
believe it is necessary to breed lots of cats that are just mediocre quality  when the pet population is already in a sad state. I feel it should be left for people with a substantial income, lots of time, a very ethical
 approach with only the healthiest and best cats possible. 

However, I did after 12 years realize I wanted to replace my best show cat with a very healthy persian for my children to enjoy as well.  I somehow ran across Heather Colbert on line and was called immediately
 by her.  I don't know what I was thinking because I already had so many  friend I could have gone to. She was just so persistent from the beginning.  I was willing to buy a kitten, she didn't have any and wanted to work  with me right away. She liked that I knew how to groom and breed and  offered me a cat she probably had no business letting leave her home due  to contracts. This should have been my first red alert. 

She wanted right away for us to be responsible for all financial costs  to breed her cat- still in her name and give her the best kittens.  She would  have no responsibility on vet care, or any thing for that matter. We 
 agreed and I felt reluctant.   I was hopeful we could spay this girl after  one litter and let her live the rest of her life spoiled. Then we would have  our family pet which is the reason I called her.  Somehow I was manipulated for almost a full year!

She convinced me to take 3 more. She was unloading cats she wanted  bred and having someone else do all the work and have all the responsibility.  This is known as farming out cats. The other concerning part is she was doing this with people in her family, and another person in another state who I believe stopped helping her too.   She continued to realize how I could groom and all of a sudden asked me to help her with showing.

I agreed and since  I LOVE to groom and it was my strong point I had fun with it.   She loved this part. She actually had me get a breeder  quality cat in perfect condition so I could spend 4 hours driving which
was very common for Heather to ask with no compensation ever.

 She was shown by a well known breeder in CA and told she was not a show cat which is what I told her too!  Next she wanted her bred  with a bumpy head and weak immune system. Heather did have some higher priority cats to breed, but she works very fast. Heather continued to pressure me to take nicer cats and buy me more  cats to keep at my house for her use as an extension of her cattery because it was perfect for her. I did hours of driving, gooming, showing  at two shows and all under her name.  I turned down taking at least  10 cats. She offered them to me on a weekly basis.

All the while she continued to buy a new cat almost every week. She lied  to me and was also worrying all the time about the ringworm she said  was on only one cat. She had cats die from genetic problems there 
 and was dealing with illness. This is what claimed the life of my  dear 12 year old persian. It was exposure to all the illness from Heather's cats because she has so many coming and going. 

The last part has two extremely disturbing and sad parts.  I decided to try to have fun helping her show and bring my sweet 8 year old  along since Heather works extra long hours and can't even show her cats.
 I saw how she has her teenage daughter do all her cleaning for her.  She ignores her toddler who has tantrums on an hourly basis.  She almost  choked in our presence twice and was left in the care of a babysitter all weekend with a high fever. She was screaming for attention and was told  to just go to sleep. It was heartbreaking. She was fed a crispy creme doughnut,  chips, skittles, and more candy all by the afternoon without anything else but  the bowl of oatmeal I tried to give her. This is so sad because Heather is  divorced and has her teenage son sleep in a garage with male cat urine smell.

 She has a daughter from a donor who she ignores and she works as a doctor  in a psych unit. They say there are a lot of doctors who are actually mentally  unhealthy and I believe this is such an example. Also I feel she treats  animals and children as objects to try to fill a need within herself.  On this last trip to help I was still optimistic and trying to have fun  with something I used to enjoy to some degree.

I was lied to again. She had me showing a sick cat with ringworm on medication sick and underweight. She also tried to have me  show an aggressive male I was too afraid to touch. He ended up trying to bite
 a judge. I have never in all my years showing seen anything like it.  She tried to tranquilize this kitty who clearly should have never been shown or bred. Persians are supposed to be bred for sweet temperament.  

At the end of this complete nightmare as it was really like a fiction movie for me at this point.  I started having illness show up at my house after  visiting her house and trying to make her happy by having her agressive  male breed the female she wanted bred that lived with us. Thankfully it didn't work but she brought illness home to the the other 2 cats that were  previously healthy and to my old 12 year old cherished show cat.

 She became ill and I had to have her put to sleep sooner than planned.  Heather showed up at my door ONE day later and threatened to call the police if I didn't give her all her cats back. I knew she had no right to do this  and should have shut the door on her. The police would have never removed  the cats from their current home regardless of papers.  I wish she would have  spent money taking me to court to prove very little.

 Mabye I could have shown them all my gas and care bills and the 20 plus trips I made for Heather. She had never one time driven the hour 30 min. to check on her cats until I believe she knew she was about to be exposed.  She worried the breeders would find out her cats were being handed off.

 She also was mad I did not want to help her breed mediocre cats and  do all this work for her any longer.  
   She threw the 2 cats we gave to her along with all her stuff I willing  gave her back. It was not stuff I ever really needed. She sent it all out of I believe guilt.  I heard her poor child screaming one last time and my children we screaming in complete terror as the cats they thought the could keep were abruptly torn from them.

My idea to help and become slightly involved in an old hobby was  the worst decision I ever made.  It was so traumatizing  after just one day of their long time pet dying. She left the kitty with  the most health problems that I convinced her to spay which makes perfect sense in Heather's distorted world. We love her now so much.

I don't believe many other cat breeders that have encountered  Heather will ever want to speak up or get involved. I don't care  because I don't breed and don't need a reputation to show or sell.  I just want to help others from having the same experience.  Thankfully there is a place to warn others with the internet and  thankfully I have comfort knowing one day things like this have  a tendency to catch up to people. I hope some day all her kitties  and children fall into kinder hands.   That is all we can hope for now.