Sick cat legal advice?

I bought a persian that was pregnet and in ';perfect health'; off an ad in kijiji for $400. this cat was so sick, i've only had her a couple of weeks and have put in over $1500 in surgery, medication, grooming (she was a mess) and special food. Does anyone know that since i bought the cat, thinking that it was in perfect health (she just happen to have lost her vet records) that i have any chance of getting my money back from her if i took her to small claims? Also should i report this person who is selling aniamls who could very well be sick? please advise!Sick cat legal advice?
It sounds to me you saved this kitties life. Will you get your money back is doubtful. Not without a written guarantee. You SHOULD report this to the area animal control people, because it sounds like there may be other animals in harms way. Thank you for saving this cats life. Please take some kind of action to be sure the other cats are not being cared for. Some catteries are very poorly run, and its the animals that suffer badly. Please fallow threw with this. In the mean time, enjoy your new friend, and love it to pieces.Sick cat legal advice?
Well, when I was told she'd ';lost'; the vet records that would have been a red flag and I'd have said ';okay fine, then just give me the vets number and I'll ring him up and get a print out of them for myself.';


I'm sorry, but $400 for this cat with no medical history was not a smart thing to do. What WAS a very smart thing to do was for you to take money out of your own pocket to do what was necessary for this cat's health anyway. GOOD FOR YOU cat lover.


It's reasonable for you to have expected to pay $400 for a healthy cat and personally, I think a judge in civil court will sympathize with you. I really think you should file suit against her. If nothing else it's the moral issue of the thing. That suit will be public record and a direct reference to the kind of crappy things she's doing. It will inconvenience her and I think you could very well come out victorious.


Of course, if you are given judgement it's reasonable to expect that she won't pay. Just so you know, in most states you can go back to court and ask that the judge seize her wages or assets to pay the debt.


Best of luck to you and your cat. I hope she'll be okay now that she has an owner who cares. I know it's been expensive but thank God she has you now instead of that wretched woman who did this.
I think you probably would be able to get money for her. I think also that you should report that person but I think you should keep the cat not return just take the person to court because you don't want to put the cat back in harm's way. But in the future beware of the fact that she had no vet records and they were';lost'; from experiance i know that if you are planning to sell an animal you keep very close tabs on all their records, that is suspicious, and as well if she was obviously sick how didn't you notice? Good luck and hope she gets well!
I very much doubt you'll get any money back. If you'd bought from a reputable breeder with a health guarantee then yes, but since you bought a pregnant cat in poor health from an ad, then I think it's a case of buyer beware. I'm glad you've had this poor cat treated and are giving her a good home, but next time go to a proper rescue or buy from a reputable breeder.
A similar situation happened to me but not quite so extreme. I adopted two kittens from a local chain pet store through their adoption agency. Three days after I adopted the kittens one had been diagnosed with FPV and died. I contacted the adoption agency because at this point we had invested almost $600 in her care. All they could offer me was another kitten since their waiver stated they could not give refunds. Go over any paperwork you signed when adopting the cat and seek out a local animal rights attorney. Even though the waiver said no monetary refunds I still went and talked to an attorney. Most consulations are free and they were able to give me some good advice on what I could do.
Instead of shelling out all the money, why didn't you contact the owner and ask for a refund right away? I think you got yourself into a hole that could be hard to get out of. I have a feeling it's going to be very hard to get your money unless there was a written contract or you saved the classified where it said the cat was healthy.
Unless you have a written guarantee of health from the person you got her from that was signed, you'll have a very hard time getting any money from her. If you do have a contract, you need to go through it carefully and make sure every condition was met. So if it required you to take the cat to the vet within 24 hours of purchase, you did than and so on. You should get a written letter from the vet on their letterhead stating that the cat was unfit for sale too.
Only is you got a health certificate and health guarantee in writing about this sort of thing. If not then really it he said she said. But your state maybe different you could call and ask a lawyer. What was wrong with the cat? Sorry about what happened. But really I don't think you can do much.
Your best bet is to contact an attorney to see what kind of action you can take against the breeder. You may want to also look over your paper work.





Try to file in small claims court, but see what the statutory limit is in your area, it could be as little as $500 or as high as $5,000





I'm sorry for what you are going through and hope you get the resolution you desire.