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                          K from Az

        Hello Kristi Kortmeyer from Phoenix

Let us say first off, if you have a problem with a breeder, go to the breeder first. Most reputable breeders will try to make things right. If you can't work it out then don't take it public but find the correct place to resolve it, and that would not be with Rosemarie Zizzo.

Ask yourself, how she is going to resolve problems? Does she have a fleet of lawyers behind her? NO!
Does she have professional help of any kind to solve these problems ? NO!
Does she offer professional or peer mediation? NO!
Does she go to the registering body? NO! Because they do not approve of what she is doing and have suspended her for life, for animal welfare issues and harassing, libeling and slandering breeders, along with making unfounded calls to animal control on all breeders. Which means she lies to authorities to get them to go inspect breeders homes.

Someone with a mental disorder has no business handling sensitive situations. The only authority she has to solve these problems is the authority she gives herself, kind of like Saddam Hussein or Hitler. She is not the nice person that she pretends in the beginning to be.

Kristi didn't do the right thing. She never notified the breeder of any problem with the kitten that died. The breeder found out about it when Zizzo sent her the guest book entry that Kristi made on her site almost 3 years later.

Kristi if you are going to tell a story, you need to tell the whole story so that it doesn't look like you are lying to make yourself look good! And if you have a problem with someone, then you should go to that person first and try to work things out. I am sure that you would want to be extended the same courtesy instead of having it aired on a questionable website run by an emotionally unstable person.

Shame on you! Now here is the "whole" story, including the parts that Kristi left out!

Kristi bought a female seal point show quality kitten in Nov of 2002 from Lollimops Cattery.

She picked up the cat on the Friday of Thanksgiving weekend, 2002 while visiting relatives in Palm Desert, 2 hours from Lowry.

She returned to Phoenix Sunday night. Took the cat to the vet on Monday. Admittedly to a new vet that she had no experience with, had the usual tests run. The FeLv test came came back positive on this cat. She called Lowry. Lowry had never before heard of false positives on this test but got right to work doing research and has subsequently learned that they are very common, especially in cats under the age of 16 weeks.

We think what Lowry did was right and totally ethical, she immediately tested the parents and siblings of this cat and stayed in touch with Kristi and her vet. She began research to see if she could learn why, when there are no positive cats in her house a kitten could come up positive.

Lowry also immediately contacted Kristi's vet to find out what test was used. The vet did not even know what test she used but later got back to Lowry with the name. Kristi's vet seemed strangely unconcerned about the whole thing. A blood sample was also sent to the lab and the test was run again, supposedly also positive. But, when Lowry talked to the lab they said they used the same test and that it wasn't really positive, but went just to line so they had to call it positive, because they couldn't call it negative. Further research showed that this test was the most unreliable on the market and that few vets use it for that reason. Kristi was given all of this info at the time.

Melanie's Story:

After Kristi called, I immediately took the two litter mates and had them tested, at a vet not my own so there would be no conflict of interest. Both were negative. I tlaked extensively to this vet about what had happened, he told me about the false positives.

I called the new owner of the mom and asked him to test her. He is a vet tech and told me he had already tested her but would immediately do so again. She also returned a negative result. He was so nice as to do research on this problem too, and sent me numerous info on false positives on this test. My best friend now owned the male, I called her and she did the same.  He too was negative, again.

Every cat that has ever come into this house, and most that have left here, have been tested for FeLv, not one single cat before this ever came up positive, in 25 years. If there are no cats here with FeLv, then there would be no way to expose this kitten and no way for the cat to have FeLv.

I kept Kristi advised of these things as they happened. I shared all of the test results with her. I also shared what I had learned from the Persian list, the Persian health list, the several vets that I had talked to and a friend who works in the bio-engineering field. I came to the conclusion that the test was a false positive and Kristi agreed. However she felt the cat was tainted and wanted to exchange her for the sister. I was surprised that she didn't want her money back, but left the decision to her. Arrangements were made to return the kitten the following week-end and make the exchange.

When she arrived we immediately took her kitten to the vet and had her re-tested. The test result was negative. Kristi still felt she wanted to take the sister and she did.

I also at that time advised her of the fact that the male kitten had been in the possession of the owner of the sire for several hours the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, a few days after she took the first cat. A kitten was owed back to her for the stud service, but she decided that at that time she was not able to take him and returned him and I placed him with his sister. The reason I told Kristi about this incident was because this breeder has a terrible ringworm problem and I wanted Kristi to know that the kitten could have been exposed. I offered to observe the kitten for several weeks and ship her to Phoenix at my own expense. Kristi agreed to this.

Kitten# 2

While sitting in my house Kristi kept looking at a little kitten I had in a cage on my coffee table. A very cute little kitten that needed constant care. She wouldn't eat or drink on her own, and she was very small for her age of 10 weeks. She was a very nice blue point female. Kristi seemed taken with the kitten and kept asking if she was for sale. I told her no, that I couldn't sell her because I wasn't sure that she was ok. Kristi couldn't take her eyes off of the kitten. So, I asked if she wanted her if I just made a gift of the kitten to her. She did. I felt this was the least that I could do for all the trouble they had been thru. However I advised Kristi to keep the kitten isolated since she probably had a compromised immune system. I told her that I couldn't guarantee her health and that if things worked out, she would have a really nice little girl. I gave her the papers and the breeding rights. And exacted a promise not to let the cat on the floor with all of her other cats and to keep her isolated.

A week later she called to tell me that the kitten was named Victoria "Torie" for short, and that she was running the floor and doing just fine. Sigh, she hadn't listened or taken my advise. I am assuming that this is the kitten that died of FIP. BUT, once again, there were other cats in the house!!!! Kristi was just starting a cattery and had already purchased other cats. So there is no way to know where the kitten picked up the virus. But there is one thing for certain, Kristi was advised to be careful with her and that didn't happen.

Kitten#3

Kristi notified me by email two weeks later that she was tired of waiting for the kitten to be shipped. Her whole attitude had changed. She told me she had lost her patience and didn't want to wait any longer, and wanted the kitten immediately. I shipped the cat to her at my expense. The kitten was vet checked the day of shipping,  she did not have an upper respiratory at that time or the vet would not have given me the health certificate needed for the cat to be able to fly. The kitten was also checked at that time for ringworm.

So yes, I guess you could say that she got three cats, but she paid for only one! And she states that one is healthy and happy!

The cat she returned is here to this day. She is alive and healthy and has had several more negative FeLv test results. The cat's name is Hootie, she is a very funny cat.

You are most welcome for the cat that you have Kristi. You most definitely should have told me what was going on before you told the wacko and the world! I knew nothing about the one cat dying.

 I spent over $600.00 testing my cats and paying for the shipping and health certificate. I am not sure what more was expected of me.

One more thing I would like to bring up. Kristi's husband is an attorney. He spent most of his time here being very difficult and insisting on re-writing my contract. Specifically this clause, which he demanded be eliminated, check the copy of the contract below:

10. If there are other cats living in the household, Seller will NOT be responsible for any disease that the other cats may

      be carriers for, FIP, FIV, Fel-V, and URI.

Makes one wonder why he was so concerned about exposing this kitten to his own cats. Also makes one wonder why he didn't come after me if the both of them thought that I had done them wrong!

Does one even have the right to complain about something that was a gift and FREE?

Question~ is the breeder at fault for a faulty test result?

Everything was done here to make this unfortunate situation right, however Kristi was not an understanding person!

Conclusion=we think Kristi is the evil one here!

                                          This is Hootie's. Picture taken 10-13-05