a day ago
Kitten deaths raise questions about Clarksburg-based pet rescue
FAIRMONT — Around the middle of May, Brendalynn Rose's niece purchased a kitten from an adoption event in Clarksburg after her grandmother's cat passed away.
But after only a few days, the kitten died.
'My mom kept saying, 'this kitten isn't as old as they're saying it is,'' Rose said. 'It was just so tiny, and obviously — probably shouldn't have been away from the mama. But my mom called me and told me, 'it's not really moving.' It's only been up twice since we bought it and it wouldn't eat. So they took it up to the vet, and they said it had Parvo. It ended up dying on the table while there.'
Rose's kitten was one of eight kittens from the event that died shortly after their adoption.
As a result, the Clarksburg-based rescue who organized the adoption, PupSavers Rescue, is the subject of outrage from members of the community who adopted the animals.
Rose said after the kitten died, she reached out to the proprietor of Pupsavers Rescue, A.J. Springfield. She was told that a veterinarian out of Charleston had checked the animals before the event, and none of the kittens were found to be sick at the time. She said Springfield offered to give them another kitten, but declined to give Rose a refund.
'He was like, in the contract there's no refund,' Rose said. 'And I'm like, but in the contract, it doesn't say your cat comes with Parvo. Now, [my niece] is $120 out of a cat and I'm just $300 out of a vet bill trying to see what was going on. But yeah, they will not give me any records for the checkup these cats supposedly had. He won't give me the number to the vet that supposedly checked them.'
Lexi Fetty shared a similar experience.
On May 14, she adopted a kitten and named it BroDarius. However, while she was at the event she noticed the kittens up for adoption at the event were showing signs of distress, including runny feces. (Rose said her kitten also had diarrhea.) Fetty said they were told that runny stool was a normal reaction to a change in food, but Fetty noticed BroDarius also looked small and frail. She spent $150 for the adoption, but after 10 days, the kitten died.
'He showed no signs of illness other than the runny stool and symptoms previously listed above,' she said in an email statement. 'It was devastating to find him lifeless the next morning after a night of cuddles and purring.'
After BroDarius passed, Fetty said she learned at least three other people had reported a similar incident that week. Janissa Hayes also learned from her vet that the kitten she adopted was not the three months old she was told, but closer to seven weeks. Hayes' kitten fortunately survived, after Hayes spent $800 on care.
Fetty and Hayes said the rescue did not provide them with vet records. Fetty alleged a lack of proper veterinary care and evaluation prior to adoption.
On May 28, PupSavers Rescue acknowledged the deaths through a post to the Fairmont Community Facebook Page. At the time, they said the cause of death was unknown, with the time frame between adoption and passing ranged from nearly two weeks to a few days. On a separate post, they confirmed a vet looked over the kittens while at the event. They pointed out there is no Parvo testing that can be done at a young age, especially when they're not showing any symptoms.
However, late Thursday evening the veterinarian, who asked not to identify them, reached out to the Times West Virginian.
'The rescue's director, AJ Springfield, has been untruthfully using my name as a veterinarian that deemed the kittens healthy after a 'thorough physical exam,'' the vet said. 'That information is in no way true.'
PupSavers Rescue quarantined the remaining kittens. The rescue declined to comment beyond what they posted on Facebook, but did leave one comment on a post asking for sources for this story.
'We aren't exactly hiding anything,' PupSavers wrote in their post. 'Every kitten that was adopted out has come straight from the shelter with their first shot and deworming. One of the shelter vets examined these kittens in person on Saturday at our last adoption event. The kittens that have died showed no symptoms of anything were fine and then died. We made a public post about this, but some people making comments about dead kittens didn't even adopt from us. We have been in touch with many local vets as well as our own. No one knows exactly what happened but none of the kittens that we have quarantined here have passed away.'
They noted they offered a replacement kitten to one of the people who lost their kitten.
PupSavers confirmed at least eight kittens had died. However, they said claims that multiple kittens died from panleukopenia was 'flat out untrue.' They said the only thing they could confirm was the presence of coccidia, which causes 'diarrhea with weight loss, dehydration, and (rarely) hemorrhage,' according to
They also said some of the people who complained online had their kittens over two weeks and never sought vet care or contacted the rescue either.
'No rescue or Humane Society, shelter or otherwise, would knowingly adopt anything if there was even the slightest suggestion that there could be something wrong,' PupSavers wrote. 'This isn't anyone's fault — all we can do is be as transparent as we can and share the information as we receive it. At least we tried to assist the shelters and give these kittens hope and a chance at a home instead of euthanasia.'
On June 5, PupSavers posted an update. They confirmed the presence of panleukopenia after a necropsy. The pointed out the difficulty of diagnosing the disease, because fecal swabs had come back negative. Only a necropsy revealed the virus after the animal died.
Marion County Humane Society Director Jona Spatafore said panleukopenia is one of the scariest diseases to contract for kittens because of how contagious it is. Kittens are especially susceptible to it if the mother wasn't vaccinated for the virus, which is especially true for strays. As a result, a kitten has no immunity to the disease until a vaccination regimen starts once they're old enough. She also said kittens, and olders cats even, are sensitive to change. They can be perfectly healthy in a rescue or shelter environment, but pop up with a respiratory infection a few days after moving into a new place.
Spatafore said new pet owners should call a veterinarian as soon as they adopt an animal as best practice, so the vet can establish a baseline. She also said pet owners should look for crust around the eyes and nose, ulcers in the mouth, and check to see if they look boney and if they have a runny stool.
'Are they playing, are they laying?' she said. 'It's not always best to pick the kittens laying there real calm because they might be real calm because they don't feel good.'
She confirmed panleukopenia can't be tested for until an animal shows symptoms. She also urged potential adopters to ask for vet records and to ask what tests and vaccines the animal has had, as well as diet.
Ashley Reed, scam coordinator at the West Virginia Attorney General's Office, said potential pet adopters should research the seller or organization through the Better Business Bureau, and check with the Secretary of State's Office for Business Licensing. The Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division can also check if their office has received complaints about a business. They also recommended reading reviews from third party sources.
'If someone is scammed, a seller doesn't come through as promised, or, as in this unfortunate situation, the animals don't survive — they can report that to our consumer protection division,' Kallie Moore, a spokesperson with the Attorney General's office said. 'That number is 1-800-368-8808.'
Pupsavers denying refunds was a major source of anger. Spatafore is no stranger to these situations, which are an unfortunate part of working in animal welfare. She said in these kinds of situations, she refunds the money and offers a replacement kitten. But after what happened, a replacement kitten is the last thing some people wanted.
'My mom's traumatized,' Rose said. 'She cried and cried and cried. She can't. He offered us another cat, and she absolutely wants nothing to do with it.'
