A woman has been selling kittens for several years so badly that some only survived a few weeks after their adoption, which could possibly be considered hidden defects according to experts.
Marie-Ève Dewar, who also calls herself Marie-Ève Ménard on social networks, is used to making contact on Facebook with people from the Laurentians who say they are looking for baby felines.
She presents herself to them most often as a volunteer at a shelter or a pet store and promises them a kitten who will arrive vaccinated and dewormed, sometimes even sterilized and microchipped.
But in reality, the little animals are none of that and their new adopted family realizes it at their expense after a few days.
“He had so many mites in his ears that I wonder how he heard. We also discovered that it was full of fleas, ”recounts with disgust Suzanne Gervais, who bought a kitten from Mr.me Dewar for $ 200 in August. She had to pay an additional $ 240 for him to be perfectly healthy.
Insulted, this 59-year-old retiree complained to the Sûreté du Québec, like Hugo Blanchette, the director general of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) of Argenteuil.
Mr. Blanchette says he has been contacted since this spring by a dozen people complaining of having been fooled by a certain Marie-Ève Dewar, who prided himself on being a volunteer for her organization. Gold, Mme Dewar has never worked for the Argenteuil SPCA.
“For three of the people who contacted us, the cat did not survive,” says Mr. Blanchette.
Photo from Facebook
Marie-Eve Dewar
For several years
Two years ago, the kitten that Sylvie Paul bought from Mme Dewar also died a few weeks after his adoption. Not only was he infested with fleas, but the feline was sick like a dog.
“She had shown me a photo of her vaccination record, but the kitten was not vaccinated, it was all crooked”, protests this mother of Saint-Jérôme.
At the same time, Marie-Pierre De Champlain organized rescues of wild cats in Lachute. She vividly remembers giving babies to Mr.me Dewar.
The young woman had made a good impression on him and had undertaken to have them vaccinated, to have them dewormed, then to find new families for them.
“Two days later, we learned that she had sold everything, which we found a little too fast to have had the time to do it all. However, ear mites and fleas are transmitted and it is not correct to send them to a house, ”Mr.me From Champlain.
Like a house or a car
Marie-Ève Dewar refused to grant an interview to the Newspaper, being limited to denying any responsibility.
But if it turns out that she lied about the state of health of the kittens she sold, she could be sued for latent defects.
“An animal is considered an asset, like a house or a car. The notion of hidden defects applies ”, explains Me Alexandre Plourde, from Option consommateurs.
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