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Published on November 3, 2007

The couple bought their dog at a pet shop. They fell in love with her immediately. They didn't even stop to examine her, just plopped the money down and took the puppy home. There they found a dog who refused to walk. Actually, she couldn't walk.

The vet immediately discovered the terrible wounds on her paw pads. Possibly, she had cut them on the wire-mesh flooring in her cage, her home for most of her young life.

A few readers have complained about last week's column. "Don't you think your pointers for buying a pet were unnecessary?" one reader commented. "Surely, no one would ever consider buying an animal from a crate on a motorcycle."

Well, that's exactly what happened a few weeks ago, when two Kaomanee breeders from abroad saw three cats that a "breeder" had motorbiked over to them.

"We'll take them!" the two ladies said happily. Kaomanee, the least known of Thai breeds, are white beauties with blue or gold eyes. The most expensive have bi-coloured eyes - an eye of each colour. These are not ordinary white cats.

When bred, they produce Kaomanee, while "ordinary" white cats, when bred, may or may not produce white offspring.

They sell for between Bt16,000 and Bt24,000 each. These two women paid Bt10,000 for three cats. The price was way low, but the women ignored my misgivings; they were happy with their bargain.

The cats were not in good condition. No longer kittens, they were thin and dirty with skin and eye infections. At the vet's, they were given blood tests. To receive an export permit, cats must test negative for feline leukaemia and feline Aids.

Two cats passed their tests, but the most beautiful of the cats tested positive for "feline Aids". Humans cannot be infected by feline Aids, or "feline immunodeficiency virus infection" (FIV), nor can cats be infected by human HIV.

Nevertheless, as with humans and HIV, a cat infected with this virus will have it for life. There is no vaccination, no cure. Symptoms are unusual illnesses, such as severe gum and teeth disease, chronic diarrhoea and cancer.

Dogs don't get Aids, but they can come with a number of other, equally devastating, illnesses - the reason you must research the breed you want before you buy the doggie of your dreams.

Researchers believe that in cats, the virus is not spread through sexual contact but through cat bites. For this reason, if the infected cat is kept separate from other cats, there's a chance for it to live a relatively healthy (if not long) life.

The two breeders have left the cat with me, and I'm keeping her at the vet's for now. Who knows? We might find a loving family willing to limit themselves to one cat.

As for the dachshund girl, her owners are looking for a companion for her.

Where will they find one?

"We're going back to that pet store. We love the dog we bought there," they tell me happily.

By Laurie rosenthal

The Nation