Issue with Cat Rescue !HELP!

[Dakkar]

I'm unsure if there is where this post is to go, this seemed the most likely but if I'm wrong feel free to move it to the correct category.

I'm having an issue with a cat rescue in Hamilton, ON. But first I'll give you the details on the cats.

I feed the feral cats in my neighbourhood, nothing special just some dry food so they don't starve. There was one fellow... he would come by everyday and he was such a friendly guy. He came as much for the attention and pats than for the food alone. One day he brought a friend with him, a very cute yet painfully shy female. When I noticed she was pregnant, I slowly over a week coaxed her inside the house and put her on a diet of wet and dry food. She settled in nicely, to the point if I opened the front door, she'd run the other way. Since she had decided she was going to live with me, I chose to name her Princess. She'd follow me everywhere and loved to be pampered. On June 24th at 3am she gave birth to her litter of 3 kittens. 2 females and 1 male. The male and one female were close to being identical twins. The male had two grey marks on his head but was otherwise white, the female had one grey mark on her head the rest was pure white. I named them Mark (male) and Dot (female) the third kitten, also female, was long-haired, fully grey with the exception of a very small white bib. I named her Puffy.

The cute story ends there. My income source wouldn't allow for me to keep four cats, as much as I would've loved to. So I did a Google search for rescue places in Hamilton and came across one that had '******' in it's name. Seemed perfect. I contacted them and said I would like to have the two kittens adopted out if they were capable of doing so. A few days after their 8 week 'birthday' the woman came to collect the 2 kittens and offered to have Princess and Puffy to get their needles as well. Since I had asked repeatedly for the cost of this prior (to which she never replied) nor had she mentioned any cost when she picked them up I made the incorrect assumption that the rescue would be paying for it.

So she picked up all of my cats, promising to return Princess and Puffy the very next day. The very next day I get a Facebook message saying the cats had fleas and she wasn't going to give them back until I could prove to her I had had my apartment fumigated. She also added that the Vet cost for the needles was $50 per cat. Since I'm on a very limited income I offered what I could at the time, a 50/50 split, the first half to be paid then and there. The second half to be paid at the end of September. She refused this, still saying the apartment had to be fumigated. Since I live in a multi-unit dwelling, I'm not allowed to do anything like that. The Landlord at the very least must give permission, or more to the point the landlord would be the one responsible for doing it.

This left me no choice but to contact a legal clinic, who in turn asked me to call the Hamilton-Burlington SPCA. After speaking with 2 people there who told me in no uncertain terms that she could not withhold my cats for fleas, they advised I contact the Hamilton-Wentworth Police. So I did and opened a Theft report, but they weren't very willing to do anything except speak to the person. They considered it more of a civil matter. Nevertheless an officer went to speak with her, at which point she said she was withholding the cats over the money, not fleas. He suggested I come to a compromise with her about the money. I tried again, explaining to her my source of income and told her that I could pay in two installments. Once again she refused.

Skip ahead a couple of days and she has now said that if I don't pay her the $100 she is going to put my cats up for adoption on Sept 14th. This of course causes me to freak out. So after a bunch of phone calls, I end up pawning my TV so I could get the money I was short. So then when I tell her I have the money, she decides that I now owe her boarding costs of $10 a day as well. Saying that she's had my cats for almost a month. She's had them for 12 days and not by my choice either... I haven't left them there, she's refusing to give them to me. So then I get a letter offering a compromise, she's found a home to adopt Puffy into. Therefore I only have to pay for Princess' vet bills. This is of course unacceptable to me, they are both my pets and I want both of them back

The poor police officer has been out to see her 2 or 3 times now. Each time he sees her he tells her she has no right to hold the animals because of fleas OR money. However, he still also won't arrest her because I gave her my cats willingly in the first place. Apparently it doesn't matter the circumstances or what happened afterwards.

I've tried contacting her twice now, saying I have the $100 but the new line I'm getting is, and I quote "One of the rules that all rescues go by is that no un-spayed cat is returned to the owner." She knows full well that she caused Princess to miss her spay appointment with the HBSPCA's geared-to-income Spay-Neuter clinic.

Am I nuts to think something isn't right here? All the flea stuff I read said it wasn't safe for a pregnant cat and shouldn't be used on a kitten until it was 12 weeks old. I've purchased something called Diacemaceous Earth, a natural pest killer powder. Harmless to people and animals.
If she had informed me of the costs beforehand for the vet stuff, I could've found another way to get it done, or at least had one cat done at a time. I'm at a loss here, I don't know what to do. I want my pets back, but this lady seems to be going out of her way to stop me each time. I say I have the $100, she wants $125. If I came up with the $125 I get the feeling she'd find another reason to raise the price.

Anyone have any thoughts? I'm running out of time. The officer on the case isn't back at work until the 14th, and I really don't trust this woman with my cats. HELP!