Although I have
always had 'moggy' cats since I was a small child, I had never really
thought about having a pedigree cat until just over twenty years ago when
I borrowed a book from the library called Cats in May by Doreen Tovey.
Doreen has written a series of books about her beloved Siamese which are absolutely
enchanting and which I thoroughly recommend. They are some of the few books
which caused me to laugh out loud and sum up the Siamese character beautifully.
Once I had read the books I just had to have a Siamese to see if they really
did have this special character which of course, they do!!
My first Siamese was a chocolate point called Chloe who was an absolute disaster
as a breeding queen as she had no interest whatsoever in her kittens although
she went on to be an Honorary granny to many kittens.
I fell in love with the Balinese breed (long haired Siamese) and for many years bred and showed just Bali's. All that was to change when I was penned next to a Siamese at a show in Wales who was the most beautiful colour which I learned was read pointed. Her name was Darling Scarlet O'Hara and once I had seen her, I was lost, this was the colour I wanted to breed. At the time, fifteen years ago, red points were very scarce and I just could not get one anywhere, Scarlett's breeder had a cream pointed kittens which I managed to talk her into letting me have, she is my beloved Darling Marigold who is now fifteen and most definitely 'boss cat'. She never managed to produce a kitten despite visiting many stud cats, but she has the most powerful character of any cat I have ever met!! She was my introduction to cream points which I now specialise in breeding, and creams are my favourite colour.
Over the years
I have bred many Prize winning cats in various colours, but all my titled
cats are either red, cream or tortie pointed with the exception of three oriental
cats, two in this country and one who is somewhere in Denmark, I say somewhere,
because the cat, an oriental blue tortie, gained her title and was then stolen
and has not been recovered to this day, despite her owner advertising widely
and even consulting a clairvoyant in the hope that she could give her some
information as to the whereabouts of the cat. So, it is not just in this country
in which cats may go missing.
The Summerdown prefix is widely known and my cats reside in countries as far
apart as Denmark, Italy, South Africa, Spain and Sweden. I still breed Siamese
although I have one angora (long haired oriental) and presently having a small
venture into breeding silver based Orientals.
