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Sukimah is a small cattery located at Garden Suburb, in Newcastle NSW, about 13 kms from the coastline .
We have been proud owners of Burmese cats since 1983, when we began showing two neuter boys. The lure of breeding these wonderful cats became too strong, and in 2007 our first burmese litters were born.
With the coming of two queens in 2006, we commenced our breeding programme. These two litters were quite good sized ones, with 7 and 8 kittens respectively.
Since 1985, as members of The Burmese Cat Society of Australasia Inc and members of the NSW Cat Fanciers Association Inc. we have shown our cats at various pedigreed cat shows, where they have done well over the years.
Our second litter from Millie had success at the Newcastle & Hunter Valley Cat Show in 2007, winning best litter in all three rings in Group 3. Best female kitten in Group 3 was Sukimah Tuscan Sun (known to us as Poppy).
To enable our knowledge of feline health and issues to expand, Sue has attended every one of the annual Feline Health Seminars held in Sydney, which were sponsored by The Rex Cat Club, except once when she had a prior engagement. Every November the seminar was held, with expert speakers attending to provide the latest updates on matters such as feline flu, cattery management, feline reproductive information, answers to questions from the floor, together with a host of other information. These seminars have now ceased, however, our reading and researching cat articles on health, genetics etc is ongoing.
I am pleased to report that in November 2019, a feline health seminar was held by the NSW CFA affiliated club, Sydney Fancy Felines Club, with expert speakers from Sydney University, who gave of their time, and most valuable information to the attendees from all cat fancies. Then... Covid came along, and so in 2022 we have now had another of these wonderful seminars,
Our queens and studs are tested for hypokalaemia, and gangliocidosis to ensure that they are sound in health. You will not be sold a kitten with hypokalaemia by SukimaH Cattery.
OUR BREEDING QUEENS : Sukimah Jasmin, a lilac/cream (daughter of Georgia and Custer - now retired and enjoying life with her new owner, in Charlestown NSW, Sukimah Brinda Bella now lives in the Blue Mountains, and Sukimah Tahitian Pearl (daughters of Merlin) now lives in Sydney and Brookside Bronze Sorceress, aka Missy (brown) lives in Canberra and is ruling the roost by all accounts. They are all very sweet natured and loving cats.
The current Queens are Sukimah Maggie May, Sukimah Stella, who have both had their first litters this year, and Suchi Laika Biana Joule a future queen.
We pride ourselves on breeding very healthy kittens with great temperaments. This is more important in our view, than type – which, while important, and is something we strive toward, is third in our order of priorities.
Our queens and our stud cat are given much affection and love, fed the highest quality foods, have regular veterinarian checks to make sure they are in the best of health, and when we are blessed with kittens, these together with their mothers are housed in our home, and given plenty of care and attention.
Our kittens are raised in the house, and after their first vaccination are allowed to run through the house to explore, which allows them to become used to household noises, other people, cats etc. They are litter trained, wormed, microchipped, desexed, vaccinated twice and vet checked before they leave us to go to their new indoor homes.
The only task the new owner has, is to make sure the third and final vaccination is given one month after the 2nd vaccination. This should then followed by yearly vaccinations to maintain protection against flu and other diseases.
OUR STUDS:
Brookside Lilac Merlin has been gifted back to Bev Jones, after two years with us (a most fantastically temperamented cat). Thanks to Diane Dolman for allowing us to have the company of Merlin.
Siratsa Voodoo Child has joined us. The boys have always been treated with affection and love and fussed over, just the same as with the queens, however they are our housed outside in their own spacious quarters, with cuddles and pats each morning and evening when they are put to bed (in winter with an electric heat pad and lovely soft cosy blankets to snuggle under). They are also given the best of food and have regular veterinary checkups too.
Early Desexing:
There have been many and varied discussions by vets and breeders as to the pro's and con's of early desexing, but on our investigation and having sought advice from more than one veterinarian, we are happy to continue desexing our kittens at 11 weeks, (provided they are over 1 kilogram in weight) prior to being taken by their new owners. Our vet is quick and very experienced in performing these operations. Having this procedure done at 11 weeks, allows the kittens to recover quickly (more so than an older cat), and does not cause any physical or emotional problems for the kitten. The early desexing of our kittens is non negotiable.
Allergies:
For those of you who have young children, we would strongly advise that you have your child visit a friend, family member or neighbour who may have a cat, before you decide to buy a burmese. If your child turns out to be allergic to that cat, and you still proceed to purchase a burmese, then it will dramatically affect how you regard and treat your kitten. We have found from experience that the "indoor cat" suddenly is put outdoors and left to its own devices, or to live with the family dog in the yard. This is not the outcome which we envisage for our beautiful babies!
Genetic Diversity:
The Burmese cat worldwide has one of the lowest gene pool of the pedigreed cat breeds. This has been found in research and reported upon by Prof. Lesley Lyons, a world renowned American geneticist. To ensure that we at Sukimah do not breed closely related cats (in-breeding), we make sure that our cats are unrelated, or at least very distantly related. We do not undertake father - daughter matings, grandmother to grandson, mother to son, uncle to niece matings, which all come with the risk of causing genetic problems by the closeness of the matings.
Until recently here in Australia, we could not use any other outcrosses to widen our gene pool. This included the American Burmese, which is different from the UK and Australian Burmese in it's appearance (ours are European burmese), the US are either contemporary style, a rounder faced, eyed, shorter bodied cat, or their traditional style (traditional is more like the European burmese, with not so rounded features, (except for the eyes) and a more elegant body, which is similar to our cats).
The Co-ordinating Cat Council of Australia, the governing body of the NSW Cat Fanciers Association Inc, was the first governing body in Australia to approve the importation of the American Burmese into Australia, (in Dec 2015) to enable an approved experimental breed programme (with supervisors) to be undertaken, to widen the Australian burmese gene pool.
As at October, 2018, no NSW CFA breeder has undertaken such approved breeding programme. This whole process of sourcing the cats from the USA takes the right contacts, time, patience and is a fairly expensive exercise. Obviously not a lot of breeders are able to afford to do this, as contrary to popular belief, we actually do not make money from our cats. (An explanation of why breeders charge as they do, is eloquently explained by Melanie Martin, from Suchi/Adora Cattery).
Our aims:
We strive to produce the best breed quality and health in our kittens, and to ensure the emotional and physical wellbeing of them, so that at the time of relocating to their new indoor only homes, our kittens are well adjusted, intelligent, playful, loving and lively pets, qualities for which this breed is known. Genetic diversity to further promote strong and vigorous health in our cats is also an aim.
Thanks for visiting our website.
Sue and Darval |
