I’m not sure whether they are still available but these are very rare cats. They are Suffolk Chocolate purebred, pedigree cats created by a breeder in the UK, Pamela Sharp-Popple, 68, who due to ill health has decided to stop being a purebred cat breeder. She wants someone to take over the breed and to rehome seven of her cats.
She lives in Felixstowe, UK and is described as having helped to create one of the country’s rarest breeds. She thinks that there can’t be more than 200 individual cats of this breed in the UK.
Suffolk Chocolate breed
The Suffolk Chocolate is, on my understanding, a UK version of the Havana Brown. It is fully accepted by the GCCF and has championship status. This is the premier UK cat Association. They say that the breed was born out of the failure of the Havana Brown in the UK. There were some Havana Browns in the UK but they had an insufficient gene pool. They had to be bred to Siamese and other “self-cats” (solid coloured) which created the Oriental.
They go on to say that since 2007 a group of Havana breeders “extracted the best genes from the existing bloodlines in Britain”. They then went on to “like to like matings and the inclusion of a European Havana Brown”. This resulted in the creation of the Suffolk Chocolate. The breed achieved new breed status in 2014.
Pamela has a slightly different story about the creation of the breed. She said that in 2000 she bred a Siamese stud with a tortoiseshell Oriental which resulted in a mixed litter and which “contained one Havana Brown”. She went from that starting point. And the Suffolk Chocolate is a variation of this breed.
In conclusion, the Suffolk Chocolate looks like the Havana Brown which is a slender, attractive cat of moderate Oriental proportions with a stunning solid chocolate coat and watery green eyes which complement the code beautifully, I think.
Character
Pamela says that the Suffolk Chocolate “make wonderful companions. They are as clever as dogs, if not cleverer. They are so friendly and affectionate – they’ll be waiting by the door for you to come home.”
Cats to go to responsible breeders
She wants people who are serious about either breeding or offering a home to a cat as a domestic pet to get in touch. She remarked: “I would prefer it for the cats to go to responsible breeders, so the Suffolk Chocolate breed can continue – but it is more important to me that these cats go to good, loving homes.”
Her cats have been part of her life for a very long time and she is sorry to have to give it up. Although she said that her husband is looking forward to it as he doesn’t really like cats!
Pamela usefully provided her email address which is unusual to allow people to contact her direct if they are interested in acquiring one of her cats and/or continuing the breeding of this very rare cat breed. Here it is: pamela.sharp@btinternet.com
Below are some pages on the Havana Brown.
