The East Sussex Cat Club

Welcome to My Breeder Profile

Our Names are Susan and Sarah Louise Hope

Location:   Surrey
Breed(s):   Burmese, British & Egyptian Mau pets.
Breeding since: 1987

Tell us a bit about you: We are mother and daughter team who as well as exhibiting and Breeding Burmese also share our home and life with a Giant Schnauzer, a Tibetan terrier and a continental giant rabbit.  As well as our involvement with The East Sussex Cat Club, we are also on the committee of the Maidstone & Medway Cat club and regularly help at other shows in many capacities. We are both actively involved with welfare work for Burmese and for the East Sussex Cat Club. Susan also competes in obedience with our Giant Schnauzer Medina, whilst Sarah does ring craft and agility. The cats and dogs frequently do photo shoots for various companies, our Blue Burmese variant Sky is featured on Waitrose food, and her daughter Stella on Sainsbury, whilst our Tibetan Dexter has been the face of Tesco pet insurance amongst other works.

Why did you choose your breed(s)? Very naively! We also have a British Cream, a chocolate box kitten and a Bengal cross, one of the best accidents.

Why/how did you start breeding? We have always had numerous cats and other pets. But we got into Burmese completely by accident and weren’t really prepared for the difference between a Burmese kitten and any other. Our first kitten Kirsty (Moniak Mountain Mist) was a lilac girl from a litter of nine, we entered this bedroom full of kittens climbing in every direction and chose the quiet one asleep on the chair, (which is why our prefix is Hypnos after the god of sleep) she looked so angelic till we got her home. They say that Burmese are more addictive than MacDonald’s and they do become a terrible habit.

Why did you choose your prefix?  I was studying mythology at school and it seemed an obvious choice. God of Sleep, not that Burmese do a lot of that.

When were your most memorable occasions as a breeder?

Getting Best in Show at the Maidstone and Medway show in December 2008 with Grand Premier Hypnos Diamonique. It is the special cats such Diamonique who was born twisted neck first, we actually thought that she was unsaveable, but she had other ideas. She was hand raised initially on glucose every twenty minutes, which is why she got her name Diamonique which anyone sad enough to sit up all night watching the shopping channel will know is the fake diamond from QVC. She was a fake who blossomed into a beautiful swan, she even gave us her daughter the legendary Hypnos Pearly Pandora who reached the accolade of Supreme exhibit at eight months, and became a Grand Champion. But away from the wins it’s the personalities that have always been our prime concern. We have kept far more cats for their charm than their looks such as Champion Hypnos Columbine who we called Poppy because she used to pop her head at you and she had such a purr!

Who were/are the most memorable cats you've had? The first kitten we ever bred Grand Premier Adraybu Morpheus Diomedes, our blue neuter who started it all. He had such a presence which no subsequent cats have ever quite managed to emulate

What are your hopes for the future of your breed/your breeding programme? Our stud Hypnos Hudson is a lovely Brown who we have high hopes for, but we would like to have more torties, again when it comes to personality you can’t beat a naughty tortie. We always say we will stop breeding when we stop enjoying it, so far we still love it. We have made some wonderful friend because of the cats which we forever grateful.