About Us
My name is John Cunningham and I live in West Dulwich, South East London, with my partner, John Johnston. I am a Hospital Director at a medium secure hospital in North London.
John has many other interests but I much prefer the "sedate" life of breeding and showing our Abyssinian Cats.
We discovered Abyssinians quite by chance on holiday in France, and then, having had domestic cats for many years, we finally took the plunge in 2002 and got our first Aby, Domitius.
Owning an Aby is infectious, and with the support of Domitius' breeder, I was firstly encouraged to show him and subsequently persuaded to register a prefix and begin breeding. We had our first litter in 2003. We don’t go in for wide scale breeding, perhaps two or three litters per year.
On a slightly different note, my breeding and show career is about to take a different turn as I am about to apply to commence pupil judge training for shorthair and oriental breeds with FIFe after sitting my preliminary exam later this year (time permitting!!!!!).
Cattery
Despite living on the South Circular, I am fortunate to have a large garden which allows me to have three secure runs for my cats. The runs comprise of stud housing and mating runs/general social runs. My stud boys have their own secure run with insulated, heated and air-cooled housing. I only ever keep stud boys for a maximum of 12-18 months before neutering and rehoming, and never allow a stud boy to be rehomed for further stud.
The girls all primarily live inside with John and I alongside Sutekh (our black oriental neuter). Kittens are born in our bedroom, and transfer to my kitten room (otherwise known as bedroom II or the study) shortly after weaning onto solid food. All kittens are part of the family and are well looked after and socialised (we have an au-pair specifically for looking after the cats, and us!!!).
Registries
I register all kittens with FIFe via Felis Britannica as standard. I do also have registered prefix with both TICA and CFA and can register cats separately through these registries if requested.
Memberships
I am a full member of The Aristocats Cat Club, which is a full member of Felis Britannica. I am also a committee member with special responsibility for Aristocat Show Management. I am also an honourary member of The Viking Cat Club (also affiliated to Felis Britannica) and a member of TickedTica, an all breed club with a special interest in Somali and Abyssinian Cats which is chartered by TICA.
Later in 2008 I hope to join the FIFe breed council for Abyssinians.
