Videos Burmese Breed Information
Country of origin -
Thailand
Breed standards -
AACE CFA(*) TICA(*) CCA ACF(*) FIFe(*)
The Burmese is a breed of domesticated cats split into two subgroups: the American Burmese
and the British Burmese. Most cat
registries do not recognise a split between the two groups, but
those that do formally refer to the type developed by British cat
breeders as the European Burmese . The Burmese was first
recognized as a distinct breed in America in 1936 by the Cat Fanciers'
Association. Owing to the extensive breeding with Siamese cats that had been used to
increase the population, the original type was overwhelmed and
registration was temporarily dissolved during the 1940s. The breed
was recognized by the UK Governing Council of the
Cat Fancy in 1952. In 1953, after years of selective breeding,
Burmese cats in America once again conformed to type and were
recognized.
Originally, Burmese cats were exclusively brown (sable), but years of selective breeding have
produced a wide variety of colours. Different associations have
different rules about which of these count as Burmese.
Burmese cats are known for being sociable and friendly with
humans, as well as intelligent. They are very vocal, and often call
to their owners.
Throughout the modern history of Burmese, there has been much
breeding with Siamese leading to such give-aways as blue or green
eyes in the normally yellow-eyed breed. In fact, the Tonkinese cat is a now-recognised cross
between Burmese and Siamese.
1. Characteristics
The Burmese is considered a foreign shorthair in the
United States. Accepted eye colour for the breed is gold or yellow,
although interbreeding with Siamese may lead to blue or green. The
coat is known for being glossy, with a satin-like finish. As with
most short-hairs, it requires no additional grooming. The shape of
the British breed is more moderate but must not be Oriental ,
while the American breed is sturdier in build. Longer lived than
most pedigree cats, they often reach 16 to 18 years of
age.
Burmese are vocal like the Siamese but have softer, sweeter
voices. They are people oriented, forming strong bonds with their
owners, gravitating toward all human activity. The CFA breed
information on the Burmese implies that all survival instinct of
flight or fight seems to have been bred out of them. However,
other sources note that, while rarely aggressive with humans,
Burmese cats tend to be able to defend themselves quite well
against other cats, even those larger than themselves.
Burmese maintain kitten interests and
energy throughout their adulthood and are very athletic and
playful. In some instances they even retrieve items as part of a
game.
2. History
The earliest records of the type now known as Burmese come from
Thailand, then known as Siam. A series
of 17 illustrated poems written in Siam during the period of the
Ayudhya mention three types of cat which
appear to correspond to known breeds. These were the Vichien Mat
(Siamese), the Si-Sawat (Korat) and the
Thong Daeng (Copper, now known as Burmese). These cats are thought
to have remained in Thailand until it was invaded by the Burmese in
the 18th century; returning soldiers may have taken the temple cats
with them back to Burma.
In 1871, Harrison Weir organised
a cat show at the Crystal
Palace. A pair of Siamese cats were on display that closely
resembled modern American Burmese cats in build, although Siamese
in marking. After this, cat fancy began
with cat clubs and cat shows forming, although it took many years
for breeds to be worked-out and developed. The first Burmese cats
in the late 19th century in Britain were considered Chocolate
Siamese rather than a breed in their own right, and this view
persisted for many years, encouraging cross-breeding between
Burmese and Siamese and attempts to breed Burmese to more closely
conform with the Siamese build. The breed slowly died out in
Britain.
Dr. Joseph Cressman
Thompson imported Wong Mau, a brown female cat, into
San Francisco in 1930. As had
happened earlier, many breeders considered the cat simply to be a
colour variant of the Siamese, but Dr Thompson considered the build
sufficiently different to be something else. Without any male of a
similar type, Wong Mau was bred with Tai Mei, a
sealpoint Siamese from Thailand. Wong Mau was then bred
with her son to produce dark brown kittens that were called Burmese
cats. In 1936, the Cat Fancier's Association granted
recognition to the Burmese breed, but withdrew this in 1947 owing
to the breed being mixed with Siamese and hybrid kittens being sold
as pure. By 1953 the Burmese Cat Society of America had brought the
situation under enough control for recognition to be restored.
The breed didn't take off in Britain until after 1945, when
soldiers returning from Burma brought home cats. From about 1949 to
1956, the British Burmese population was being enriched with cats
imported from America. The cats which fed the British breeding
programme were of a variety of builds. By 1952, three generations
had been produced in Britain and official recognition was granted
by the Governing
Council of the Cat Fancy and the breed was accorded the breed
number 27. Until the late 1960s, the gene pool in Britain was very
small, with most Burmese being descended from 6 initial imports and
a Burmese/Chinese hybrid from Singapore. In 1969, more were brought
over from Canada, and the genepool was widened.
The first blue Burmese was born in 1955 in England. This was to
be followed by red, cream and tortoiseshell kittens over the next
couple of decades. Much effort was put in to remove banding
patterns from the coats, and to decide whether these new colours
counted as Burmese. Champagne coloured cats (known as
"chocolate" in the UK) appeared in America, but breeding
was impeded by the refusal of breed clubs to acknowledge that
Burmese cats could be any colour other than Brown. In 1971, the
first lilac kitten was born, being the latest solid colour
introduced in Burmese. Throughout the 1970s, brown, chocolate
(champagne), blue and lilac toroiseshell types were developed in
England. These are still not accepted by the Cat Fancier's
Association in America. Cinnamon, Fawn, Caramel and Apricot Burmese
were developed in New Zealand from a breeding programme initiated
by geneticist Dr Rod Hitchmough. The first cinnamon Burmese was
Arsenios Cinnamon Dream Boy.
From the 1950s onwards, countries in the Commonwealth and Europe started
importing Burmese cats from Britain. As a result, most countries
based their Standard of Points for this breed on the British model,
rather than the American.
3. Varieties
As a result of these separate breeding programmes, British
Burmese are different from American Burmese. The British build
tends to be more Oriental, with a more triangular face, while the
American Burmese is stockier and rounder in the body, head, eyes
and feet. It has markedly full cheeks and a short muzzle, sometimes
called "pug-like". In the British
type, both the American Burmese's "cobbiness" and the
obvious Siamese influence long seen in the breed are today
considered grave, even disqualifying faults.
Ever since varieties other than sable/brown have existed, there
has been conflict in the world of cat fancy as to which varieties
are considered Burmese. In Britain, all the colours listed below
are recognised by the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy,
Britain's ruling cat association. In the USA, which colours are
acceptable depends on which cat registry the cat is registered
with. For example, the Cat Fancier's Association only
recognises the first four colours below. All varieties should
gradually shade from darker backs to lighter underparts. There
should be no barring or spotting.
* Brown (UK) or Sable (USA)
* Blue
* Chocolate (UK) or Champagne (USA)
* Lilac (UK) or Platinum (USA)
* Red
* Cream
* Brown Tortoiseshell
* Chocolate Tortoiseshell
* Lilac Tortoiseshell
* Blue Tortoiseshell
Varieties with more limited recognition:
* Cinnamon
* Fawn
* Cinnamon Tortie
* Fawn Tortie
* Caramel
* Caramel Tortie
* Apricot
4. Genetics
The Burmese Brown coat is caused by the Burmese gene (cb), part
of the albino series, which causes a reduction in the amount of
pigment produced converting black into brown, and all the other
colours into a paler, more delicate shade of their full colour
equivalents. The action of the gene causes
pigment production to be most limited in the warmest parts of the
body, so in some varieties darker areas of pigment are obvious on
the colder parts of the body such as the face and ears, the tail
and the feet. The effect of restricted pigment is significantly
more visible in young kittens.
The Burmese gene is also present in some other cat breeds,
partcularly the established rex breeds , where it can be
fully expressed in its homozygous form
(cbcb) and referred to as Burmese Colour Restriction or Sepia, or
can be combined with the Siamese gene (cbcs) to form Mink or Darker
Points. The Singapura is
always homozygous for the Burmese gene, combining it with a ticked
tabby pattern and Snow Bengals
with eye colours other than blue also have the gene. A breed of cat exists called the
Asian which is a sister breed to
the Burmese, having the same physical type, but occurring in a
range of other patterns and colours not recognised as part of the
Burmese breed.
4. 1. Controversy
For the past thirty years, there has been controversy over the
appearance of the breed, which can now be divided into two camps.
American breeders prefer the "contemporary Burmese"
("American Burmese") which has shorter noses and rounder
skulls. The "traditional Burmese" (or "British
Burmese") was declassed by the CFA in the 1980s. England's GCCF took the opposite approach and
banned the registration of "contemporary Burmese" in
order to preserve the "traditional" bloodlines.
The controversy revolves around the fact that "contemporary
Burmese" sometimes carry alleles for
the Burmese Head Fault, a lethal head defect; affected kittens do not
survive long. This problem does not generally occur with
"traditional Burmese". Its widespread presence in the
American lineages goes back to a cat named Good Fortune
Fortunatus, a fine example of the "contemporary"
body/head type. This individual was extensively mated to Burmese
cats in the USA, and today's show-type American Burmese cats
can usually trace their lineage back to it.
Unfortunately, Good Fortune Fortunatus not only carried
the alleles for producing the much-desired stockier body and round
head, but also for the fatal condition which seems to be related to
the head shape. "Contemporary Burmese" Breeders feel
justified in continuing with their stock because defective kittens
are euthanized before they are of age
to be sold. Despite the contribution of Good Fortune
Fortunatus to today's American Burmese gene pool being extensive - the fatal allele
was essentially spread throughout all American Burmese lines -, it
is hoped that the head fault is not too closely linked to alleles
conferring the desired "modern"-type anatomy and that the "head fault"
allele will eventually be eliminated by years of controlled
breeding.
Leslie A. Lyons, Ph.D. from
University of
California, Davis is doing research to locate the gene that is
causing this mutation. Resolving these problems would be highly
useful, as the "head fault" allele appears to be
expressed in recessive or
epistatic manner. Therefore,
eliminating it from the gene pool by simply culling affected
animals is likely a prolonged process, if it can at all be
successful (recessive alleles are rarely ever entirely eliminated
from all but the most inbred gene pools).
Genetic screening for the
presence of the allele would enormously speed up the process if the
allele is not closely liked to the type's defining features,
and prevent much suffering as the birth of animals doomed to an
unpleasant death could be avoided or at least much reduced.
Copyright (c) 2008 Kitt Killion Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
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