Burmese Cat

A sleek and elegant shorthair, the Burmese is agile and graceful with a delightful personality, good looks and great charm. Easy to look after and playful and tolerant of children, this is, many say, the perfect cat.

Did you know that the Burmese is well known for its friendly, affectionate and trusting personality. Because of this characteristic, it should always be kept safely indoors.

History

Although Burmese cats have been recorded in their country of origin for at least 500 years, the modern breed has been developed in the U.S. only since 1930. The foundation animals were an Oriental type female called Wong Mau, imported from Burma, and a seal point Siamese. At that time, the Siamese very much resembled the traditional Burmese in head and body characteristics.

Probably no breed has endured quite as much controversy as the Burmese. The cat fanciers’ Association (CFA) withdrew recognition of it in 1941 because there were too few cats with three generations of descendants that bred true to type, and the breed was not reinstated until 1956. Although the original Burmese was a sable brown color, the only known brown cat in the fancy at that time, breeders began to produce other colors, notably champagne, in the early 1960s. The new colors caused an uproar, and the CFA opted to call them Malayan rather than Burmese, to soothe the ruffled feathers of purists who bred only sable Burmese.

In the mid 1970s, a more serious controversy arose. A Burmese with facial features markedly different from the standard and from other Burmese was exhibited. The nose was so much shorter and the muzzle so much broader that it looked more likes a brown Exotic Shorthair. Predictably, some judges pounced on this exhibit, pronounced it of extreme type, and awarded it points over other Burmese.

Naturally, many breeders rushed to purchase this extreme type Burmese, but defects soon began to appear in kittens to such an extent that few survived, and those that did had to have surgery to correct eye defects and cleft palates. The problem became so serious that in 1979 Cornell University set up a five year study that revealed that the extreme type carried certain genetic flaws. The country remains divided with some preferring to retain the look and stamina of the traditional Burmese and others are breeding to achieve the new appearance, which is now called contemporary.

British breeders imported their first Burmese from the U.S. in 1947 and the breed gained official recognition there in 1952. A whole spectrum of new colors and a lighter, more streamlined body, closer in type to the breed’s Siamese ancestor has resulted from British breeding.

Description

The U.S. Burmese is an altogether rounder and stockier animal than its counterparts in other countries. It has a compact, dense, medium sized body with substantial bone structure and good muscle development. Its chest is rounded and the back is straight from the shoulders to the hips, with the hips as wide as the chest.

The head is a rounded, medium sized wedge, with a full face and considerable breadth between the eyes. A broad, short, well developed muzzle maintains the rounded contours of the head. In profile, there is a visible nose break and the chin is firmly rounded. The nose leather should harmonize with the coat color. The medium length neck is well developed. The large, shining, expressive eyes are well rounded, set far apart and are a deep gold color. The medium sized ears are set well apart and have rounded tips.

The legs are medium length and are well proportioned with small, round paws in the U.S. (oval paws in Britain) and paw pads in keeping with the coat color. The tapered, medium length tail should be straight with no kinks.

The gleaming coat is short, fine and satiny, and lies close to the body. Grooming entails only a weekly combing to remove dead hair and a wipe over with a damp chamois to enhance the natural shine.

Varieties

In the U.S., Burmese come in only four colors, sable, champagne, blue and platinum. In other countries, they also come in brown, blue chocolate, lilac, red, cream, brown tortie, blue tortie, chocolate tortie and lilac tortie.

Sable (also known as brown) is the original and perhaps most striking color, the hair is rich, warm, sable brown, right down to the roots, shading to a lighter tone on the underparts. The nose leather and paw pads are brown and the eyes are brilliant yellow to gold.

Champagne (also known as chocolate): the hair is rich, warm, honey beige, with slightly darker shadings on the face and ears allowed. The nose leather is light warm brown, the paw pads are pinkish tan and the eyes are brilliant, deep golden yellow.

Blue: the hair is rich blue, right down to the roots, shading to a lighter tone on the underparts. The nose leather and paw pads are slate gray with a pinkish tinge and the eyes are brilliant golden yellow. The ears face and feet have a silvery shine.

Platinum (also known as lilac): the hair is pale, soft, silvery gray; ears and mask are slightly darker. The nose leather and paw pads are lavender pink and the eyes are brilliant, deep golden yellow.

Temperament

Burmese are extremely friendly to both strangers and family and communicate in sweet, soft voices. They crave attention and affection and will do anything to get it. They remain playful well into adulthood and dislike being left alone for long periods. If yours is a household where humans are absent throughout the day, perhaps you should consider keeping two cats for company. Females assume an active role in running the house, while males are more laid back and prefer to supervise from someone’s lap.

Bworn, stocky, smooth haired cats very like the modern pedigreed Burmese are illustrated ina 16th century or earlier Thai manuscript called the Cat Book of Poems.

They are described in the manuscript as supalak (copper) cats. Early in the 1900s, a small brown cat was taken from Burma to England and described as a Chocolate Siamese. However, it was not approved of in competition with the Seal Point Siamese, and nothing became of it as a breed.

The foundation of today’s Burmese line was eventually laid in the early 1930s. A small brown female of Burmese origin, but probably a hybrid similar to today’s Tonkinese, was mated with a Seal Point Siamese in San Francisco. Some of the resulting offspring were dark brown and formed the beginnings of the official pedigree Burmese. The breed was registered by the American Cat Fanciers’ Federation in 1936, and in the late 1940s gained rapid acceptance in the United Kingdom. Despite having a genetic pattern almost identical to the Siamese, the Burmese is quieter voiced, and much more compact of build. Its nose is distinctly different too, having an obvious bend, or break, in its line. The breed is particularly known for having a delightful personality, being sunny of temperament and obviously intelligent. The cats have well proportioned legs, with the back legs slightly shorter than the front, and neat, oval paws. The tail is straight and of medium length, tapering to a rounded tip.

Burmese Cat Breed Information

Coat – short, fine, glossy, satiny, close lying

Eyes – wide set, large, round, yellow to gold

Grooming – little extra grooming is necessary

Temperament – intelligent, active, inquisitive, adaptable, friendly

Brown (Sable) Burmese

The Brown Burmese is the Usual or original color, and should be warm and rich in tone with matching brown nose leather and paw pads. The chocolate, or champagne, which was intriduced later, is more of a milk chocolate color. Some kittens have faint markings but these usually disappear as they mature. As with all the solid colors of Burmese, the fur lightens in shade on the underparts. Similarly, darker areas may be evident on the ears, mask and tail, like ghosts of the seal points of a Siamese.

A Brown Burmese shows the breed’s tendency to rotundity – unlike its compatriots, the lithe Siamese.

The top line of the Burmese’s eye slants towards the nose, while the lower line is distinctly rounded, giving the breed its unique expression.

Blue Burmese

The first Blue Burmese was sired in the United Kingdom by an imported American cat. It was the Burmese equivalent of its genetic cousin, the Blue Point Siamese. The ideal tone is soft, silvery slate blue, with the silver effect more pronouced on ears, cheeks and paws. Nose leather is dark grey and paw pads are a lighter, pinkish grey.

The density of a Blue Burmese’s fur accentuates strong shoulders and a broad, rounded chest. The Burmese is quite a heavy cat for its size.

Lilac (Platinum) and Chocolate

Lilac – or Platinum as it is called in the United States – is a dilute version of the chocolate (Champagne) Burmese. It became established in the early 1970s. It is a wonderfully soft shade of pinkish dove grey, and nose leather and paw pads are lavender pink in keeping.

The typical Burmese head is distinctly round, with a short nose and a firm chin, and round tipped ears spaced well apart. This Lilac shows excellent type.

A chocolate (champagne) burmese shows the typical milky brown coloring that is quite distinct from the richer coloring of the Brown (Sable)

Red Burmese

The ideal Red has golden eyes and a tangerine cream color to its fur, rather than red. Although tabby markings are almost inevitable on the face because of the orange gene which reveals the tabby pattern, the rest of the coat should be consistent in tone. Any hint of rings on the legs would be considered a fault by show judges. Nose leather and paw pads are pink.

You can see the marked kink in the nose of this red burmese. This is known as a nose break and is a feature of the breed in general.

Cream Burmese

The cream burmese was first developed in the United Kingdom in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is part of the group of colors that arise from the sex linked orange gene. A cream burmese is the dilute version of the red. If the eyes of a cream burmese are deep gold rather than yellow, that is a bonus for the show cat. Otherwise, the ideal coat color if for an even shade of rich cream moving to slightly darker shades on the ears, face, paws and tail. Paw pads and nose leather are pink.

Basic ream is mingled with pinkish dove grey in the lilac tortie. There are also brown, blue and chocolate torties.

Powderings of color over mask, paws, tail and legs on the cream burmese are like ghostly versions of the points on a siamese.