The Burmese cat (, , or , or , meaning copper colour) is a

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

of domestic cat, originating in

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

, believed to have its roots near the Thai–Burma border and developed in the United States and Britain. Most modern Burmese are descendants of one female cat called ''Wong Mau'', which was brought from Burma to the United States in 1930 and bred with American Siamese. From there, American and British breeders developed distinctly different Burmese breed standards, which is unusual among pedigreed

domestic cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small Domestication, domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have sh ...

s. Most modern

cat registries A cat registry or cat breed registry, also known as a cat fancier organization, cattery federation, or cat breeders' association, is an organization that registers domestic cats (usually purebred) of many breeds, for exhibition and for breedin ...

do not formally recognise the two as separate breeds, but those that do refer to the British type as the European Burmese. Originally, all Burmese cats were dark brown (genetically black), but are now available in a wide variety of colours; formal recognition of these also varies by standard. Both versions of the breed are known for their uniquely social and playful temperament and persistent vocalisation.

History

In 1871,

Harrison Weir Harrison William Weir (5 May 18243 January 1906), known as "The Father of the animal fancy, Cat Fancy", was a British artist. He organised the first cat show in England, at the The Crystal Palace, Crystal Palace, London, in July 1871. He and ...

organised a cat show at the Crystal Palace, London. A pair of Siamese cats were on display that closely resembled modern American Burmese cats in build, thus probably similar to the modern Tonkinese breed. The first attempt to deliberately develop the Burmese in the late 19th century in Britain resulted in what were known as Chocolate Siamese rather than a breed in their own right; this view persisted for many years, encouraging

crossbreed A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. A domestic animal of unknown ancestry, where the breed status of only one parent or grandparent is known, may also be called a crossbreed though ...

ing between Burmese and Siamese in an attempt to more closely conform to the Siamese build. The breed thus slowly died out in Britain. Joseph Cheesman Thompson imported Wong Mau, a dark female cat, into

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 1930. Thompson considered the cat's build to be sufficiently different from the Siamese to still have potential as a fully separate breed. Wong Mau was bred with Tai Mau, a seal point Siamese, and then bred with her son to produce dark brown kittens that became the foundation of a new, distinctive strain of Burmese. In 1936, the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) granted the breed formal recognition. However, due to continued extensive outcrossing with Siamese cats to increase the population, the original type was overwhelmed, and the CFA suspended breed recognition a decade later. Attempts by various American breeders to refine the unique Burmese standard persisted, however, and in 1954, the CFA lifted the suspension permanently. In 1958, the United Burmese Cat Fanciers (UBCF) compiled an American judging standard that has remained essentially unchanged since its adoption. Meanwhile, in the UK, interest in the breed was reviving. The cats that composed the new British breeding program were of a variety of builds, including some imported from the United States. By 1952, three true generations had been produced in Britain and the breed was recognised by the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Governing Council of the Cat Fancy The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) is a cat registry, established in 1910 and the largest organisation that registers pedigree cats in the United Kingdom. It was formed from a small number of cat clubs which were registering cats a ...

(GCCF). Since the 1950s, countries in the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

and Europe started importing British Burmese; as a result, most countries have based their standard on the British model. Historically, the two versions of the breed were kept strictly distinct genetically. European Burmese (also known as "traditional") were declassed as a breed by the CFA in the 1980s. The GCCF banned the registration of all Burmese imported from the United States in order to preserve the "traditional" bloodlines. Most modern

do not formally recognise these dual standards as representing separate breeds, but those that do refer to the British type as the European Burmese. Recently, The International Cat Association (TICA) and CFA clubs have started using the American breed standard at select shows in Europe. During the early period of breed development, it became clear that Wong Mau herself was genetically a

between a Siamese and Burmese type. This early

type was later developed as a separate breed, known today as the Tonkinese. Burmese cats have also been instrumental in the development of the

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

and the Burmilla, among others.

Description

Appearance

The two standards differ mainly in head and body shape. The British or traditional ideal tends toward a more slender, long-bodied cat with a wedge-shaped head, large pointed ears, long tapering muzzle and moderately almond-shaped eyes. The legs should likewise be long, with neat oval paws. The tail tapers to medium length. The American (also called "contemporary") Burmese is a noticeably stockier cat, with a much broader head, round eyes and distinctively shorter, flattened muzzle; the ears are wider at the base. Legs and tail should be proportionate to the body, medium-length, and the paws also rounded. In either case, Burmese are a small to medium size breed, tending to be about , but are nevertheless substantially-built, muscular cats and should feel heavy for their size when held – "a brick wrapped in silk".

Coat and colour

In either standard, the coat should be very short, fine and glossy, with a satin-like finish. Colour is solid and must be uniform over the body, only gradually shading to lighter underparts. Faint colourpoint markings may be visible, but any barring or spotting is considered a serious fault. The eyes are green or gold depending on coat colour. The breed's original standard colour is a distinctively rich dark brown (genetically black), variously known as sable (USA), brown (UK, Australia) or seal (New Zealand). It is the result of the Burmese gene (c^b), part of the albino series. This gene causes a reduction in the amount of pigment produced, converting black into brown and rendering all other colours likewise paler than their usual expression. The action of the gene also produces the modified colourpoint effect, which is more noticeable in young kittens. The first blue Burmese was born in 1955 in Britain, followed by red, cream, and tortoiseshell over the next decades. Chocolate ("champagne" in the USA) first appeared in the United States. Lilac ("platinum" in the USA), the last major variant to appear, was likewise developed in the USA beginning in 1971. Currently, the British GCCF standard recognises solid brown, chocolate, blue, lilac, red and cream, as well as the tortoiseshell pattern on a base of brown, chocolate, blue or lilac. In the USA, chocolate ("champagne"), blue, and lilac ("platinum") cats were first formally considered a separate breed, the Malayan, in 1979. This distinction was abolished in 1984, but until 2010, the CFA continued to place the brown ("sable") Burmese into a separate division, bundling all other recognised colours into a "dilute division" and judging them separately. Currently, the CFA standard still recognises the Burmese only in sable, blue, chocolate ("champagne"), and lilac ("platinum"). Other colours have been developed from this initial base set, with varying degrees of popularity and recognition. In 1989 a cinnamon breeding programme was started in the Netherlands; the first fawn kitten was born in 1998. Cinnamon, fawn, caramel, and apricot Burmese have also been developed in New Zealand, as have tortoiseshell variants of all these colours. A new colour

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, ...

("russet") appeared in New Zealand in 2007. This line has an initially dark pigment in the cats' coats, which fades as they grow, eventually becoming a paler orange colour. File:GIP HU Alba Regia Ganxsta Gizi (Gizi) BUR h female EX1 CAPS NOM.JPG, Chocolate tortoiseshell American adult File:Geisha på fluff (4735888531).jpg, Brown European kitten. The temperature sensitive colourpoint restriction gene causes brown kittens to be born with light coats. File:Elsa (5913477967).jpg, Lilac European adult File:British burmese - Artiste peintre de Supercool.JPG, Cream European adult File:MerlintheBlueBurmese.jpg, Blue European adult

Temperament

Burmese are a notably people-oriented breed, maintaining their kitten-like energy and playfulness into adulthood. They are also said to have a number of overtly puppy-like characteristics, forming strong bonds with their owners and gravitating toward human activity. The cats often learn to play games such as 'fetch' and 'tag'. Veterinarian Joan O. Joshua has written that the "dog-like attachment to the owners" of the Burmese, as with the similarly behaving Abyssinians, causes "greater dependence on human contacts". This stands in contrast to the mere "tolerant acceptance of human company" based around "comforts" that other breeds display. They are persistently vocal, in a manner reminiscent of their Siamese ancestry, yet they have softer, sweeter voices. Burmese are not as independent as other breeds and are not suited to being left alone for extended periods of time.

Genetics

The Burmese gene is also present in some other cat breeds, particularly the established rex breeds, where it can be fully expressed in its

homozygous Zygosity (the noun, zygote, is from the Greek "yoked," from "yoke") () is the degree to which both copies of a chromosome or gene have the same genetic sequence. In other words, it is the degree of similarity of the alleles in an organism. Mos ...

form (c^bc^b) (referred to as Burmese Colour Restriction or Sepia). The same gene can also be combined with the Siamese gene (c^bc^s) to produce either darker points or a light-on-dark-brown coat, similar to the Burmese chocolate (champagne in the USA), known as "mink". The Asian Group cat breed is related to the Burmese; the Asian is physically similar but comes in different patterns and colours. The Singapura is always homozygous for the Burmese gene, combining it with a ticked tabby pattern. Snow

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

s with eye colours other than blue also have the gene. The lineage of Burmese cats known as "Contemporary Burmese" often hosts a 4-aminoacid deletion on the ALX1 gene.

Heterozygosity Zygosity (the noun, zygote, is from the Greek "yoked," from "yoke") () is the degree to which both copies of a chromosome or gene have the same genetic sequence. In other words, it is the degree of similarity of the alleles in an organism. Mos ...

of the mutation results in brachicephaly, while homozygosity results in a profound head malformation known as the Burmese head defect, which is always fatal.

Genetic diversity

A 2008 study conducted at

UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

by the team led by feline geneticist Dr Leslie Lyons found that the American Burmese has the second lowest level of genetic diversity (after the Singapura) of all the breeds studied, and concludes that this situation should be addressed. The CFA observes that "breeders are reporting less hearty litters, smaller adults, smaller litters, and immune system problems, all of which point towards inbreeding depression becoming more common." The Burmese breed council currently allows outcrossing using

, Tonkinese and Burmese type cats imported from Southeast Asia to improve genetic diversity. The

Fédération Internationale Féline The (FIFé) (International Feline Federation) is a federation of Cat registry, cat registries. There are currently forty-two member organizations in forty countries. Membership spans Europe, South America, and Asia. FIFé is one of the nine me ...

(FIFe) excludes novice show cats from breeding.

Health

A 2016 study in England of veterinary records found the Burmese to have a higher prevalence of

diabetes mellitus Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained hyperglycemia, high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or th ...

compared to other breeds with 2.27% of Burmese having the condition compared to the overall rate of 0.58%. An Australian study in 2009 found a prevalence of 22.1% compared to an overall rate of 7.4%. A study of veterinary records in the UK found an average life expectancy of 14.42 years for the Burmese with a sample size of 45, the highest in the study and higher than the overall of 11.74 years. Certain UK bloodlines suffer from an acute teething disorder in young kittens (FOPS: Feline Orofacial Pain Syndrome), where the eruption of the second teeth causes extreme discomfort and the young cat tears at its face to try to alleviate the pain. Eruption of the new teeth in the jaw that causes the problem; these cannot be removed until they have erupted, by which time the problem ceases. Pain relief intervention should be considered, to prevent overt self-trauma. Apart from scarring caused by the self-mutilation, the cat seems to recover completely. The Burmese is predisposed to congenital hypotrichosis. The Burmese is one of the more commonly affected breeds for gangliosidosis 2. An

autosomal recessive In genetics, dominance is the phenomenon of one variant (allele) of a gene on a chromosome masking or overriding the Phenotype, effect of a different variant of the same gene on Homologous chromosome, the other copy of the chromosome. The firs ...

mutation of the HEXB gene is responsible for the condition in the breed. The Burmese is the cat breed most often affected by

hypokalaemia Hypokalemia is a low level of potassium (K+) in the blood serum. Mild low potassium does not typically cause symptoms. Symptoms may include feeling tired, leg cramps, weakness, and constipation. Low potassium also increases the risk of an ...

. An

mutation of the WNK4 gene is responsible for congenital forms of hypokalaemia in the breed. The Burmese is the most commonly affected breed for feline orofacial pain syndrome.

References

External links

National Alliance of Burmese Breeders, a CFA-affiliated Burmese Club

Burmese pedigree database

Burmese-Burmilla pedigree database

Burmese Cat Club of New Zealand

UK Burmese Cat Association

The Burmese Cat Club

Burmese Brown Cat Breeds Characteristics and more
also read about another brown cat breed York Chocolate
UK Burmese Cat Society

United Burmese Cat Fanciers (UBCF)
a non-affiliated global Burmese Cat Club {{DEFAULTSORT:Burmese (Cat) Articles containing video clips Cat breeds Cat breeds originating in Myanmar Cat breeds originating in Thailand