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All Burmese originate from the same cat - a small brown female
who was brought to
the United States in the 1930s - Wong Mau.
Author:
Gail Pomerantz (formerly
Francois), Gitalaya Cattery,
formerly of South Africa, now resident in Texas, USA
Introduction
Although there are two different Breed Standards for Burmese,
it is an undisputed fact that all Burmese bred today can trace
their ancestry back to a single cat known as Wong Mau. Ten
colours of Burmese are recognised in the Western world with
the exception of the United States and Canada.
Therefore, Burmese are split into two groups:
Burmese and Foreign Burmese. This article concentrates on the
latter group.
Breed Features
The Burmese is considered to be a "Foreign". Its
coat, regardless of colour, is smooth, satin like in texture,
close lying and glossy. It is a medium sized cat with males
tending to be slightly larger. It is muscular and well
developed. When picking up a Burmese, one should be astonished
at its weight. The head is rounded with the overall emphasis
of roundness. The ears are well placed with rounded tips in
profile. The eyes have a rounded lower line with the upper
having a slight oriental slant. The muzzle is blunt, allowing
a completely rounded look to the head. Eyes of golden yellow
are preferred; however, any shade of yellow is acceptable.
Coat Colour Description
Brown (27)
Original Burmese colouring, genetically
black but for the addition of the "Burmese"
gene; a 'seal' brown. |
Cream (27f)
Dilute form of Red.
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Blue (27a)
Naturally occurring dilute form of
Brown - a dark grey |
Brown Tortie (27e)
a mixture of Brown and Red. |
Chocolate (27b)
Modified form of Brown (not a dilution
of Brown) - a warm 'milky coffee' shade of Brown. |
Blue Tortie (27g)
a mixture of blue and cream
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Lilac (27c)
Dilute form of Chocolate - a light
silvery grey with pinkish overtones. |
Chocolate Tortie (27h)
a mixture of chocolate and red
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Red (27d)
Sex-linked orange gene - a very light
coloured 'cream' with tangerine ears, forehead and
tail. |
Lilac Tortie (27j)
a subtle mixture of lilac and cream.
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Reds, Creams & Torties
Breeders in Britain were primarily responsible for the
development of the remaining six colour Burmese. They were
Mrs. Robine Pocock, Mrs. Joyce Dell, Mrs. Evely, Joyce
Westacott and Dorothy Blackman. To produce the Reds, Creams
and Torties, other breeds of necessity, had to be used. The
programme began accidentally in 1964 when a Blue Burmese queen
escaped while in call and was mated by a shorthaired red
tabby. A deliberate mating of a Brown queen to a Red Point
Siamese was undertaken. A third line was established when a
tortie and white farm cat (who unknowingly carried the Siamese
gene) was mated to a Brown Burmese Stud carrying blue.
The first 'accidental' mating produced "a
lithe, outstandingly elegant black and red tortoiseshell, of
good foreign type", "Wavermouse Galapagos"
(Pagan to her friends). From the second mating, a Burmese/
Siamese tortoiseshell hybrid was retained. A male kitten was
kept as a stud from the third 'farm-cat mating'. Recognition
was sought from the Governing Council for the Reds, Creams and
Torties by the Burmese Cat Club (U.K.); and Championship
status was awarded 1973 to the Creams - the Torties being
given recognition finally in 1977.
Genetics of Reds, Creams,
and Torties
A cat has 19 pairs of chromosomes, i.e. 38.
One pair determines sex - the female cat has xx and the male
xy chromosomes. Therefore the male always determines the sex
of the kitten. This is because the gametes (sperm and egg)
only carry 19 chromosomes, due to a process known as meiosis
(reduction and division) which takes place in the ovaries or
testicles.
The male can have sperm carrying either the x
chromosome or the y chromosome, whereas the female's eggs can
only carry the x chromosome. Thus, on conception, the
fertilised ovum is either xx (female) or xy (male).
The red colour of cats is sex-linked, which
means that the gene is on the x chromosome. Geneticists call
the gene Orange and use the symbol o.
Female are xoxo
red, xx non-red or xox tortoiseshell.
The males can be xoy red, or xy non-red.
(Tortoiseshell males are very rare, usually sterile and,
therefore can be ignored).
Crosses involving red are easily predicted,
e.g. Tortie female x red male, that is xox by xoy.
xoxo red female
xox tortie female
xoy red male
xy non-red male
Other colours are produced from combinations of blue
and red, so in Burmese we have:
dd blue
xoxo & xoy red
xox tortoiseshell
xoxdd & xoydd cream, i.e. blue and red together
xoxdd blue cream, i.e. blue and tortie together.
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Breeding with Burmese
Burmese queens tend to be precocious and some have been known
to start calling as early as four months and less! Most queens
breed readily; the average sized litter is four to six
kittens. However, both in South Africa and in the United
Kingdom, larger litters have been recorded of between eight
and twelve. Burmese are very good mothers, and have little
problem producing their young. The kittens are born with fine
'downy' coats and therefore, care must be taken to ensure that
the kittening box is placed in warm, draught free environment.
Kittens can lose body heat rapidly, become chilled and die
from pneumonia. With large litters care must be exercised to
ensure that each kitten has sufficient nourishment from the
queen, as the strongest will push the smallest aside. Most
queens cope well with four to six kittens. Breed History
Full credit must be given to Dr. Joseph
Thompson who bravely decided to pursue his breeding programme
with Wong Mau in the 1930s. However, consideration must be
given to theories of "Burmese" appearing in England
long before the pair imported by Mr. & Mrs. S. France in
1949.
It is generally recognised that the Burmese is
a manmade 'American' breed with a distinct Malaysian
connection, developed by Dr. Joseph Thompson (and colleagues)
in the 30s from the cat known as Wong Mau. Some reports
suggest that she was given to him by a renowned collector of
wild animals Buck "BRING 'EM BACK ALIVE"
Wilson, while others suggest Thompson traveled back from the
Far East with her as he had been employed as a ship's doctor.
Wong Mau, the accredited "ancestor"
of the modern Burmese breed, arrived on the West Coast of
America in 1930. Cats Magazine (January 1948) published an
account by a Major Finch who had been stationed in the Far
East during World War II, of "Rajah" cats found in
the region as 'being a recognised breed' whose characteristics
appear to have matched those of Wong Mau. Major Finch returned
to the USA with a cat similar to Wong Mau called "Simbuni".
As noted earlier, speculation exists that
Burmese have been around for a lot longer than most surmise.
Turn of the century periodicals found, not too long ago in
England, have chronicled reports by various breed experts of
the day and the conclusions drawn cannot be ignored. The
opening pages of "Burmese Cats in Camera" as well as
the recent (1991 revised) edition of "The Burmese
Cat" book, relate some of these theories.
In 1903, Frances Simpson described two
variants of Siamese being exhibited in England at the time;
the preferred "Royal Cat of Siam", a cream coloured
cat showing distinct points with blue eyes was more popular
than the 'Chocolate'. The 'Chocolates' were characterised as
"subtly shaded" cats, and were identical in all
aspects to the Royals except for their coat colour. They were
reported to be "a deep brown with hardly any
markings". Whereas the "Rajah" type,
(coincidentally similar terminology as used by Major Finch)
appeared to be an uniform chocolate shade with eyes described
as a deep amber colour. (Harrison-Weir in 1889). Overall,
there was some confusion, regarding eye colour as descriptions
varied from fancier to fancier. When considering the present
day 'type' of both breeds, one must remember that the early
Siamese bore a far closer resemblance to our
"modern" Burmese.
Fables of the origins of the Siamese abound;
the Burmese legends exist too and have also been romanticised.
As with the Siamese, the Burmese were temple cats. Apparently
each cat was assigned a student monk whose duties were 'to
cater to, and indulge their every whim'. Further suggestions
have been that the Burmese were the 'traditional pets of
Royalty and the Nobility' long before the Siamese.
It has also been recorded by people who have
lived in Burma and travellers who have visited Malaysia
reported that Brown cats were an exception as the common
domestic cats seen in the streets and alleys were no different
from the many other moggies encountered around the world with
variations in head and body shapes but seemingly with a high
preponderance of kinks and other tail defects in the
indigenous cat population.
But, let's get back to the tale of Wong Mau.
In 1930 Wong Mau was the only cat of her 'type' around, so Dr.
Thompson with the help of his geneticist colleagues - Virginia
C. Cobb, Clyde E. Keeler and Madeleine Dmytryk - planned and
mated her to a Seal Point Siamese, Tai. A scientific paper on
their work, entitled "Genetics of the Burmese" was
published in 1933 in the "Journal of Heredity".
When she was bred, she produced three types of
kittens: some with Siamese colouring, sable or brown kittens
and kittens similar to herself what Tonkinese fanciers would
call "natural mink". The brown kittens were retained
and selected as proving to be homozygous Burmese coloured cats
to perpetuate the programme, the intermediate and Siamese
coloured cats were quickly eliminated. When the brown
offspring were mated to each other, they produced only brown
kittens which proved the breed to be distinctive with a sound
genetic background. (They were subsequently proved correct by
further trial matings).
Conclusion :
A most intelligent, superior, sophistiCATed and loveable
feline companion. The magnetism and appeal of this enchanting
breed has to be experienced! Why not adopt a Burmese today?!
Acknowledgements / References
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Burmese Cats
(Price Milburn [NZ] - 1970) author: Grace Burgess.
The Burmese Cat
(Batsford Press - 1975) Co-authors: Dorothy
Silkstone Richards, Robine Pocock, Moira Swift and Vic Watson.
Burmese Cats -
(Batsford Press) Author: Moira K. Swift.
Extract from The Burmese Cat Club
Silver Jubilee and the Story of the Club (Published in 1980)
Breeding Red, Cream and Tortie Burmese author: Robine Pocock
Cats and Catdom Annual - 1980
Burmese Cats in Camera
(Panther Photographic - 1989)
Co-authors: Moira Swift, Robine Pocock and Christina Payne.
Harper's Illustrated Hand book of CATS.
The Burmese Cat -
(Unwin Brothers Ltd)
Edited by Robine Pocock
of The Burmese Cat Club 1991 (UK) for the Burmese Cat Club Benevolent Fund.
With help and grateful thanks to Lorraine Shelton
and thanks to Barb French
for her encouragement!
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