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When
the headlines read: 'Cat dials Police on International Emergency
Number', 'Kleptomaniac Cat takes title of Cat Burglar of the
Year', or 'Cat takes 12 mile Journey at 55 mph on Roof of Police
Car' - then you can look to find the Burmese.
The Burmese is an up-front cat, never left out of where it is
all happening. He is the participator par excellence: alert,
gregarious, intelligent and interfering - you can not ignore
him!
It has been said that Burmese are more like dogs than cats in
their behaviour. Certainly, when encouraged from kittenhood,
they will retrieve indefatigably. They have been known to act as
gun-cats in retrieving the hunter's prey. But - as to being
man's best friend - the Burmese regards the relationship
differently. The role of gazing on an adored owner, ready to
carry out every whim, is not one he will recognise - he prefers
friendship as an equal. When his human friend sits down, it is
to provide him with a warm and comfortable bed. When he kneels
to weed the garden, it is to offer the Burmese, perched on the
convenient back, a vantage-point from which to observe the local
fauna. And when his friend goes about day-to-day tasks, it is
assumed that the perambulating shoulder is a place from which
these tasks can be encouraged and assisted.
The friendly Burmese
Yes, the Burmese is friendly. A recent survey by the Burmese
Cat Club asked members to complete a questionnaire on the
pleasures and problems of owning Burmese. A remarkably high
response, with 626 members replying, gave details of over 1700
cats. To the question, 'Is your Burmese friendly to you?' the
answer was a resounding 'Yes', for 99% of the cats surveyed.
The survey also confirmed the nature of the Burmese as
intelligent and curious. The Burmese seeks to explore its
environment. Plants and ornaments are objects to be examined
minutely. Anything mechanical makes a good game: a solitaire
board with marbles will be played with because the marbles roll
nicely on the floor - much more interesting than the mind-games
played by its owner! Door-handles are quickly understood:
experienced owners often fit door levers upside down to
frustrate the Houdini qualities of their Burmese.
A cat of another breed may walk delicately along a mantle-shelf
where birthday cards are displayed, not disturbing anything. The
Burmese will delight in giving each one a little nudge with the
paw, just to confirm the the law of gravity still exists. Height
is no deterrent. Superbly muscular, the Burmese loves to
frequent the tops of doors - often a surprise for the unwary
visitor.
Nevertheless, Burmese do settle down as they grow out of
adolescence and they can be trained by saying, 'NO!' kindly and
firmly - though you need to start early and you may need some
persistence, because these cats are distinctly strong-minded.
Burmese
need company
So, for those who seek a less-interactive pet, one that will
spend all its time in decorative relaxation, the Burmese is not
generally the right choice - though of course, like children,
they vary in temperament. However, with almost all Burmese,
their social nature means that they need company. Therefore it
is important that, when the owner is out at work, there must be
a stimulating environment. Cat toys help here but company is
better, whether feline or human. Burmese do get on with other
cats, though with other breeds theirs is usually a relationship
of dominance.
They are very trusting cats, take great pleasure in being
handled and love to relax stretched along an arm or round a
human neck. No cat, though, should be roughly handled. Children,
once they have learned this, make excellent playfellows and
often become inseparable from their Burmese companions - to the
great benefit and contentment of both. Frequently, it is this
playful behaviour of Burmese that wins over the husband who has
been dragged reluctantly to see a possible new kitten. Those
cheeky fun-loving eyes are hard to resist!
The beauty
of Burmese
Add to this engaging personality a svelte beauty, and
it is easy to see why the Burmese has become one of the most
sought-after breeds in this country. For the Burmese is above
all an elegant cat, of 'foreign' type, but of a type that has
been carefully bred to exclude extremes of conformation. The
word 'medium' occurs throughout the standard of points. The body
is muscular, and a healthy Burmese feels surprisingly heavy for
its size. The legs should be slender and in proportion to the
body, the back legs being slightly longer than the front. Paws
should be neat and oval in shape, the tail straight, of medium
thickness at the base and tapering to a rounded tip. The head
forms a short wedge, with a slightly rounded top, and the ears
are rounded at the tip. In profile, the brow should be slightly
rounded, the nose should show a distinct 'break' and there
should be a good depth of chin. The ears should show a
characteristic but slight forward tilt.
Those who know Burmese talk about the 'Burmese expression' -
something indefinable but entirely recognisable when looking
into those wonderful yellow eyes! They are a fine feature of a
good Burmese: well set apart, large and lustrous, neither round
nor oriental. The top line of the eyes should slant towards the
nose, while the lower line is rounded. A major concern of judges
these days is to preserve the characteristic shape of the eyes.
A Burmese expression can be unsettlingly lovely!
The coat quality is another feature contributing to the
distinctive beauty of Burmese. It is short and fine, like satin.
The glossy close-lying coat is natural to Burmese in good
health. It requires little grooming beyond stroking, which is
irresistible! The early problems of white hairs should now be a
thing of the past and a coat free from barring is now the norm
rather than the exception on the show bench.
The
Genetic Origins of Burmese
For many lovers of the breed, the original Brown
Burmese (GCCF breed no. 27) is the colour which comes first into
their thoughts. The coat is a rich, warm seal brown, shading
almost imperceptibly to a lighter shade on the underparts of the
cat.
It is fascinating to tell how this colour came in modern times
to the West, so founding the entire breed. In 1930, one Dr.
Joseph C Thompson, a retired US Navy psychiatrist, took from
Rangoon to the USA a little brown cat called Wong Mau. As a cat
breeder, he was convinced that she differed very markedly from
the Siamese, which were of course well known in the States. The
American cat fanciers did not agree with him: They thought she
was just a rather dark Siamese. Nonetheless, he persuaded three
of his friends to co-operate with him in a series of breeding
experiments intended to verify her genetic make-up. The results
were published in the American Journal of Heredity in 1943.
Wong Mau was crossed with a Siamese and the resulting kittens
crossed back to her. The kittens from that back-cross had three
different types of coat: normal Siamese; darker-bodied but still
with very visible points (just like Wong-Mau); and full solid
dark brown - our modern Brown Burmese. These dark brown cats
bred true. Their distinctive colour resulted from the operation
of a newly recognised gene, which we now call the Burmese gene.
This gene - which is inherited from both sire and dam in all
Burmese - characterises the breed. It is one of a group of genes
called the Albino series, because they operate to reduce the
pigmentation of the full-colour coat. The Siamese gene is also a
member of this group, restricting the pigmentation still more
than does the Burmese gene. The typical Siamese coat colour
pattern, with the pale body and much darker points, arises when
the Siamese gene is inherited from both parents. When a Siamese
gene is inherited from one parent and a Burmese gene from the
other, the result is an intermediate type of coat - and this was
the genetic make-up of Wong Mau.
Asian
Roots
Although all modern Burmese are thought to derive
from the characteristic gene brought in by Wong Mau, the gene is
of course widespread in South East Asia and has been so for
centuries. Evidence of this is to be found in the 'Cat Book
Poems of Siam', which is a beautiful manuscript illustrated with
pictures of seventeen characteristic cats of the area (now
Thailand). Among these is the Siamese (known as 'Vichien Mat' in
the original language), but there is also a darker, 'copper-coloured'
cat (Thong Daeng) like Wong Mau.
Probably, it was one of these copper Asian cats (though it may
conceivably have been a full Burmese) which a Mr Young of
Harrogate imported into England in the 1890s. He described it as
a 'variety of the royal Siamese cat, rich chocolate or seal,
with a darker face, ears and tail'. Although the importance of
this variation was not realised at the time, these cats with
hybrid gene structure are now recognised in their own right, as
the 'Tonkinese'. Their intermediate type coat colour occurs
because, unlike in simple Mendelian heredity , the two genes
exhibit incomplete dominance.
Burmese in
Britain: New Colours
The story of Burmese in Britain begins in 1949, when
Mrs Lillian France of Derby imported two females and a male, the
famous Casa Gatos da Foong. An additional male, Casa Gatos
Darkee, was imported in 1953, with the help of Lord and Lady
Aberconway, and Mrs C F Watson later imported Darsham Khudiram.
All these were brown. They were the foundation cats of Burmese
in this country.
The next major development occurred in 1955, when a daughter of
Casa Gatos Darkee was mated back to her father and produced a
kitten of different colour, now recognised as Blue (27a). This
was confirmed as the blue 'dilution', arising from a recessive
gene already known in Siamese. Later imports from America
brought in a second recessive gene, which converts the brown
coat to a much lighter shade, known in Britain as 'chocolate'
(27b). When both recessive genes operate together, the result is
the pale dove-grey known as 'lilac' (27d).
The final part of the story of the Burmese colours concerns the
sex-linked gene, evidently first introduced into the breed in
1964, when a Blue Burmese escaped and was mated by a
short-haired ginger tabby! Other outcrosses occurred and, by
1968, there were three different breeding lines involving this
gene. This gene, in combination with the Burmese gene and the
two recessive genes already discussed, produces the Reds (27d)
and Creams (27f) and the various Tortie colours, in which
Red/Cream is mingled with the base coat colour of Brown, Blue,
Chocolate or Lilac.
The recent survey by the Burmese Cat Club showed that, not
unexpectedly, Brown is the most frequently found colour,
accounting for 477 out of 1710 cats surveyed. But the other
colours have a strong following, too. There are 299 Chocolates,
with their warm milk-chocolate colour, 266 Blues with their soft
blue-grey shading gracefully to silver on the paws, and -
perhaps surprisingly, since they involve both recessive genes
and therefore would be less frequent in natural breeding - as
many as 247 Lilacs, in their pale delicate dove-grey. The
sex-linked group of colours (Red/Cream/Tortie) are also popular,
totalling 427 cats in all.
The
Burmese Cat Club
The Burmese Cat Club has, from its foundation in
1955, overseen the development of the breed, including crucially
the establishment of the various colours without detracting from
the type and personality of the original. Now the largest breed
club in the country, with over 1500 members, a prime concern is
the welfare of the Burmese cat. For this purpose, the country is
divided into eleven regions, each with two Regional Advisers and
a liaising member of the Club's main committee. The Advisers are
ready to assist on all matters to do with Burmese. Each adviser
keeps an up-to-date list of member breeders having kittens for
sale. To participate in the kitten list, all breeders sign up to
a code of ethics formulated by the Club, in which they undertake
to sell only kittens that are fit and healthy. Breeders are
encouraged to feel that they have a moral responsibility for
each kitten sold, so that they should sell only to home where
there is a reasonable expectation of a happy and healthy life.
Also, if there are unexpected problems, or if initial
circumstances change, breeders are encouraged to advise and
support the owners.
The Club also provides rescue and re-homing facilities, should
this unfortunately be necessary, and there is a network of 'safe
houses' across the country to provide short-term accommodation.
The Club also co-operates with the veterinary profession and
university veterinary departments in maintaining the health and
genetic fitness of the breed. Through its Benevolent Fund,
maintained by the generous gifts of members, the Club will pay
for emergency treatment of any unknown Burmese taken in to a
veterinary surgery.
The Burmese Cat Club News is circulated three times a year to
all members and is eagerly awaited by both pet owners and
breeders. Its contents range from the latest information on
veterinary matters, to contributions from members on the antics
and personality of their favourite cats.
At Shows, the Club's table is a familiar sight, offering a wide
and authoritative range of leaflets and other publications,
covering topics from taking home your first kitten to the finer
points of breeding and showing Burmese. Above all, the table
provides a friendly source of knowledgeable advice, and the
latest gossip about this fascinating breed.
Supreme
Success
Both the Burmese Cat Club and the Burmese Cat
Society, another breed-club, offer an annual Championship Show
for Burmese. The standard at these one-breed shows is high and
they are therefore a good place to view the pick of the breed.
Perhaps the best barometer of the quality of a breed is success
in that ultimate all-breed test, the Supreme Show, organised
each year by the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy. Back in
1990, Barbara Boizard-Neil's Bambino Bluebell was overall
winner. Another outstanding success came in 1992, when Hazel
Willmont's red male Chathera Saiwan Sparky was Supreme Adult.
Most recently, in 1998, Ms Hope's Hypnos Pearly Pandora
(chocolate female kitten) won the coveted Overall Supreme title.
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