Burmese Cats, close relations of Siamese Cats

What do Burmese Cats look like? This depends on where you live!

That's right. In the UK they are the more 'foreign' type although never the extreme type of the modern Siamese and neither do they have pug-like features, which the 'top' American Burmese have.

In the US, Burmese cats are far more rounded in the face and head than their UK cousins, and some of the recent show winners have similar facial characteristics to the pug dog breed. In the US, the breed has had, and is having, a recurring genetic problem - some kittens are born with a lethal head defect. Affected lines produce kittens that either die prematurely or shortly after birth, or sadly must be euthanized to stop their suffering. Unfortunately there is no test for this problem, which makes it harder and slower to address.

When healthy, Burmese cats are, and deserve to be, very popular - and they do come in colors other than brown, although some breed clubs took a long time recognizing any other colors. In the UK you can get most colors, and also now in the US. However, some Burmese will be classified as Asians and Asian variants rather than Burmese. These are very closely related to the Burmese but have a parent or past parent that was not a pure bred Burmese. This produces more pattens, shading and colors and a cat that looks and acts just like a 'proper' Burmese.

What are they like? Very loving, always around - some might say clinging, very determined and sometimes dominant, which can cause problems in a multi-cat household where spraying might be the consequence of unhappy cats. They really need company and especially company of their own breed so they might do less well if forced to be on their own. They have quieter voices than Siamese cats and of course are clever cats.

The breed was started by crossing an imported brown female cat called Wong Mau to a seal-point Siamese imported from Thailand. One of the black kittens was crossed back to his Mum and brown kittens resulted (Burmese). Although this breed was encouraged in the UK they are however seen on the streets of Thailand. Like the early Siamese, they are described in early documents and manuscripts. These include the Tamra Maew (Cat Book Poems) and the Smud Khoi. Their breeding is intimately entwined with our beautiful Siamese cats and especially in the UK, the Burmese even has the look of the traditional Siamese, but with very subtle color shading. Burmese cats of course also have the keen intelligent human friendly nature that we have come to expect from Siamese cats.

You may have also heard of the Bombay Cat - this is just a special name for an all-black Burmese style cat which is classified within the Asian breed grouping. Like the US Burmese it has the same genetic problems (lethal head defect) in some lines. The Bombay looks like a mini-panther and of course goes very well within the chic sophisticated modern home.

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