Burmese

The Burmese is a breed of cat originating in Thailand. This medium-sized cat is characterized by its short-haired, sepia-patterned coat.

Common origins The Tamra Meow or Book of Poems of Cats is a richly illustrated Thai collection of verses written between 1350 and 1767 and which describes seventeen different cats, some bringing good luck and some not. The manuscript lists and poetically describes the breeds of cats existing at that time and describes the Burmese. It is possible that Burmeses competed in England in the 19th century as Siamese. In 1930, an American sailor brought back to San Francisco a cat from Burma: Wong-Mau, whose hazelnut coat showed slight variations in the intensity of the color, stronger at the extremities (legs, tail, head) without however wearing the spiked pattern. Wong-Mau is purchased by Dr. Joseph Thomson. Another version of the story holds that Joseph Thomson directly brought Wong-Mau back from Burma. The doctor carried out several crosses with cats of Thai origin and in particular a Siamese sealpoint in order to reproduce the coat of Wong-Mau. The Cat Fancier Association (CFA) recognized the breed in 1936 under the name “Burmese” which means “Burmese” in English. The first Burmese were imported into the United Kingdom in the early 1950s and recognized by the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) in 1952. The Burmese in the United States In the United States, the breeding program with the Siamese stopped at the end of the 1950s, and American burmese breeders considered that their breed allowed only one color: seal sepia, also called sable or also sable in France, that is to say genetically black sepia . In the 1970s, the type of the American burmese grew stronger: the face became rounder, like the eyes and the forehead, the body became cobby. Until 1984, the blue, chocolate and lilac burmeses were listed as a separate breed by the CFA, the mandalays, while the TICA recognized them as burmeses. The Burmese in the United Kingdom British breeders continue the breeding program with Siamese longer than in America and develop their own type of Burmese, more oriental than the American Burmese and accepting a greater number of colors. The blue color is saved in a few years. Rufous, cream and tortoiseshell - resulting from an accidental cross, these colors not naturally occurring in Burmese, were accepted in the 1970s. The English Burmese is very popular in the United Kingdom where it is one of the top 10 most popular breeds. The differences between the American Burmese type and the English Burmese type become too great and two breeds are now recognized: the English Burmese and the American Burmese.