The Birman Cat Breed

A Birman cat is an exceptionally beautiful semi-long-haired breed. Its striking appearance includes a pointed colouration, where the face, legs, ears, and tail have intense colouring, contrasting with a paler body colour. The ideal Birman boasts stunning blue eyes and four pure white feet. The front paws should have “gloves” covering only the feet, while the rear paws should have “socks” extending up to a pointed gauntlet behind the leg.

The breed standard describes the Birman as having a long and substantial body, with thick-set medium-length legs and short, strong paws. The head is broad and rounded, featuring well-spaced medium-sized ears. The nose is medium in length with a slight dip in the profile, but without the stop seen in Persian cats. The Birman chin should be well-developed, and the eyes should have a slightly flattened top rather than being round.

Birmans are known for their loving and affectionate nature, having been bred as companion cats for many generations. They adore human company and show an intelligent interest in their family’s activities.

Birman cats come in twenty different colours, ensuring there’s at least one to capture your heart. The original and still highly popular colour is the Seal Point (13c1), characterised by dark brown points and a golden body colour. The Blue Point (13c2), a dilute version of the Seal Point, features bluish-grey points and a cooler body colour, often favoured in shows.

Chocolate Points (13c3) exhibit warm milk chocolate points and a very pale body, with exceptionally deep blue eyes. The Lilac Points (13c4), a dilute version of the Chocolate Point, have soft pinkish-grey points and a cool, almost pearly body colour.

Red Point Birmans (13c5) contrast sharply with Lilac Points, having fiery orange-red points and a pale apricot-tinged body. Cream Points (13c7), the dilute version of Red Points, feature pale soft pinkish-brown points and a very light body colour, exuding an ethereal beauty.

Tortie Points are exclusive to female Birmans and include Seal Tortie (13c6), Blue Tortie (13c8), Chocolate Tortie (13c9), and Lilac Tortie (13c10). Their points mix with shades of red and cream, and their body colour varies from gold in Seal Torties to pearly white in Lilac Torties.

Tabby Points, resembling little tigers with striped legs and ringed tails, are available in the six main Birman colours: Seal Tabby Point (13c11), Blue Tabby Point (13c12), Chocolate Tabby Point (13c13), Lilac Tabby Point (13c14), Red Tabby Point (13c15), and Cream Tabby Point (13c17). Red and Cream Tabby Points are rare.

Tortie Tabby Points, also sex-linked and exclusively female, combine the Tabby and Tortie genes. They are available in Seal Tortie Tabby Point (13c16), Blue Tortie Tabby Point (13c18), Chocolate Tortie Tabby Point (13c19), and Lilac Tortie Tabby Point (13c20), but remain rare.

For more information about this enchanting breed, feel free to reach out.

Origins of the Birman

There is an intriguing legend to explain the origin of the Birman cat, still known in many countries as the Sacred Cat of Burma. The legend states that many years ago before the birth of Buddha the Khmer people of Burma who were very devout, built wonderful temples to their Goddess Tsun Kyan-Kse. The most beautiful of these temples at Lao-Tsan contained a solid gold statue of the Goddess, with sapphire eyes. The priests of the temple also kept one hundred pure white cats as companions and temple guardians. The elderly head priest Mun-Ha had an especially devoted friend in his cat Sinh. One stormy night, raiders attacked the temple, killing the priest Mun-Ha.

Immediately the cat Sinh leapt to assist his master, and as he stood on Mun-Ha’s dying body before the golden Goddess the priest’s soul entered into Sinh and his appearance was changed to one of great beauty, that of a seal-point Birman complete with golden tipped coat and sapphire eyes. Inspired by this sign from the Goddess, the other priests drove out the raiders and saved the temple.

Sinh lived for seven more days without either food or water, before dying and taking his and Mun-Ha’s souls into Paradise. The next day, the remaining ninety-nine temple cats were found to be transformed like Sinh, and from then onwards they were regarded as Sacred Cats, and thought to contain the souls of pious priests on their way to heaven. Many people dismiss this legend as just another pretty story to explain the existence of another manufactured cat, but evidence from Birman Cat Club members suggests that cats similar to the Birman have been known in that area of the world for many years.

During the 1930s, Mr Len Sayer, whose wife Joan bred Birmans under the Sayella prefix for many years, was serving with the British army in Burma. Always a cat lover he remembers seeing groups of seal-point Birmans living wild amongst temple ruins. These cats were fed and protected by the local people who believed that to injure a Sacred Cat was to put their immortal souls in danger. In more recent years, Birman breeder Jan Sharpe, Aesthetikat Birmans, on holiday in the area, found a shop displaying photographs of cats that looked like Birmans. On making enquiries she was taken through the shop into the garden to see the cats, who were described to her as ‘the cats of the country’. This group had all originally been strays rescued by the shop owner. Another pair of Birman breeders Anne and Ken Hunter, Kenanche Birmans, visited the Burmese border in 1988. They were unable to go into Burma because of the political upheaval, but brought back several photos of Birman lookalikes who were again described to them as ‘the cat of the country’. It would seem then that the Sacred Birman Cat probably did originate and is still managing to exist in and near Burma.

Birmans in Britain

The story of the Birman in Britain began in 1965 when Mrs Elsie Fisher visited the Paris Cat Show, saw Birmans for the first time and fell in love with this fabulous breed. In partnership with her friend Mrs Margaret Richards she made swift arrangements to import one Seal point male and two Blue point females, the only colours then bred.

Nouky de Mon Reve, the Seal male (above), was born 17 September 1964 and transferred to Mrs Fisher on 21 November, arriving in this country shortly afterwards for his quarantine period. He was shown at the Herts & Middlesex show in September 1965 and then on exhibition at the National Show at Olympia in December.

Orlamonde de Khlaramour and Osaka de Lugh were born in March and September 1965 respectively and arrived here a little later. It seems that new breeds did not have to wait to be granted Championship status at that time; the GCCF recognised the Birman breed in 1966 and Nouky and Osaka quite quickly became Champions.

Nouky was a reportedly large cat with a superb coat but, in common with all the early Birmans, he had pale blue eye colour and an over-abundance of white on his front feet. Osaka was well-marked and had the best eye colour, but unfortunately was not a very good mother, with her kittens often reared by another queen, and she was also subject to fits; Orlamonde, on the other hand, although she lacked gauntlets, was a wonderful mother.

Birmans in France

The first European Birmans were thought to have arrived in France about 1919, as a thank you gift for an Englishman, Major Russell Gordon, and a Frenchman Auguste Pavie. These two gentlemen are said to have assisted the Kittahs during Brahmin uprisings, saving many priests and sacred temples. A male and female cat were dispatched by sea. Sadly, the male died during the long voyage, but the female named Sitah was found to be pregnant, and gave birth to a litter in 1920.

This litter contained what was described as a perfect Birman called Poupee. Between 1920 and 1939 the surviving kittens were bred amongst themselves and to other breeds, selecting cats who most resembled Poupee, to expand and improve the breed.

The Birman was formally recognised by the French registering bodies in 1925, and began to be exhibited at the large shows. The breed was just becoming well established when the continent was plunged into war. During the years 1939 to 1945 most of the Birman population disappeared, leaving a very small nucleus in France, and one or two in Germany, perhaps taken there by returning soldiers.

A few dedicated people then began a second breeding programme. This was done in great secrecy but was believed to involve Colourpoint Persians as well as the occasional Siamese and Domestic cats. The first blue-point Birmans appeared about this time, maybe as a spontaneous mutation but rumoured to owe more than a little to a vigorous blue Colourpoint stud owned by one of the Birman breeders. These breeders faced many problems, especially as the genetics of the Birman were little understood at that time, and we are lucky that they kept on for so many years, against great obstacles. It is interesting that faults mentioned in the 1950’s and which breeders were trying to eliminate include, white chin spots, runners to the front feet, white spots in the seal, and seal spots in the white areas. Some things don’t seem to change!