By Rosemary Hale

Playful, energetic, acrobatic and extremely intelligent, the Burmese cat is the extrovert of the Cat Fancy. They are very mischievous, curious and adventurous. Burmese love high places. Tops of doors, curtains and pelmets, tops of cupboards, trees, roofs, these are all favourite spots for the Burmese, who is the most accomplished climber even in kittenhood. Their curiosity knows no bounds. They need to know what is on the other side of every door, and they can open doors themselves with ease. The normal lever handle is child’s play.

They jump up, hang on the handle, and let gravity do the rest for them. Knobs are a little trickier, but jumping up, grasping the knob between both paws, and then swinging or jiggling from side to side will usually have the desired effect. To keep a Burmese out of a cupboard or fridge you need to install childproof locks, as they can open any cupboard door.

Leave a door or drawer open for a second and the Burmese is inside, usually quite unbeknownst by you. This need to investigate can cause untold harm to the inquisitive Burmese, as many have been trapped and injured, even killed, in washing machines and tumble dryers, or under the bonnet of a car, as these warm, cosy places are like magnets for them.

Living with a Burmese is quite a noisy affair most days. As they jump into cupboards they dislodge the contents, usually all over the floor. They knock pans and containers off work surfaces as they race around. They will happily bat your precious ornaments from the mantelpiece or the shelf. They have been known to answer the telephone by knocking off the receiver. The Burmese will spend a lot of time talking to you, and they have a large range of sounds to get your attention.

Most Burmese are fascinated by water and will sit for hours playing with a dripping tap, and many have come to grief playing with the foam in a bubble bath. Many will drink from taps, but given the chance they will prefer to drink from a muddy puddle rather than drink the clean water offered. Their climbing instincts will also get them into trouble out of doors, where many will be trapped at the top of a tree, or on a roof. Getting up was easy, but they would rather sit and howl for assistance than try and get down on their own. Due to their inquisitiveness they will enter any open garage or shed in the area, and many have been trapped inside such a building for days, or even weeks, if the owner of the property has gone on holiday.

They love to accompany their owners on walks, and can even be trained to walk on a lead. Many a Burmese cat demands to sleep with its owner, some curled up behind their knees under the duvet, some sleeping alongside them with their head on the pillow. Certainly there is no need of a hot water bottle or heated blanket when you own a Burmese cat. A Burmese has a great sense of humour, and will happily share a joke with you. However, never laugh at a Burmese cat when it makes a mistake, as they will certainly show you their displeasure.

The Burmese is a very busy cat, and therefore will not appeal to everyone. It is a very playful cat which remains kittenish throughout its life. Even stately ladies and gentlemen of 16 plus years will be seen chasing a ball, or killing a leaf or a feather. They demand that you play with them, but their energy is boundless and it is you who will give up on the game first.

The Burmese is not a lap-cat who does nothing else but sit with you, although many are willing to spend a lot of their time curled up with their owners. But despite all of the above, the Burmese is an extremely affectionate cat. They will sprawl in your lap, or wrap themselves around your neck. They gaze earnestly into your eyes as they purr and knead your skin. The Burmese loves the company of humans, and will rush in to say hello to the most unwary of visitors, and they are tuned in to the moods of their owners. But if you are away from home for long periods during the day the Burmese will need a companion. It is not a cat who enjoys its own company or wants to spend long hours alone. Despite all their energy and playfulness, once you have known a Burmese you have a lifelong passion for the breed. Certainly life is never dull when a Burmese cat owns you.

Burmese cats have been known for centuries past living in Burma, Thailand and Malaya, and have been imported along with the Siamese. But the striking appearance of the blue-eyed, seal pointed Siamese always left the Burmese in the shade. They were found in England in the late 1800s when they were known as Chocolate Siamese (nothing to do with chocolate pointed Siamese which appeared later), but these yellow-eyed cats were never favoured and gradually the breed died out in England, but persisted in Europe for some time.

Then, in 1930, Dr Joseph C Thompson of San Francisco, California, a retired naval officer and practising psychiatrist, imported a little brown female called Wong Mau. Many breeders of that time regarded Wong Mau as a dark Siamese, but Dr Thompson disagreed. He thought Wong Mau was distinctly different from a Siamese, so he decided to enlist the help of a group of people well trained in biology, genetics and animal husbandry, to carry out breeding experiments to settle these doubts on a scientific basis. It was found that Wong Mau was a hybrid between Siamese and Burmese, and when mated back to her first-born son produced the first true Burmese kittens.

In 1949 Mrs Lilian France, who bred Siamese cats under the Chinki prefix, imported two Burmese cats. One was a male, Casa Gatos Da Foong, and the other was a female, Chindwin’s Minou Twm, already in kitten to an unrelated male in the USA. Unfortunately Minou lost her kittens in quarantine, and she herself suffered bad health from that point on. However, she did manage to produce three further litters, all to Casa Gatos da Foong. Her first litter included Chinki Yong Zahran, who became the first English bred Stud Cat.

Because of Minou’s health problems Mrs France decided to import a third cat, an American Champion, Laos Cheli Wat, who had already successfully produced and reared kittens in the USA. Cheli proved to be a very good brood queen, producing healthy litters almost every six months for most of her life

From these three cats the breed quickly gained popularity, and within two years Mrs France imported another stud male, Casa Gatos Darkee.. It was at this point that Mrs France had to give up her Burmese cats and they were all transferred to Mrs C F Watson, who bred Siamese at Matlock in Derbyshire, under the Milori prefix.

In 1956 Mrs Watson imported another unrelated Burmese male, Darshan Khudiram, and then had the good fortune to purchase a female from a Canadian serviceman who was returning home. This female, Folly Tou Po, was the last of the USA cats to join the early breeding programme.

The GCCF was not willing to grant breed recognition to Burmese on the basis of the American pedigrees and it was not until 1952 that official recognition was accorded after the three-generation requirement had been satisfied, when the breed number 27 was accorded. The original Standard of Points was inevitably based entirely on the American standard of the day and the most striking and attractive characteristics of the early cats were their sleek, silky coats of rich, seal brown, and their wonderful character, disposition and friendliness.

On 29th March 1955 a litter of five kittens was born to Ch Chinki Golden Gay, now owned by Mrs Watson. The sire was Ch Casa Gatos Darkee. Gay, and her litter sister Ch Chinki Golden Goddess were the daughters of Darkee by Ch Chinki Yong Jetta, the first British born champion. As Gay was a maiden queen it was decided to send two of her kittens to be reared by Mrs Margaret Smith’s Chinki Yong Kassa, a very experienced queen who had just produced a single kitten. These two kittens were taken from the litter at random and sent to Leicester.

As the kittens grew it was quite obvious that the female was a totally different colour. At first there was some speculation as to the colour of this paler kitten. In fact when a prospective owner went to purchase the brown male, Sealcoat Konyak, for 7 guineas, she was offered the little pale female for 12/6d as no one was sure what she was. Mrs Smith eventually decided to keep the female and she was named Sealcoat Blue Surprise. At first Blue Surprise did not produce blue kittens and this was a great disappointment. Her first matings were with Mrs Smith’s Burmese stud, Ch Sablesilk Bimbo, who was descended from Casa Gatos da Foong, and therefore did not carry the blue gene.

It was found, after exhaustive enquiries in America, that Darkee was the only one of the American imports to come from a line carrying this dilute gene. Many of Darkee’s offspring were now carrying the blue gene, but because they were all brown cats a programme of selective breeding would have to be embarked on to find out who the blue carriers were. When Blue Surprise was mated back to her father she did produce blue kittens, and also when mated to a son of Darkee. When Lamont Patrick, a blue carrying son of Darkee, was mated to Ch Chinki Golden Goddess, litter sister of Chinki Golden Gay, blue kittens were produced, one of the best being Ch Lamont Blue Burmaboy, who was owned by Robine Pocock, and in 1957 became the first champion Blue Burmese.

Another son of Darkee who was instrumental in producing some good blues was Ch Kingsplay Fei-Fo. But perhaps the best known of Darkee’s blue carrying sons was Kathoodu Kimi. He was the sire of Kathoodu Sapphire Kilvi, instrumental in clearing the coats of the reds and creams. It was Kimi who produced the first all blue litter in the UK when mated to his daughter, Mrs Hooper’s queen Pussinboots Sapphire Bibi, whose dam was Ch Sablesilk Mouse, the first daughter of Sealcoat Blue Surprise. Unfortunately this litter did not survive. It was in fact a Ballard litter bred by Rosalie Knowles, out of Ch Lamont Blue Burmaboy and Angela Vanessa, which was the first surviving all blue litter, and the forerunner of the wonderful line of Ballard blues that were exported all over the world.

Late in 1963 Pussinboots Blue Truepegu, managed to escape whilst calling, and was mated by a red tabby shorthaired cat. The resultant litter contained a very elegant black-tortie kitten, which Robine Pocock, Pegu’s breeder, decided to purchase and breed from, in the hopes of producing a new colour in the Burmese breed. This kitten was named Wavermouse Galapagos. She was mated to Robine’s brown male, Ch Soondar Mooni. One of the kittens in this litter was also a very striking black-tortie, who was named Pussinboots Pagan’s Pride. Pagan’s Pride produced red sons and a blue tortie daughter, to further the breeding programme.

Two other unrelated matings took place in the hopes of widening the gene pool. A tortie and white female carrying the siamese gene, was mated to Ch Soondar Mooni to produce a red male, and Arboreal Fenella, a brown female, was mated to a Redpoint Siamese male.

Meanwhile Mrs Joyce Dell had mated her female Kipushi Blue Silk to one of the red males to produce a blue tortie female, Kupro Kepikilo. Kepikilo was the dam of Kupro Silken Sophina, another blue tortie who was to become the foundation queen for Joyce’s wonderful line of Cream Burmese.

By 1969 Champagne Burmese were beginning to be more widely seen in America. Breeders in the UK had learned of this new colour and had started to look for cats of quality to import.

By chance, two UK breeders, Iona Beckett (nee O’Neill), breeding cats with the Morningstar prefix, and Moira Mack with her Belcanto cats, discovered that they were both trying to locate champagne Burmese in the USA. As Moira was planning to visit America, it was decided that she would also search for a kitten for Iona. Eventually, two unrelated champagne kittens were found, both bred by Jo & Dee Armstrong. Jo-Dee’s Golden Morningstar, a four-month-old male, was destined to be a stud cat for Iona. Jo-Dee’s Belcanto Norma, a five-month-old female became Moira’s new breeding queen. The first litter of Champagne kittens, renamed Chocolate, were born during the cats’ period in quarantine.

At about the same time that Iona Beckett and Moira Mack decided to search for champagne Burmese two other British breeders had also made this decision. They were Elizabeth Caldicott who breed Burmese under the Ramree prefix, and Pam Evely, whose Kernow cats were very well known. After some searching it was decided to import four cats, two males and two females, from Jane Simon’s Californian cattery. So Si-Mon’s Aybo Budda, a very pale champagne male, and Si-Mon’s Karissima, a champagne female were added to the Ramree household, and Si-mon’s Sirrocco Suda, a brown male carrying the chocolate gene, and Si-Mon’s Kyeema, a brown female, also carrying the chocolate gene, went to Pam Evely. For some reason when these cats were registered in the UK their names were changed and they became Aybo Budda, Kari-Simone, Suda Sirrocco Simon and Kimboh Kyeema.

It was known that Aybo Budda carried the blue gene as his father; Ch Si-Mon’s Frosty Knight was registered as platinum in the USA. When Ramree Judi, one of Kari-Simone’s first litter, gave birth to kittens by Aybo Budda, it came as a surprise to find that Sabra Honeymist Will was actually a platinum (later called lilac), proving that Kari-Simone also carried the blue gene. Later that year Judi’s litter sister, Mata Mas, also mated to her sire Aybo Budda, produced a lilac kitten, which was called Sittang Sylvan Surprise. In fact it was Sylvan Surprise who, in April 1973, produced the first all lilac litter.

In1972, the chocolates and lilacs being well established in the UK, a breeding programme was undertaken by Elizabeth Caldicott to introduce the chocolate gene into the cream Burmese. The first of these matings took place between Aybo Budda and Kupro Cream Coral, and produced a brown tortie female and cream and red males. A lilac girl, Ramree Betina Bapa, was mated to Pussinboots Golden Lustre, and produced blue tortie females and blue males. The third mating was between Ramree Mimpi Elok and Primsu Golden Aquila. This was a litter of seven and was the most exciting as it contained a brown tortie, a blue tortie, and the first lilac tortie, Ramree Kepala Susu. Further matings produced more torties of these colours, but it was not until much later, in August 1976, that the last colour, the elusive chocolate tortie was produced. This was Kaboobi Isabelle, who was three and four generations removed from the original Chocolate imports.