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The Burmese (in Thai: ศุภลักษณ์--“Suphalak”-- meaning fortunate, beautiful, and splendid appearance) is an elegant breed of domesticated cat.  A popular and very friendly breed, the Burmese originally derived from a mating between a Siamese cat and a brown cat from Burma.  Brown cats such as these have been living in Burmese Buddhist temples since as early as the 15th century.  Burmese are now bred in a range of different colors.

In the early 1930’s, Dr. Joseph Thompson of San Francisco acquired from a sailor an attractive walnut-brown female cat from Burma, whom he named “Wong Mau.”  She was described as being "a rather small cat, fine boned, but with a more compact body than that of a Siamese, with shorter tail, a rounded, short-muzzled head, with greater width between rounded eyes."  With her walnut-brown coloring with darker brown points, many breeders considered her to be a dark Siamese, but Dr. Thomson believed that she was distinctly different.  He set about establishing a breeding program to isolate and reproduce Wong Mau’s distinguishing traits.

In 1932, Wong Mau was bred to Tai Mau, a Seal Point Siamese, and had kittens of two colors: some like Siamese kittens and others, brown kittens with darker points like Wong Mau.  The dark brown offspring founded the Burmese breed. Lighter-colored kittens were also occasionally produced, and eventually, American breeders requested recognition from the CFA for these “dilute” colors; first, as another breed named the Malayan, then later as a dilute division of the Burmese.  The four colors recognized today by the Cat Fanciers Association are: sable, champagne, blue, and platinum.

Burmese are recognized by some as being split into two subgroups: the American Burmese and the British Burmese (not to be confused with the "Sacred Cat of Burma" known as the Birman).  Most modern cat registries do not recognize a split between the two groups, but those that do formally refer to the type developed by British cat breeders as the European Burmese. 

Like their close relations the Bombay, Burmese carry surprising weight for their size, and have often been described as “bricks wrapped in silk.” Their coats are very short, satin-like in texture, and generally require little grooming other than the loving attention of human hands.  There is a range in the Burmese head and body type; typically, it is the more compact cats with the rounder heads that are seen in the show ring. The accepted eye color for the breed is gold or yellow.

While researching this article, I came across the following description on the www.cfa.org website: “Burmese have large, deep, expressive eyes that are great pools of innocence and seductive appeal, irresistible in effect.  These eyes are their most persuasive weapon in an arsenal of endearing traits that mask an awesome power to hypnotize their owners into life-time love affairs through which they effortlessly rule their families.”  Wow!

Burmese are also known as the “clowns of the cat world,” and maintain their lively kitten interests and energy all throughout their adulthood too.  As they grow, their high intelligence emerges and their individual personalities begin to unfold.  They mature into charming, determined “executives” who move in and take over the household, running it efficiently with their soulful eyes and velvet paws.  Some of their favorite chores include assisting with paperwork and reading (by sitting on and teasing with the material), and slinking into cupboards (to demonstrate where things ought to be).

With encouragement, many Burmese truly enjoy conversing with their humans, using soft, sweet voices that are not loud or raucous like the Siamese. They love to play with children, get along well with dogs, pet-friendly, and many will enjoy traveling in the car, if introduced to riding at an early age as something fun to do.

Burmese are extremely people-oriented; like many other purebreds, their personalities are almost dog-like, with their tendency to shadow their owners, and their fierce desire to give and receive affection.  If Burmese feel emotionally slighted, they may actually sulk, but fortunately, not for long.  Many Burmese charm their owners by learning to fetch and retrieve.  They love warm laps and caressing hands, and, like the Bombay breed, which is half Burmese, enjoy cuddling up in bed either under the covers or actually on top of their favorite humans.

Burmese should never be let outdoors (so they are great for indoors), as they are entirely too trusting and have little, if any, survival instinct remaining.  Their mechanism for survival is to turn their soulful eyes on you, expecting you to attend to all of their needs.  This method does not work, however, for catching food, fighting off enemies, and avoiding cars.   Since Burmese have a compulsive need for human companionship, this breed is not a good choice if you tend to be away from home a lot, as these cats will pine away with loneliness if they do not receive enough attention.

Usually breeders make their Burmese kittens available at between twelve and sixteen weeks of age.  After twelve weeks, kittens have had their basic inoculations and have developed the physical and social stability needed for transportation and importation to a new environment.

Burmese have the ability to convert the most anti-cat person into an enthusiast, so be forewarned.  They can be addictive, and just like Lay’s potato chips, you may find you cannot have just one!

Carol Maxey, the owner of Katko Traditional Burmese, was kind enough to share a bit of time with me discussing this breed, which she adores.  Carol also raises Siamese, and I had interviewed her once before.  The first thing that she said was that the Burmese and Siamese are similar in many ways, but are quite different in others.  Carol presently owns nine Burmese, and has been breeding cats for almost thirty years.

She shared with me that her Burmese like everyone, and are especially appropriate for households that feature children.  They are wonderful traveling companions, and have been known to live very happily on houseboats and other kinds of vessels.  Although her Burmese generally don’t jump into the shower with her—as my own Bengals do—they are very attracted to water, will drink from a running faucet, and may perch on the edge of the bathtub while she is bathing.

When I asked Carol about the amount of attention that Burmese require, she said that they can be quite demanding, somewhat intrusive, and may actually be “in your face” a lot of the time.  She added that they are known as the “Velcro cat.”  They just love to be with their humans, and will do anything they need to do to fulfill their need for human contact.  I gathered from her observations that the Burmese are not laid-back cats, but that they are so loveable that people find them irresistible anyway.  Carol also confirmed that they are not appropriate for people whose life-styles require that they be absent from home much of the day.

In summary, Carol said that Burmese are one of the best cat breeds that she has ever found—and she knows her cats!  She concluded by saying that the Burmese will become your “personal friend” like no other breed will, as long as you have plenty of time to spend with your cat(s).

To reach Carol Maxey visit her website Katko Traditonal Burmese to inquire about kittens for sale.

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