Birman Breed Profile

Sue Martin 2004

Body type: Substantial

History of the breed:

A legend, a mystery smuggling and myth are all connected with the creation of the Birman.

The legend tells us of the special relationship between the Birman and the temple priests and on the death of one of these priests how their distinctive white feet and colouring was borne.

The mystery and myth is how was the Birman created; was it just a good imaginative story developed by the French breeders or were they really smuggled out of Burma.

It is said that in 1919, a pair of Birman cats were smuggled out of Burma and sent to France, the male didn’t survive the trip but the female, who was pregnant, survived to become the founder of the Birman breed, especially in Europe/Great Britain.

And there are those in the cat fancy, who dispute all the above and say, the Birman was artificially produced in France by crossing Siamese with black and white longhairs.

Whatever the truth is all adds mystery to the breed creation.

Australian history:

 The Birman didn’t arrive in Australia until 1965; Miss Judith Starkey imported a pair into N.S.W. and after these two a steady number of cats were to follow to establish the breed.

Breed Characteristics and personality traits:

WNCA National Breed Standards (2004)

Description: Friendly, alert and an outgoing cat, muscular and with a surprising weight for size.

The Birman is a semi-longhaired breed of cat, with two distinctive breed characteristics – sapphire blue eyes and pure white gloves and gauntlets. The body type is classified as medium weight, long and substantial

Personality traits: A quiet, placid and gentle cat, with an easygoing nature that makes them good household pets.

Description of the Breed

Head:

WNCA National Breed Standards (2004)

Head

15 points

Head: Rounded and strong, slightly round around the muzzle. Head broader than high at eye level. Forehead slopes well back, slightly convex in profile with flatter appearance in front and between the ears. Strong jaws. Full cheeks help to achieve this. In profile the forehead slopes back and is slightly convex. The chin is full and well developed, slightly tapering but not receding.

Neck: Medium sized, muscular.

Nose: Nose medium in length and width, slight dip in profile, not a stop, between the start of the nose and the convex forehead. Roman shape in profile with nostrils, set low on nose leather. Looking from above and behind the nose will not protrude greatly, but should form part of an imaginary semi-oval line from cheek to cheek.

Ears: Medium in length and width, almost as wide at base as they are tall. Slightly rounded tips set as much aside as on top of head.

The Birman’s head is strongly boned, rounded in shape but not like the Persians, as there is no doming, as the forehead slopes well back and is slightly convex in profile with a flatter appearance in the front of and between the ears.

The nose is medium in length and width and is in proportion to the size of the head. The nose length should not protrude or change the shape of the face, e.g. a long nose usually indicates a Siamese head type and this will also indicate a narrow muzzle. Another indication of correct nose length and shape (not protruding to alter shape of head) is that looking from above and behind there should be an imaginary semi-circle line from cheek to cheek.

In profile the nose shape is Roman (arched or convex but not as extreme-type as the Siamese), nostrils are set low on the nose leather; there is a slight dip between the start of the nose and the convex forehead.

The broad head again dictates the ear placement:

1.      Set wide, almost as much aside as on top of the head.

2.      Medium in width and length; almost as wide at base as they are tall.

3.      Slightly rounded tips.

Measuring for head proportions for: rounded (no doming), flat plane head and correct muzzle length.

                                                                         Slight flat spot in front of ears

The Birman should have a wide skull with the head being about the same distance in width as the muzzle long.

Measuring across the widest part the head, the width should be about the same as:  Length from the tip of the nose to the lower edge of the ear                                .

Diagram adapted from: Loxton, Howard. Guide to the Cats of the World. Treasure Press: London

Head profile

Forehead slopes back and is slightly convex (curve shaped like the outside arc of a circle).

Muzzle: in proportion to head, strong slightly rounded with a nice width.

Chin: full and well developed slightly tapering but not receding.

Diagram adapted from: Loxton, Howard. Guide to the Cats of the World. Treasure Press: London

 To review the head shape and features: The Birman has a distinctive head shape, a rounded shape that is really a circle with a flat plane and any other shape such as the rounded and short muzzle shape of the Persian or the long narrow face of the Siamese would distort the head shape.

The above diagrams show how through the use of imaginary landmarks you can approximate the head measurements and proportions to reflect the breed standards description of the head.

Eye Shape and Colour:

WNCA Breed Standards (2004)

Eye Shape and Colour

5 points

Eye Shape: Almost round, not bold and in repose the upper lid should appear to be flatter, less rounded than the lower.

Eye Colour: Blue, the deeper the better.

                     Birman                                                                      

Photographs adapted from: Stephens, Gloria. Legacy of the Cat (2^nd edition). 2000. Chronicle Books: San Francisco.

The standard describes the Birman’s eye shape as almost round and to understand this terminology you need to look at the shape of the Persian’s eye; it represents the “most round shape” of cat breeds, a complete round circle where as the Birman’s upper eyelid appears to be flatter and the lower still retains the round shape.

The open sweet expression of the face is achieved when the eyes are set well apart, small close set eyes would give a more mean look.

And as with all pointed pattern cats the Birman’s eye colour is blue, the deeper the better.

WNCA Breed Standards (2004)

20 points

Body: Medium weight, long and massive body.

Legs: Short, strong, thickset well proportioned legs.

In reading articles written by breeders and breed groups, they are asking judges not only to look for the perfectly marked Birman but also to look at the body type that reflects the breed standards description of a stocky, long and massive body.

The body has no appearance of fragility, this means a long and massive body that is muscular, wide at the chest with good depth and the flanks and hips are heavy and muscular and the tail is thick and medium in length (it should not reach the beyond the shoulders when brought forward).

The body is also described as stocky and this means body height, the Birman does not have the leg length of the other substantial semi-long hair cats e.g Maine Coon, Norwegian Forest cat or the Ragdoll, the leg length is described as short (short as in Persian not Munchkin), strong and thick set.

Body type: Long and substantial

Tail: medium, wider at base and round tip; fully plumed and in proportion to body

                                                        Neck: Muscular

      Chest: wide with good depth               Flanks and hips: heavy and muscular

                                   Body height: Stocky (does not stand high on the leg)

            Legs, short and heavy boned                                       Large round paws

Diagram adapted from: Loxton, Howard. Guide to the Cats of the World. Treasure Press: London

Coat texture and length, colour and pattern:

WNCA Breed Standards (2004)

Coat: 10 points

Medium in length, silken in texture. Full ruff around the neck, slightly curled on stomach. Texture of fur is non-matting. Not much undercoat. The fur is short in appearance about the face, but at the extreme outer area of the cheek the fur is longer.

Colour and pattern: 15 points

Colour

All colours in all points: Seal, blue, Chocolate, Lilac, Red and Cream. A golden hue is present on the back.

Faults: White patches in the coloured parts other than described.

Pattern

Point, Tabby Point and Tortie Point.

Faultless specimens are exceptional but faults are more apparent in the Birman due to the white markings where any defect is obvious at first sight. Cats having the greatest balance and regularity in the gloves should be selected but other general qualities should not be disregarded. It is the overall harmony, which constitutes the beauty of the Birman, and it is from this point of view that it should be judged.

The coat of the Birman should feel soft and silky to touch and is of such a texture that it does matt due to no undercoat. Fur on the belly is slightly curly.

The length is medium and may part on the middle of the cat’s back and tail but this may vary according to time of the year and the ruff around the neck does not fully develop until the cat is at least 2-3 years old.

 Colour and pattern (not including gloves).

The body colour is even with subtle shading and as with all pointed pattern cats there is a strong contrast between body colour and points

A highly desirable breed trait is a golden “glow” or hue colouring that in strong light glistens on the back and sides of an adult cat.

In an older cat allowances should be made for a darker body colour and kittens generally lighter in colour. White patches in the coloured parts appearing anywhere on the body, particularly the chin, chest and stomach are considered a fault.

Points (not including gloves). Mask, ears, legs and tail; the colour should be dense and clearly defined.

Mask

Mask in the adult covers the face to above the eyes, and is joined to the ears by tracings, leaving an oval body colour in front of ears, which is quite apparent.

            Whisker pads to be covered         

                                                   Chin shaded to match mask

Legs: Front – colour to go up just above the elbows. Back – merge into the flanks.

Diagram adapted from: Loxton, Howard. Guide to the Cats of the World. Treasure Press: London

WNCA Breed Standards (2004).

Paws

Symmetry: Front Gloves – 10 points, Back Gloves - 10 points

Tapering: Back Gloves – 5 points

Large round and firm.

Gloves: The specific characteristics of the Birman are its four white paws.

Front paws: Have pure white symmetrical gloves ending in an even line across the paw and not passing beyond the angle formed by the point and leg. Colour of the paw pads is irrelevant.

Back Paws: Have pure white gloves or gauntlets covering the entire paw and tapering up the back of the feet to finish just below the point of the hock. Colour of the paw pads irrelevant. Uniformly and symmetry between the front legs and the back legs.

Faults: Coloured patches in the white gloves. Dark spots in white gloves.

The unpredictability of the white spotting gene makes the perfectly marked or gloved Birman very rare and allowances should be made for slightly imperfect gloved cats.

Front feet:  Pure white gloves. Ending in an even line across the paw and not passing beyond the angle formed by the paw and leg

Back feet: Pure white gloves/gauntlets covering entire paw and tapering up the back of the feet to finish in a point just below the hock

Diagram adapted from: Loxton, Howard. Guide to the Cats of the World. Treasure Press: London

White on Birman’s feet for show

Low Limits                                                          High limits

The standard calls for uniformity and symmetry between the front and back legs but whether low gloves are preferred over high gloves is not indicated.

Do you look for in order of priority?

1.      Evenly matched gloves/gauntlets on all four feet.

2.      Evenly matched front gloves and evenly matched rear gauntlets, even though front do not match the back legs.

3.      Evenly matched front gloves and uneven back gauntlets.

4.      Uneven front gloves and evenly matched rear gauntlets.

Breed Weaknesses (genetic/physical): The Birman appears to be a strong healthy cat needing the usual care a cat with longhair would require.

 Breed Profile information obtained from the following sources:

Article:

Cat Fanciers Association. Birman Breed Presentation. Judges Workshop Milwaukee, WI.  June 14^th, 1989.

Books:

Meadows, Graham (1993). An Illustrated Guide to Cats: their selection and care. Auckland: Reed Books.

Stephens, Gloria. (2000). Legacy of the Cat (2^nd edition). San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

Pollard, Michael. (1999) The Encyclopaedia of the Cat. London: Parragon Books

Web Site:

Early Breed History. Nora and Ron Thayer.

http://www.birman.net/archive/bhistory.html

The Birman Cat in France. Anne Madden.

http://birmancatclub.co.uk/French%20orgins.html

The First Birman Cats in the United Kingdom. Anne Madden.

http://birmancatclub.co.uk/French%20orgins.html

The Beautiful Birman. Anne Madden.

http://birmancatclub.co.uk/French%20orgins.html

High and low limits of white on Birman feet for shows.

Nora and Ron Thayer.

http://www.birman.net/archive/bhistory.html

The Birman Cat.

By Elsie Fisher. Cat World, 1994.

http://www.birman.org/history/fisher.html

American Cat Fanciers Association: Birman Standard.

http://www.acfacats.com/birman_standards.html

Coordinating Cat Council of Australia. Standard for Birman.

http://www.hotkey.net.au/~ccca/birman.html

The Cat Fanciers’ Association, Inc. Breed Standard: Birman.

http://www.cfainc.org/breeds/standards/birman.html