|
|
 |
FIN* Tamus cattery
Breeder: Tanja Luoma & Teemu Nieminen,
Tamus cattery,
Kyröskoski, Finland |
| |
The Birman exists in the following colour variants, which all have those striking blue eyes:
| seal point |
The colour of the points is a very dark
brown colour (which is called "seal"). |
| blue point |
The colour of the points is blue-grey. |
| chocolate point |
The colour of the points is chocolate and
should not be too dark.
Frequently one can see white spectacles around the eyes, which is
undesirable. |
| lilac point |
The colour of the points has a greyish
colour tone, which has a pink tinge, and is rather pale. |
| red point |
The colour of the points is an orange
colour.
It is very likely that the front legs are paler and show rings. |
| cream point |
The colour of the points is a pale cream.
In general those cats look very light. |
| seal tortie point |
The dark brown colour of the points is
patched with orange patches.
Frequently those cats have an orange blaze, starting on the upper part
of the nose
and extending to the forehead. They are quite attractive cats. |
| blue tortie point |
The blue-cream pointed cat is the diluted
opposite to the Sealtortie. The blue-grey colour of the points is
patched with very pale cream patches.
A delicate colour. |
| chocolate tortie point |
The chocolate colour of the points is
patched with paler orange patches. |
| lilac tortie point |
The pale greyish colour of the points is
patched with very pale cream patches. |
|
 |
White
Gloves cattery
Breeder: Magoscha
Zimmermann, White Glove's cattery, Switzerland |
| |
|
All the colours also exist with stripes, and are called Tabby point:
- seal tabby point, blue tabby point
- chocolate tabby point, lilac tabby point
- red tabby point, cream tabby point
- seal tortie tabby point, blue tortie tabby point
- chocolate tortie tabby point, lilac tortie tabby point.
The term "tortie" means that the cat is patched with red or cream
patches.
Usually the colours in the pointed cats are named with English terms.
The term "point" means that the colour is restricted only to the
face, the ears, the legs and the tail, whereas the body is almost white -
mostly the colour is not a pure white colour, but a pale eggshell.
The Tabbypoints had been bred many years ago by outcrosses to silver shaded
and chinchilla Persians, because those are genetically tabby cats, however,
one cannot see the tabby pattern in Chinchillas.
|
 |
EP Canth`s Eros
Breeder: Minna Hermans,
Canth's cattery, Vaskio, Finland |
 |
White
Gloves cattery
Breeder: Magoscha
Zimmermann, White Glove's cattery, Switzerland |
| |
|
 |
Eurocatfancy
|
|
Breed profile
|
The (Sacred) Birman is medium in size and
is a semi-longhaired cat. The solid rather elongated body is carried on strong
legs with round paws. The Birman is rather
low on legs.
The head is slightly longer than broad, has full cheeks and a
firm chin.
The nose is straight, medium long, which means not too short, and shows a
gentle indentation at the base. In some organizations a Roman profile is
desired. One can see such a profile more often in Birmans originating from
France. In general the head is not described very detailed in the various
standards, but one will
notice the rounded full cheeks immediately and the quite "sweet" expression
of the face.
The ears are not very large, open at their base, they are not pointed and set
rather wide apart.
The eyes are large and almost round. The dark blue colour, which is very intensive,
is impressing.
The coat is semi-long, it is silky to touch and does not have much
undercoat. The colour of the coat is a pale eggshell, and shows a golden
shine on its back. In winter the cat has a very nice ruff.
The Birman is
a pointed cat, i.e. colour is restricted only to the face (called mask), the
ears, the legs and the tail.
The tail is longer, and looks like a plume.
The feature, which makes a Birman so unique, are the absolutely white paws,
called gloves. The gloves on the front paws shall not extend beyond
the metacarpal, on the hind legs the gloves shall not extend beyond the hock.
On the backside of the hind legs the gloves end in a point (called
gauntlets), which is very characteristic for the Birman. In the ideal case
the gloves shall be as symmetrical as possible.
Overall the Birman is a cat of great harmony and balance. |
History
There are lots of legends around the Birman. It is said that there lived
once a priest in the mountains of Lugh, many centuries ago. This priest had a
long golden beard, which the god Song-Hio had braided. The priest had
dedicated his life to the goddess Tsun-Kyan-Kse, who had deep blue eyes like
sapphires and who permitted devoted souls to transmigrate into holy
animals. The favorite cat of the priest was Sinh, a white cat with golden
yellow eyes and so dark brown ears, nose, legs and tail like the earth. One
night the temple was robbed and the priest was murdered. Sinh, the cat
mourned sitting at his head, and the miracle happened. The back of the white
cat suddenly became golden, and his golden yellow eyes became blue like the
sapphires.
The paws touching his dead master remained pure white thus symbolizing
his innocence.
In the legend the soul of a dead monk transmigrates from now on into the
body of a cat. The loyal Sinh was in such a deep grief about his dead master
that he died on the seventh day. Since that time all the temple cats had a
golden yellow back like a golden mantle and their golden yellow eyes turned
to sapphire blue.
Some say that the Birmans had been imported into Europe from south east Asia
in 1916 ("Sacred cats of Burma"). In 1925 the Sacred Birman was recognized by
the Fédération Féline Française, the foundation member
of FIFe. Almost all Birman cats trace their origin from the French Birmans.
In 1959 the first Birmans were exported to the US, and in 1965 to England.
In 1967
they were recognized by CFA. |
Temperament
The character of the Birman is very equilibrated and friendly. They are
very affectionate to humans and love to be their companions. They like to
cuddle and love to be hugged and always want your attention. They greatly
appreciate companionship and also like young children. They give the
impression of quiet power accompanied with harmony through their pensive and
expressive blue eyes. |
Grooming
The Birman is very easy to care for. The silky coat
does not mate and has no tendency to show knots. It sheds very little. Birman need
rather little grooming, but they love to be brushed. |
| |
|
|
