Birman

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Breed of cat

title: "Birman" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["cat-breeds", "cat-breeds-originating-in-france", "cat-breeds-originating-in-myanmar"] description: "Breed of cat" topic_path: "geography/france" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birman" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Breed of cat ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox cat breed"]

FieldValue
nameBirman
imageBirmanstrofe.jpg
imagecaptionA seal point Birman
altnameSacred Birman, Sacred Cat of Burma
countrySweden, France, Burma
cfastdhttps://cfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/birman-standard.pdf
acfastdhttp://www.acfacat.com/Breed%20Standards/BIRMAN.pdf
ticastdhttps://www.tica.org/phocadownload/bi.pdf
ccastdhttps://www.cca-afc.com/documents/BreedStandards/BIRMAN_(Sacred_Cat_of_Burma)_20211106_230913.pdf
acfstdhttps://www.acf.asn.au/notices/notices/standards/Group%20One/ACF-BirmanOctober2023.pdf
fifestdhttps://fifeweb.org/app/uploads/2023/10/SBI.pdf
gccfstdhttps://www.gccfcats.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Birman.SOP_.Template.pdf
::

| name = Birman | image = Birmanstrofe.jpg | imagecaption = A seal point Birman | altname = Sacred Birman, Sacred Cat of Burma | country = Sweden, France, Burma

| cfastd = https://cfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/birman-standard.pdf | acfastd= http://www.acfacat.com/Breed%20Standards/BIRMAN.pdf | ticastd= https://www.tica.org/phocadownload/bi.pdf | ccastd = https://www.cca-afc.com/documents/BreedStandards/BIRMAN_(Sacred_Cat_of_Burma)20211106_230913.pdf | acfstd = https://www.acf.asn.au/notices/notices/standards/Group%20One/ACF-BirmanOctober2023.pdf | fifestd = https://fifeweb.org/app/uploads/2023/10/SBI.pdf | gccfstd= https://www.gccfcats.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Birman.SOP.Template.pdf

The Birman, also called the "Sacred Cat of Burma", is a domestic cat breed. The Birman is a long-haired, colour-pointed cat distinguished by a silky coat, deep blue eyes, and contrasting white "gloves" on each paw.

The breed name is derived from Birmanie, the French form of Burma. The breed was first recognised in 1925 in France.

History

No clear record of the breed's origin exists. They are most often claimed to have originated as the companions of temple priests in northern Burma in the Mount of Lugh. Many stories exist of how the cats first came to France, including pairs of cats being given as a reward for helping defend a temple, or being smuggled out of Burma and Sweden by a Vanderbilt. Another pair of Birmans (or a pregnant female called Poupée de Maldapour) were said to have been stolen and later imported to France by Thadde Haddisch. The first traces of historical Birmans go back to a Mme Leotardi in Nice, France.

Birmans were almost wiped out as a breed during World War II. Only two cats were alive in Europe at the end of the war, a pair named Orloff and Xenia de Kaabaa, both belonging to Baudoin-Crevoisier. The foundation of the breed in postwar France were offspring of this pair. They had to be heavily outcrossed with long-hair breeds such as Persian and Siamese to rebuild the Birman breed. By the early 1950s, pure Birman litters were again being produced. The restored breed was recognized in Britain in 1965 and by the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) in 1966.

The first Birman cats were seal point. The blue point colour was introduced in 1959 using blue Persian lines. New colours were later added by English breeders including chocolate, red, and tabby/lynx points. Birmans have also been used in the development of new breeds such as the Ragdoll.

Breed recognition

The Birman breed was first recognized in France by the Cat Club de France in 1925, the Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFé) in 1949, in England by the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) in 1966, and in United States by the CFA in 1967. The breed was also recognized by the Canadian Cat Association (CCA) and The International Cat Association (TICA) in 1979.

Appearance

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Pépita_Sacré_de_Birmanie.jpg" caption="Chocolate Point Birman"] ::

Birmans have a medium-sized, rectangular body with a broad face and distinct Roman nose. Their ears are ideally as wide on the base as they are tall and should be set as much on top of the head as on the side. The eyes are rounded and should be a deep sapphire blue.

The Birman's fur is medium-long and should have a silky texture. Unlike a Persian or Himalayan, they have no undercoat, thus are much less prone to matting. Coat colour is always pointed, save for the contrasting pure white, symmetrical "gloves" on each paw that are the trademark of the breed. The white must involve all toes and in front must stop at the articulation or at the transition of toes to metacarpals. These gloves should extend noticeably further up the back of the leg (referred to as the "laces"), finishing with an inverted V extended half to three-fourths up the hock. Any other spot of white on the points is considered a serious fault. The base body colour is white to cream, with a wash of colour that corresponds to the points, but is much paler.

Recognized point colours are seal, chocolate, red and the corresponding dilute varieties: blue, lilac and cream. Tabby and tortie variations in seal, chocolate, blue or lilac are also allowed; other colours are in development. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Pépita_Blue_Eyes.jpg" caption="Blue eyes"] ::

File:Birman male.jpg|A -year-old blue point Birman male File:Minerva-21.jpg|Blue point Birman, showing symmetrical white "gloves" File:Gatto-frodo-14.jpg|Posterior "laces" of an adult male File: Cuccioli-2007-01.jpg|Adult chocolate tortie-point female with kittens, showing initial development of points File:5 month old Chocolate Point Birman kitten.jpg|A 5-month-old chocolate-point Birman kitten, with developing point markings on face, legs and tail File:7-month-old Birman kitten (2006).jpg|A 7-month-old Birman kitten: The seal point markings are now clearly visible.

Genetic diversity

A 2008 study by Lipinski* et al.* found that the Birman has one of the lowest levels of genetic diversity of all the breeds studied.{{Cite journal | last1 = Lipinski | first1 = M. J. | last2 = Froenicke | first2 = L. | last3 = Baysac | first3 = K. C. | last4 = Billings | first4 = N. C. | last5 = Leutenegger | first5 = C. M. | last6 = Levy | first6 = A. M. | last7 = Longeri | first7 = M. | last8 = Niini | first8 = T. | last9 = Ozpinar | first9 = H. | last10 = Slater | doi = 10.1016/j.ygeno.2007.10.009 | first10 = M. R. | last11 = Pedersen | first11 = N. C. | last12 = Lyons | first12 = L. A. | title = The ascent of cat breeds: Genetic evaluations of breeds and worldwide random-bred populations | journal = Genomics | volume = 91 | issue = 1 | pages = 12–21 | year = 2008 | pmid = 18060738 | pmc =2267438

Health

A study in the UK of veterinary records found the Birman to have a life expectancy of 14.39 years based on a sample of 38 cats, higher than the 11.74 average overall.

Paltrinieri, Giraldi, Prolo, Scarpa, et al. (2017) In a review of over 5,000 cases of urate urolithiasis the Birman was over-represented with an odds ratio of 6.77.

Feline audiogenic reflex seizures (FARS), a recently discovered type of epilepsy in cats, is believed to be particularly common in Birman cats.

Birman naming conventions

Many Birman breeders follow the French tradition of assigning all kittens born in a particular year given names that begin with the same letter of the alphabet. Countries with breeders using this convention include Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S. Kittens born in 2016 would start with 'N', and in 2017 'O', and so on.

Famous Birman cats

References

References

  1. "Birmans: The Sacred Cats Of Burma".
  2. ''Le Chat. Races - Élevage - Maladies'' Paris: Vinot Frères ed. 1926, pp.40-41. Dr. Philippe Jumaud
  3. ''Les races de Chats''Saint Raphaêl: 1930: Ed. des Tablettes, pp.52 Dr. Philippe Jumaud
  4. [http://www.birman.org/history/poirier.html ''Interview of Simone Poirier by Gisele Barnay''] {{Webarchive. link. (7 April 2022 Interview from the book ''Les Secrets du Chat Sacré de Birmanie'' {{ISBN). 2-85182-335-3
  5. "History".
  6. "Birman Color Chart – TARON BIRMANS".
  7. (17 March 2017). "Everything You Need To Know About Ragdoll Breed".
  8. "Sacred Birman".
  9. "Governing Council of the Cat Fancy".
  10. TICA. "The International Cat Association".
  11. "Birman Standard".
  12. "Birman Cat Club Fanciers of Queensland ~ Birman Cats and Kittens".
  13. (2024). "Life tables of annual life expectancy and risk factors for mortality in cats in the UK". Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery.
  14. (10 October 2017). "Serum symmetric dimethylarginine and creatinine in Birman cats compared with cats of other breeds". Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery.
  15. (2012). "Risk factors for urate uroliths in cats.". [[Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association]].
  16. "Feline Audiogenic Reflex Seizures (FARS) {{!}} International Cat Care".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

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