Burmese Cat

The Burmese Cat is characterized as an elegant, alert, active, affectionate, and intelligent feline of the foreign type. This breed is the closest relative of the Siamese cat. The traditional variety of the Burmese Cat is very close to the Siamese in the body structure. The contemporary or American variety of the Burmese Cat is more stocky and rounded. It has very little in common with the traditional type and the Siamese Cat.

According to the CFA breed standard, the Burmese Cat is heavy, muscular, with a strong rounded chest and straight back. The legs are slender, with hind legs longer than the front legs. The paws should be compact and oval in shape. The tail of the Burmese Cat is straight, tapering, and reaching the shoulder. The neck should be of medium length. The head is proportionate to the body. The head should be wedge-shaped, with wide cheeks and graceful chin. The nose break should be distinct; the nose should be straight. The ears are broad at the base and rounded at the tip.

The eyes of the Burmese Cat are large, lustrous, and set wide apart. The preferred eye color is golden yellow. Other shades of yellow are accepted. The eye color of the Burmese Cat is very sensitive to the light, so it should be assessed in the broad daylight.

The main hallmark of the Burmese Cat is its fine and glossy coat lying close to the body. In all Burmese Cats, the face, ears, and back should be slightly darker than the underparts. The coat color should change gradually, with no bars and spots. Smoke effect and ticking are penalized in this breed. Cream and red cats may have freckles and brown spots on ears, lips, paw pads, and nose. Kittens have a lighter coat which gets a rich and dark hint in mature cats.

There are several accepted coat colors in the Burmese Cat. They are rich brown, soft blue-gray with a silver sheen, warm milk chocolate, pale dove-gray lilac, tangerine red, cream with a powdered effect, brown with shades of red (brown tortie,) blue with shades of cream (blue tortie,) chocolate with shades of red (chocolate tortie,) and lilac with shades of cream (lilac tortie.) Other coat colors and patterns are disqualified in the Burmese Cat.