Showing posts with label Burmilla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Burmilla. Show all posts

Saturday 24 May 2014

Burmilla (notes on the breed)

The Burmilla  was created by crossing the Chinchilla Persian and the foreign Burmese.  Apparently, it is not recognised in North America (this may have changed).  Various international cat registries use the name for the shaded Asians. The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) consider the breed as part of the Asian cat family.
Angelina. This type of tabby M mark is typical of the Burmilla. I don't
have the photographer's name - sorry. Please come forward.

The Burmilla has the medium-foreign body type of the Burmese and the colour of the chinchilla silver Persian.  The cat comes in either the shaded or chinchilla pattern, in 4 colours: black, blue, chocolate and lilac.

The Burmilla is a shorthaired cat with a short, dense coat that feels like “raw silk at the tips".  There are markings around the lips, the green eyes, and the brick-red nose.  There is a distinct tabby “M" mark on the forehead.  Although this mark does take various forms in tabby cats.

There are also delicate tabby markings on the head, legs and tail.

The breed was first seen in England in 1981 as a result of an accidental breeding of a chinchilla Persian with a Burmese.

The accidental mating resulted in 4 black-shaded female kittens.  They were extremely attractive which prompted a breeder to create the Burmilla as a breed by arranging further matings.

This cat is friendly and outgoing but less noisy and less demanding than the Burmese.  Cats of this breed are said to be laid-back like it's chinchilla silver Persian ancestor.

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Picture of Cat Hissing

This is a picture of a cat hissing. It has to be, judging from the demeanor of the cat. The photographer does not say that the cat is hissing, however. This is probably one of the best photographs of a cat taking up an aggressive stance that I have seen.

Photo by Hannibal Poenaru

We know that hissing is intended to deter or see off an aggressor and it is a defensive measure. It is intended to mimic the snake's hiss. This has evolved over eons. It appears that animals recognise that the snake is dangerous otherwise there would be no point in mimicking the snake. You can see the ears starting to flatten too. This is to protect them in an ensuing fight. Cats ears get damaged in fights.

This particular cat could be a purebred. She looks a bit Burmese or Burmilla and she looks clean and cared for indicating a house cat rather than a feral or stray cat.

The teeth and gums are in good condition. She is probably quite young. The eyes sparkle. The picture was taken in France near Paris. The photo is published here under a creative commons license.

Thursday 24 February 2011

Burmilla Collage

From PoC Pics

Here's a little montage or collage, call it what you like of a Burmilla cat. I think his or her name is Lilith.

Saturday 17 July 2010

Beautiful Burmilla Cat

Here is a beautiful Burmilla cat, which I publish under a creative commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license:

Beautiful Burmilla Cat - photo Marc Jordan (Flickr)

This cat lives in Long Ashton, England. I think her name is Liessa. Wrong? and you see this please correct me!

Monday 12 April 2010

More Burmilla Photographs

I have just bumped into some more nice Burmilla photographs on Flickr that I am permitted to publish her under a creative commons license (Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic). Thank you kind Flickr photographer. Here they are:

Burmilla cat

See the above in larger format on the original Flickr page. Next is Priscilla:

Burmilla cat

See the above photograph in large format on Flickr

Photographs are by Oz-Aspects (Flickr)


Michael Avatar

Friday 12 February 2010

Genetics of the Burmilla Cat

The coat is short. There is a white undercoat, profusely shaded with tipping. The colours allowed for the Burmese are allowed for the Burmilla. The basic genotype is A-cbcbI- to which should be added the genes that create the colored varieties. The dominant gene: I, produces the white undercoat.

The shaded Burmilla is agouti. The agouti varieties are called Asians. The jet black Burmese (a non-traditional colour) is called a Bombay.




Michael Avatar

From Genetics of the Burmilla Cat to Home page.

Saturday 7 March 2009

Burmilla Pictures and Video

This website contains the best Burmilla pictures I can find and some useful information plus a very nice video. This video really summarizes the Burmilla cat breed and explains some of the differences between the British approach to the breed and the Canadian approach. Canada has a healthy cat fancy. Here's the video:


As is often the case, there is different terminology from one cat fancy to the next and one cat association to the next. From the layperson's point of view I think the terms should all be amalgamated and unified but, hey, it won't happen for a long time.

The Burmilla is a relatively rare cat breed. That translates into few Burmilla pictures but the video above is a moving picture and you can't beat that. Here, also, are two fine Burmilla pictures taken by a Flickr photographer, Adrian Midgley (this takes you to Flickr and the photographer's home page there):

Burmilla cat picture

Although I am not a great fan of cat collars (for safety reasons mainly) this one looks so good on this Burmilla. Here is another by the same photographer and there are others on this website:

Burmilla cat
Burmilla cat - photo by Adrian Midgley

There are more pictures on this site.

Monday 14 April 2008

Burmilla Health

Burmilla Health - As mentioned in the post on the history and origins of this cat breed, the Burmilla's founding cats are the Burmese and Persian (Chinchilla coat). The Persian cat breed is known to suffer from a number of disorders including the genetic disorder PKD - Polycystic Kidney Disease (apparently about one third of all purebred Persians contract PKD).


PKD

This disease is nasty. Cysts form in the kidneys. It can lead to renal failure, which kills as you might expect.

Accordingly, the Burmilla may have inherited this disease. Good breeders will screen for it by DNA testing. This ensures as near as possible that the breeding program operated by the breeder is free of this disease. Enquire about this with the breeder. They should have medical documentation certifying that their cats are free of PKD.


Genetic Defect USA Burmese

As for the Burmese cat the other founding parent cat of the Burmilla, it might be useful to mention that the USA Burmese carries a genetic defect that occasionally rears its ugly head in the form of the birth of kittens with deformed heads - quite tragic really. These kittens are killed. I do not know how this gene is or isn't transmitted to the Burmilla. It is probably transmitted but is recessive so is rarely seen. I'd ask about and watch for this as well, though. This disorder does not affect UK Burmese cats apparently.

Burmilla Health to Home Page

Sunday 30 March 2008

Burmilla

Burmilla Cat
Burmilla cat photograph copyright skoop reproduced under a creative commons license.

The Burmilla is a cat breed that I had not heard of until I built the pictures of cats website. It is a rare cat but then again so are a lot of the purebred cats.

I have covered the origins. What about the appearance of this cat? We know the founding cats are Burmese and Chinchilla. The Chinchilla is in fact a Persian cat with a particular coat type.

It is interesting to consider which genes the Burmilla inherited from each founding cat that are presented in the Burmilla's appearance.

The Chinchilla gave this cat its silver shaded coat by way of the dominant silver (I) gene. This cat also inherited the Agouti (A) gene from the Chinchilla. The Agouti gene produces the tabby pattern seen so commonly on a wide range of purebred and mixed breed cats and also wild cats. It provides good camouflage for wild cats. The Agouti gene gives the Burmilla its tipped coat but the tabby markings fade apparently.

The recessive longhair gene is carried by first generation Burmillas. This gene may make its presence manifest later on. This gene is not welcome and breeders try to breed it out of their lines. The cat in picture above presumably reflects the presence of this gene.

The Burmese contributes the dominant short hair gene and the recessive Burmese gene. Breeders strive for a situation in which both copies of the gene for short hair are present (homozygous) as this a short haired cat. Homozygous means having identical alleles for a single trait.

Burmilla cat
Burmilla cat. Photo copyright jtlondon reproduced under creative commons license

Here is a summary of the breed standard:

This cat is medium sized. She should have a good contrast between the silver base color and the shading/tipping. She is of "foreign type". Foreign type means a cat with modified wedge or wedge shaped head, large ears, oval or almond shaped eyes, long body with legs in proportion to body length, slim, fine boned, long and tapering tail. Elegant. Greater depth of flank than in Oriental type.

The Abyssinian and Russian Blue are examples of foreign type. Foreign type cats have wedge shaped heads, large ears, long bodies. They are elegant in appearance and fine boned.

The head is a short blunt wedge. The eyes are large and "expressive". Green or amber (in Reds, Creams and Torties) are accepted. The coat is short, silky and smooth. It is also dense with an undercoat. The tabby markings are faint on the forehead. These markings may also be on the legs and tail (shaded Burmilla).

Source: The Burmilla Cat Club

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