Burmilla

The Burmilla is a good-natured cat with a sweet affectionate character. They aren’t as extravagant and rash as one of their ancestors, the Burmese, and also not that inventive. In comparison they perhaps seem a bit shy and reserved towards strangers; they take the time to get to know the people.

Burmilla’s are huge chatterboxes, they continuously comment on everything which happens in the house and they have a lot to tell to you when you come home. They are great mothers and deliver easily. If two or more cats have a nest at the same time they will insist on it that all kittens will be placed with each other so that the mothers can take care of them together. Even older kittens or adult tomcats are welcome then to help out. The Burmilla is a good-humored, affectionate cat with an even-tempered humor and besides, they are really beautiful!    

The development in England
In the Summer of 1981 4 black silver shaded kittens were born out of a lilac Burmese female cat, which was accidentally serviced by a Chinchilla tomcat. All four kittens were Eastern types and had a short fur. The type, the temperament and the spectacular appearance caused that a planned service was executed with the same tomcat, however now with a blue Burmese female cat. The breeders Charles and Therese Clark got a blue tomcat, Jacynth, in addition to the female cat from the first nest, Gemma.

Jacynth and Gemma became the founders of the Kartush line of Burmilla’s. In twelve years they produced second, third and fourth generations Burmilla’s by means of brother-sister combinations and a fifth generation Burmilla’s by means of nephew-niece combinations.

In 1990 new lines were developed by crossing two third generation sisters with unrelated Burmese tomcats. Alan and Marian Lomas started the Newtimber line with one of Jacynth’s sisters, Astahazy Larissa, and Newtimber Davidia, one of Larissa’s grandsons, has already given birth to many beautiful kittens. Various other lines descend from the Kartush cats: Gazella from Barbara Gazzaniga, Brandywell    from Caroline Turner-Russel, Chantilly from Charles and Joan Halliday and Djendet from Michael and Jackie Garret. In 1983 The Cat Association of Britain (CA) accepted the breed standard for Burmilla’s and people could admire Burmilla’s of all generations on most CA-shows. In 1984 The Burmilla Cat Club (BCC) was founded with 10 members. The number of members has increased steadily since then. The club issues a magazine twice a year, ‘The BCC News’. Since 1985 the BBC has organized a yearly Burmilla special and now also organizes international shows according to the Fife/CA rules which welcome all breeds.

In 1990 the CA became the first Fifé club in England. This enabled a collaboration between English and Danish breeders and people could start to realize an acknowledgement for the Burmilla in the Fife. During a gathering in England in 1993 the present Burmilla breeders, among them also Danish breeders, developed a provisional breed standard. This standard was accepted both by the CA and the Felis Danica. It was decided that the Danish union Felis Danica would make a proposal to acknowledge the Burmilla during the Fife meeting in Prague and it was also decided to only present Danish Burmilla’s on the Fife meeting since the English legislation didn’t allow to take a cat abroad without placing the cat in quarantine during 6 months when he returned.    

Development in Denmark
In 1984 Birgit Nehammer, the Danish short-hair inspector and Burmese breeder, bought her first Burmilla, Penric Quicksilver, from Penny Bydlinsky in England. On Danish exhibitions he got so much attention that his new owner decided to dedicate herself to breeding Burmilla’s seriously. When she was breeding Burmese cats she had always tried to avoid too much inbreeding and she decided to develop some new lines. One line was based on a very friendly, a Chinchilla tomcat bred in Denmark, GIC Maya Tobias, with a lilac Burmese female cat Thamakan Francine. A second line brought Penric Tuppence, an unrelated first generation female cat of Penny Bydlinsky. Only two tomcats and three female cats were kept for a further breeding program out of the first seven nests; the other cats were nice long-haired cats or smokes which is normal in the first period of the program.

In 1984 a new line was started with a brown Burmese tomcat, Thamakan Othello, and Maya Manetta, a Chinchilla female cat with an exceptional good green eye color. A very beautiful female cat, Thamakan Silver Hebe, was born out of this and she became one of the most important cats in the breeding program. In 1991 a new cat was purchased in England, the fifth generation Kartush Dahmlet and in 1992 the female cat Queensland Brandywell Blossom came. Various Burmilla’s which were bred in Denmark were exported abroad. Finally in 1994, after ten years, the breed pure fifth generation Burmilla’s was born in Denmark.

Development in Holland
In 1996 the first Burmilla was imported from Denmark to Holland, GIC Thamakan Silver Veronica. From her first nest of 6 kittens two were sold for breeding. One blue silver shaded cat and a black golden cat. The golden variety has (unfortunately) not been acknowledged by Fifé, but is also very beautiful. The blue shaded female cat EC Roemah Koetjing Silver Lotus has had one nest so far (1999) which consisted of two kittens. We hope to breed a nest with the only female kitten Felis Zitteli's Belle Veronica and the imported tomcat from England, Kartush Sinethep of Therese Clark in 2001. 

At the moment two half new lines are developed with unrelated Burmese cats, so that new blood lines will also arise in Holland. At the moment there aren’t many Burmilla breeders in Holland, but the number of them will increase the next few years. Breeding the Burmilla
The offspring of the breed crossing between the Burmese and the Chinchilla is the first generation F1 which has the phenotype Burmilla, but isn’t breed pure. They wear two recessive genes, the gene for the uniform color of the Burmese and the long-hair gene of the Chinchilla. Since a breed must be breed pure, these two genes must be bred out. This can take place by means of inbreeding; brother-sister crossings, father-daughter, mother-son. Brother-sister crossings fix about 16% of the genes with each generation and are the fastest method.

The crossings between F1 brothers and sisters deliver the F2 generation and consist of: a-breed pure Burmilla’s, b-Burmilla’s which wear the long-hair and/or uniform color, c-silver long-haired cats, d-smokes, e-tabbies, f-uniform cats. The last three varieties occur as long-haired or short-haired cats. The crossings of F2 with F2 Burmilla’s, selected on type and hopefully breed pure, deliver the F3 generation which mainly consists of breed pure Burmilla’s. Which cats wear undesired characteristics isn’t sure in this stage and therefore test crossings with older cats, whose genetic structure is known, is useful. Especially crossings with cats which already have proven that they possess the undesired long-hair and uniform genes. If you continue the tested F3-F3 crossings you will get the breed pure F4 generation and F4xF4 delivers the breed pure F5. Each new line can produce breed pure Burmilla’s between the fourth and sixth generation.  

Outcrosses to one of the two original breeds will bring in the undesired genes again and the offspring will be considered as F1 again. However, it remains necessary to cross back to the Burmese in order to improve the type and to enlarge the gene pole. Crossings between Burmilla’s of various lines (inbreeding, but started as unrelated Burmese/Chinchilla parents) strengthen the health and the gene pole of the breed. The Burmilla breeding program doesn’t allow other crossings than crossings between Burmese and Chinchilla cats. The objective is to breed short-haired, silver shaded/tipped cats, according to the standard, breed pure and with a good health.

Now and then people ask why the Burmilla isn’t simply a silver Burmese. The answer is that the Burmilla, in contrast with the Burmese, is an agouti cat. We don’t advise to use Burmilla’s in Burmese breeding, even not if “new blood” is necessary. This would lead to confusion and disappointment. The Burmese breeders have worked for years to get rind of the green eye color and stripes and they still work on it. Bringing agouti stripes and the green eye color through the Burmilla in the Burmese again, seems a bad choice. Their furs also differ. The Burmilla has an undercoat, which lightens the fur a bit, and the Burmese doesn’t have an undercoat.

Breedinformation & pictures provided by cattery sitanonchai  http://www.sitanonchai.nl