A glossy shorthair with golden eyes, heavier than it looks and devoted to its people.
The Burmese is a shorthair with a coat like satin and big golden eyes. Nearly all Burmese go back to one small brown cat that came from Burma to America in 1930. Pick one up and it is surprisingly heavy. It follows you around the house, loves to play and is not shy with visitors. Being alone is not its thing.
Very devoted to its people and follows them around the house.
A real lap cat that wants to be as close to you as it can.
Loves games, and many Burmese learn to fetch.
Lively and athletic, keeping a kitten's energy into old age.
Often talks to you, but with a softer voice than a Siamese.
Clever and quick to learn tricks. It also learns to open doors and cupboards.
Rarely shy. It often greets visitors at the door.
Usually great with children who play nicely.
Usually gets on with a friendly dog.
Sociable with other cats, and often happiest with a companion.
Hates being alone. If you are out all day, it needs a companion.
Does well indoors with places to climb and plenty of play. Outdoors it can be too trusting.
Wong Mau, the mother of the breed, was just a dark Siamese.
No. Breeding tests showed she was half Siamese and half Burmese type. With her son she had solid brown kittens, and those were the first Burmese.
The Burmese is a temple cat that has stayed the same for 700 years.
Old Thai cat poems do mention a copper-brown cat. But today's breed began in 1930 with one cat in America, crossed with Siamese.
The Burmese and the Birman are the same cat.
No, they are two breeds. The Burmese is shorthaired and one even colour. The Birman has semi-long hair, dark points and white socks.
There are two kinds of Burmese. In America breeders made a round, compact cat with a short muzzle. In Britain, where the breed arrived in 1949, it stayed slimmer, with a short wedge-shaped head. In Europe and in FIFe the European Burmese is simply the Burmese; the American registries CFA and TICA mostly know the American type.
A small walnut-brown cat, Wong Mau, comes from Burma to San Francisco. Nearly all Burmese descend from her.
Wong Mau has kittens with a Siamese. Later, with her son, the first solid brown Burmese are born.
The American registry CFA starts registering the Burmese.
The first Burmese come from America to Britain.
Britain's GCCF recognises the Burmese, after three generations bred in Britain.
The first blue Burmese is born in England. Until then every Burmese was brown.
CFA gives the Burmese championship status and a single American standard.
The European federation FIFe recognises the Burmese.
The first two Burmese come to the Netherlands, two brown cats from England.
Red, cream and tortie Burmese are recognised. Chocolate and lilac follow in 1975.
The new American registry TICA recognises the Burmese as one of its first breeds.
Scientists describe a new Burmese colour, mocha, in street cats from Thailand.
Medium-sized, muscular and compact, with a glossy coat. It feels much heavier than it looks: fans call it a brick wrapped in silk.
The type bred in Britain since 1949 and then all over Europe: slimmer, with a short wedge-shaped head, slanted eyes and longer legs. It also comes in red, cream and tortie. In the Netherlands you see almost only this type.
Recognition: For FIFe, GCCF and WCF this is simply the Burmese. CFA recognises it as a separate breed, the European Burmese.
Rounder and more compact, with a round head, round gold eyes and a short muzzle. In CFA it comes in four colours: sable (brown), champagne (chocolate), blue and platinum (lilac).
Recognition: CFA and TICA call this type the Burmese; WCF recognises it as the American Burmese. FIFe and GCCF do not recognise it.
Cat registries write colours as an EMS code. The letter is the colour (n black, a blue, d red, f tortie), s means silver or smoke, y golden, and the numbers tell you about white (01–09), shading (11, 12), the tabby pattern (22–25) or colourpoint (33).
Brown(n 31)
Blue(a 31)
Chocolate(b 31)
Lilac(c 31)
Cream(e 31)
Brown tortie(f 31)In CFA the American type comes only in brown, chocolate, blue and lilac, under the names sable, champagne, blue and platinum. Red and cream belong to the European type only.
Bred in the Netherlands and recognised by independent Dutch clubs, not by FIFe or GCCF. Fawn is a very light shade, a pale lilac-beige.
Only the WCF standard for the European Burmese lists these colours. In FIFe the Burmese is always solid, and clear stripes are a fault.
No registry allows white in the Burmese. White patches or too many white hairs are a fault or disqualify the cat.
Nearly all Burmese go back to one cat, Wong Mau, who came from Burma to San Francisco in 1930.
In a large British study Burmese lived the longest of all breeds: a kitten can expect 14.4 years on average.
Until 1955 every Burmese was brown. Then a blue kitten turned up in an English litter: Sealcoat Blue Surprise.
A closed door rarely stops a Burmese. Many learn to open door handles, cupboards and bin lids.
Burmese kittens are born pale. They reach their final colour at about two, and keep getting a little darker after that.
A Burmese often lives long. In a large British study it had the longest life expectancy of all breeds: 14.4 years on average, against 11.7 for cats in general. Many Burmese reach 16 to 18.
The body can no longer control its blood sugar well. It mostly affects older, heavier cats. In British vet practices about 2 in 100 Burmese had it, around three times as often as a crossbred cat. Keeping your cat slim is the best protection.
How it is found: There is no DNA test. Keep the cat slim, especially from middle age.
Young cats get bouts of muscle weakness: the head droops and walking is stiff and wobbly. Extra potassium helps well. In test data about 1 in 5 Burmese was a carrier; a kitten only gets it when both parents are carriers.
How it is found: DNA test of the parents. Carriers are only mated with cats that tested free.
A rare inherited brain disease in young kittens that cannot be treated. A kitten only gets it when both parents are carriers, and a DNA test prevents it.
How it is found: A one-off DNA test of every breeding cat.
Kittens with two copies of this gene are born with a badly malformed head and cannot survive. With one copy the cat is healthy but has a very short muzzle. It is found mainly in American short-faced lines.
How it is found: DNA test of the parents. Two carriers are never mated with each other.
Very little work. Once a week with a rubber brush or your hand keeps the satin coat glossy. It sheds little and needs no bath.
Lots of energy: daily play, with toys, scratching posts and sturdy high places to sit.
A Burmese does not like being alone. If you are out a lot, keep two cats, so it always has a friend.
A Burmese loves its food and easily gets too heavy. Measure its meals, because extra weight raises the risk of diabetes.
The Burmese is not hypoallergenic. If you are allergic to cats, do not count on this one being different.
Checked on 21 October 2026
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