Adopt a Birman Cat by Alain Lescart
Birmans cats, also called Sacred Cats of Burma, are extremely friendly cats with a good temper. They love to play and are very human oriented.
In spite of a greedy legend locating their origin in Burma, they were in fact entirely created in South of France (Provence-Nice area) aka 1924, between Persian and Siamese/Balinese lines. Birmans are cats of the middle, with a morphology between a siamese and a Persian. From the last one, Birman inherited a longer hair (but at middle range), a rounder head and a more compact body; from the former ones, they acquired blue eyes, a silky coat, a very friendly and smart personality.
In France, at the end of World War II, after German occupation and the casualties of war, only one couple survived, from which all actual Birmans descend. First Birmans only existed in one color variety for almost thirty years: the seal-point (black marks on the warm extremities body - points). In the 1950-60s the blue-point color (a dilute gene from the seal) was created from a Blue Persian, in France. In the 1970-80s the English created the chocolate-point and its equivalent dilution: the lilac-point from a Chocolate-point siamese.
Around the same time, the red-point and the cream-point , as well as the tortie-point combination of all colors were created from an English tortie color cat. The tabby color followed in Germany from Persian Chinchilla lines (but, unfortunately, without respecting the rule to introduce a siamese-balinese line on the other side). In the 1990s, the silver-tabby gene was introduced (as its smoke dilution) in the pool and more recently the cinnamon-point and its fawn-point dilution equivalent in France.
Birmans are middle-hair cats with a silky coat that doesn't mate (unfortunately, surging from Persian lines that didn't respect the siamese rule incorporation, some lines have more Persian-like hair). Birmans have a white bleaching of the body, except at the warm extremities (points) which preserve the original color. Birmans have blue eyes, a fluffy tail and white gloves on their paws. They are generally alpha cats with some exceptions. Intelligent & elegant cats, playful & human-oriented, communicative, they follow you in the house and always try to get your attention. They make wonderful companion and need sensitive human companions.