There are three terms you may have heard when looking at Burmese cats. Contemporary, Traditional, and European. Here's what they mean.........

The Burmese breeders in America have divided themselves into two camps. You see, some time ago the judges and some breeders decided that they liked Burmese with shorter faces. These Burms did very well in the show ring and continue to do well. In the process of breeding these shorter and shorter muzzles, however, a lethal gene was introduced into the gene pool. This gene causes a higher mortality rate in kittens as it produces a defect in the head formation.

Some Burmese breeders choose to try and work with this gene and hopefully breed it out over time. Others didn't care because they were breeding good show cats and felt they could live with the kitten loss. Still others decided to only breed cats that did not carry this gene, which meant they would be working with longer nosed cats which would not do as well in the show halls. This was a difficult decision for breeders and still is when someone enters the fancy. Traditional is the name we have given to the strand that does not carry the defect. Contemporary is the name for those that do.

The two types have a different look from one another, and that is what the pet owner would probably be most interested in. Contemporary cats have a more flat face. They do not always have as prominent a nose and the eyes look a little closer together than a traditional's. I do not want to imply that there is a health risk with these cats. The gene I spoke of is evident at birth and kittens with it do not survive their first few days. A kitten bought from a contemporary breeder should be just as healthy and have the same life expectancy as a Traditional. They may be a little more prone to weepy eyes, and respiratory infections though due to the different face.

Traditional cats have a longer nose and sometimes a longer body. Their eyes should be wide set and ears wide, round, and set well apart on the head. Traditionals are making good progress in the show halls as we continue to breed for shorter muzzles without introducing contemporary bloodlines.

What really matters is what look do you prefer?? If you like the shorter face you will want to contact a contemporary breeder. If the longer face, A traditional breeder. They are the same cats with the same personality, despite this difference in appearance. Just because I prefer the traditional look certainly does not mean everyone does!

Then, to confuse matters further, we have the European issue. You see, Burmese in Europe developed a little different than in America. While we bred shorter faces and rounder bodies, they did not. A European type Burm will have a longer face, usually a longer body with a more elegant type. They also introduced the red gene to the Burmese Breed, bringing in six more colors:.: Red, Cream, lilac tortie, blue tortie, Chocolate tortie, and brown tortie. They also have the four colors Americans are familiar with but some different terms. Sable= is Brown, Champagne= is Chocolate, Blue =is still Blue, and Platinum is =Lilac.

Now, many registrations simply decided to accept these colors in America but to keep the standard the same. Therefore, people bringing in these cats would have to do some work to get them to have the look we were looking for. TICA, for example, accepts all 10 colors as Burmese with the same standard. CFA decided to call them a different breed, so in CFA we have two breeds, European Burmese and Burmese, with two different standards. As far as I know this is the only registry to do this. It creates an odd situation as you can have one cat registered as two different “breeds.” A cream girl we had was registered in TICA as Burmese and in CFA as European Burmese. It’s very weird. I have to think that this will change somewhere down the line.

I hope this answers some of the questions about these terms that you have probably heard if you have been researching burms long!