ABSTRACT
The Breed History
This Sacred Cat of Burma (Burma is now known as Myanmar) is a distinctively coated and colored cat. Birman cats were prized by priests and many legends surround their origin. A seal point queen named Sita exported to France about the year 1919 gave birth to a litter that became the foundation stock for the breed in the west. By the end of the Second World War, they became almost extinct in France and across Europe. Crosses with Persian and Siamese cats followed. First specimens arrived in England in the 1960s and the cats were first recognized in America by the CFA in 1967. No outcrossing is allowed and in most other registries, the cat must have five generations following an outcross in order to qualify. By 1999, with over 1000 cats registered, the breed entered the top 10 in CFA.
