Burmilla or Burmese silvery is an aristocratic British breed that self-destructed quite accidentally in the 80s of the last century with an unplanned crossing of a Persian cat and a Burmese cat . The main difference of this cat is a beautiful long silvery coat. The official recognition of the new breed was in 1989 after the presentation at an exhibition in the city of Sydney.
Burmilla - a description of the breed
The size of Burmilla's cat is medium, with a muscular and elegant body, a beautiful almond-shaped eye with eyeliner. The edging passes to the nose and lips, which makes the muzzle particularly expressive. The color of the eyes varies from amber to green and tortoiseshell. Wool can also have several color options:
- Shaded - with a shade of purple and brown;
- solid color cream, black, bombay, tortoiseshell;
- tiger striped - speckled blue and mottled black;
- smoky appetizing chocolate and black.
Burmilla cat - breed standard
An amazing combination of beauty and wisdom of the representatives of this breed conquers the hearts of cat-travelers all over the world. The breed of Burmilla cats according to the standard has such characteristics:
- their body is compact, with strong bone, round and broad chest, powerful musculature, the cereal is located above the shoulder level;
- the head has an interesting shape - broad at the level of the eyebrows, it gradually narrows to the chin, the size of the skull is medium, the cheeks are full and round (the males are larger and slightly drooping), the muzzle is wide and well developed, ends in a small blunt triangle;
- nose has a slight slight bend at the base, a lump on the nose - a disqualification feature that can influence the breeding;
- the ears of Burmilla are medium in size, wide at the base, rounded at the tips, they are widely distributed, they stand straight with a slight inclination forward, covered with short hair on top, with light edges on the inside;
- Wool with a light undercoat, thin, silky and shiny;
- the main color is silver and golden at the base, and on the tips - brownish, chocolate, lilac, blue, red or cream, there is a pronounced typing, the belly is lighter than the back and tail;
- paws are powerful, medium-sized, oval in shape, hind legs slightly longer than the forelegs;
- the tail is long or semi-long, of medium thickness, rounded and tapering at the tip.
Burmilla's character
In most cases, the nature of these cats is complaisant and calm. The cat burmilla is very attached to the owner, well coexists in families with children. She herself is playful and agile, especially in her childhood. As you grow older, it becomes more and more calm. He likes walking on the street. She is very inquisitive, loves to observe and contemplate the world around her. Its intelligence is above average. Burmilla is very fond of communication, willingly talks with the owner and does not tolerate a long loneliness. Her main virtues are affection, tenderness and kindness, coupled with a pleasant voice.
Burmilla breed - varieties
Burmilla cats come in two varieties - short-haired and long-haired. Shorthair or smooth-haired are more common. On the coloring, they all fall into the four types described above. Very interesting Burmilla black, which is, in fact, a hybrid of American Shorthair and Burmese. She looks very much like a black panther, as she was intended by breeders. Another species of black burmilla is a mixture of Burmese and Abyssinian cats . These cats are lighter and thinner.
Longhair Burmilla
This relatively rare breed of burmilla cats is called semi-long-haired. Such cats have a soft, silky coat. The long-hair and chic fluffy tail of Burmilla has been given to the recessive genes of the Persian cat-progenitor of the breed. If you want a hundred percent long-haired burmilla, both parents should have a long coat. If one of the parents has a short hair, most likely the offspring will inherit the dominant gene of the short-haired.
Shorthair Burmilla
Burmilla short-haired breed is famous for its easy character. She easily gets along with dogs and cats of other breeds, completely without showing aggression or enmity. Her hair, though short, very dense and beautiful, it fits snugly to the body, but, unlike the Burmese breed, is more silky due to the undercoat. The color can be tiger, solid, shaded or smoky. With any of them, the cat looks very graceful and elegant.
Burmilla cats breed - maintenance and care
A burmilla cat is completely unassuming about caring for her. Its fine silky coat practically does not require special care - you just need to comb it once a week with a brush with natural bristles, during moulting - a little bit more often. Bathing it can be in cases of severe pollution. In general, she does a great job of hygiene herself, licking herself very carefully.
Once a week, the cat needs to clean the ears with cotton buds and wash the eyes with a simple warm water. It is not necessary to cut the claws often, in order to accustom it to scratching . Moreover, Burmillae do not really like the process of pruning claws. As for feeding, there are no problems with this either. Equally well cats eat industrial food and fresh food, cooked independently. The main rule is not to overfeed burmilla, otherwise loss of form will become for her a big frustration.
Kitten Burmilla - Features of Care
When the Burmilla kittens come the moment of introduction of complementary foods, it will be necessary to purchase for them a high-quality specialized feed from a trusted producer. You can feed them with natural food, starting with milk porridge, boiled yolk, low-fat cottage cheese. With the onset of a 2-month-old age, gradually, the kittens of Burmillae should be translated into "adult" food. This - low-fat varieties of meat, seafood and mashed vegetables. In addition to feeding, the question of training kittens to the tray is important. Because this breed is very reasonable, it's enough just to show a couple of times where their toilet is.