The Burmese cat - how to survive them!
By Helle Høybye - (translation from Kattemagasinet )
The friendly cat
The burmese cat is a small cat, with a huge personality and a heart of gold! If people ask about the short version. However, this small cat contains much more than this description. Both good things or less flatering things.
”My cat is very cuddly”, people say about their cat. But they change their minds when they have met a burmese. This cat is extremely cuddly. Some might describe the cat as annoying. In short: ”You are never alone with a burmese cat in your house”. It follows you everywhere, whereever you go. If you open a closet fell certain that at least 1 cat is in the closet when you close again. If you cook food or wash the dishes, it is not unsually that your cat sits on your shoulder watching. If you paint the walls in your home don't forgot to lock in the cat or you end up with painting alover, on the cats and around your home. Relaxing in front of TV is always with several cats on your lap, your breast, shoulder, beside you and around you. Your sofa is always invaded by purring cats which take up more and more space. Very cozy. The kittens are only a few weeks when they Jump onto the sofa or your best chair to lay in your arms.
Burmese kittens are a chapter all by itself. You can watch them for hours. They are fun and entertaining. They are fearless and dangerous beasts. They are evil and loving. And they are adoringly sweet and wonderfull misbehaved. And very very innocent! Or they look like it!!!
Burmese kittens are a chapter all by itself. You can watch them for hours. They are fun and entertaining. They are fearless and dangerous beasts. They are evil and loving. And they are adoringly sweet and wonderfull misbehaved. And very very innocent! Or they look like it!!!
Burmese kittens are a chapter all by itself. You can watch them for hours. They are fun and entertaining. They are fearless and dangerous beasts. They are evil and loving. And they are adoringly sweet and wonderfull misbehaved. And very very innocent! Or they look like it!!!
The Burmese cat has a huge personality, a strong mind. And it is a quite dominant breed. This is both good and not so good.
A Burmese in a group of not so strong cats, will quickly take the lead and manage the group with just a wink. Even less strong Burmeser manage in a less strong group of cats from other breeds.
To have more Burmese cats in your home is an extra bonus. You will always be the centre of attention and the centre of the group. And a group of Burmese will bring life and soul into you home, like no other breed can.
Guests
The Burmese cat loves guests. We all know the scene; We bought this beautifull kitten, and we wanted to show it to family and friends. And the wonderfull sweet kitten has disappeared from the face of the earth. This will never happen with a Burmese kitten. It is curiousity in the flesh. No no, the kitten must know everything.
The grown Burmese just think; ”oh, new victims”! And they sits with the guests all evening. And the guests seem to think, that the cats do not like their owners. The Burmese is a breathtaking and charming animals; especially if it looks at you with pleading eyes the whole evening. You must warn your guests not to wear their best dress when you invite them to you place. Please remember cats in light colors for light colored clothes, and darker colored cats for dark colored clothes. This might present a dilemma when you have torties!
Pica
The Burmese cat has got a lot more peculiar habits. They have a tend to mark everything. Everything will be marked. They bite ind almost everything; news paper, letters, carton etc. It is not completely clear why some of the burmese have procured this odd habit, and what their goal is. But one things is for sure. It is very difficult to break this habit. For us "burmeser lovers", this is just another odd things about our beloved cats.
In some cases biting things might be hasardous thing or dangerpus thing for the cats, if you do not take precautions. It is a fact that some burmese bite electrical wires (Other breeds of cats also do this!). Especially small and thin (black?) wires are their favorite. This habit can be avoided if you gather the wires behind especially the TV with plastic tubes which have been cut open which are avaible in various sizes or flextubes. Apart from preventing the cat from biting the wires and be electricuted which in the worst case can lead to the death of the cat, it actually create it more tidy behind the TV etc. Interesting about this habit is that it is apparently hereditary.
The burmese cat has another habit which the lucky owner of a burmese cat has learnt to view as everyday life. They hate closed doors. Quickly they learn the a closed doo is not an obstacle if the cat wants to get into another room. We have experimented with several solotions; such as turning the doorhandle upwards or downwards etc. Even doors which inwards are managable for a burmese. My personal experience is that the best solution are round door knobs. In connection to this please be aware that windows also needs to be secured as hasps etc. are no big challenge to a burmese.
The Burmese walk
At last I want to tell about a curiosum which is only found in the Burmese breed. It is the so-called ”Burmese-walk”. It was most common about 8 to 10 years ago.
”The Burmese-walk” is a special way of walking which some Burmese cats do when it is very relaxed. The walk is mixture of ballet, stretchmarch and stoll, and can be described as a feline moon-walk. It is as if the cat is hesitating with the next step, while holding one leg up for a fracton of a second before taking the next step doing the same. It is known in certain breedlines. And as we had imported new breedlines from esp. Germany, where the most popular lines carried the ability for ”The Burmese-walk” there were many of our burmese that did the "Burmese Walk" in the past. Today, where we have imported other breedlines from the USA and Australia the ability for the "Burmese Walk" has practically disappeared. Old breeders and owners of the burmese cats will acknowledge this phenomenon.
Most cats will primarily do it on either the front legs or the hind legs, but some cats can do it on both the front and the hind legs. (e.i. Dennise á Hunter). This rendered gave an even more peculiar way of moving. As an old breeder I miss this special trait with the new lines.
So!
This is an honest description of a cat, which we, the breeders and lovers of this wonderful breed have learnt to love and cherish for good and for worse. The Burmese is an cat breed, which i not easily trained. It fills a lot in your life, and it fills your home with life and soul. It demands a lot from you own only 1, and if you own 2 or more they will give you so much more entertainment and cozy moments.
