The Birman is a great companion for anyone who wants a gentle, active, and playful cat. It knows how to respect your space and time, and it won’t bother you when you are busy. It has a calm and quiet personality that makes it easy to get along with.
Physical Characteristics:
The Birman is a big and strong cat with a thick body. It has round, blue eyes that look gentle and friendly. It is easy to spot a Birman among other cats because of its unique colors. It has white paws and dark points on its ears, face, legs, and tail. The points can have a golden shade. (Interestingly, the cat is all white when it is born and gets its colors later.) The white part on the front paw stops at the middle of the paw, but on the back paw it goes up to the ankle.
Personality and Temperament:
The Birman is a sweet and loving cat that makes a great companion. It is easy to take care of and does not cause any trouble.
The Birman is smart and curious and learns new things quickly. It loves to be praised and pampered and wants a lot of love and attention. It is friendly with strangers and not shy or scared. It gets along well with children and other pets in the home.
History and Background:
The Birman is a sacred cat from Burma (now Myanmar). It has a legend that says it was once a white cat that lived in a temple with Lord Buddha. It helped a priest who was killed by robbers and became a golden cat with blue eyes and white paws. It also changed the color of all the other cats in the temple. It died a week later and took the priest’s soul to heaven.
There is also a real story that says the Birman came from Burma to France in 1919. There are two versions of this story.
One version says that two men helped some priests and their cats escape from a temple that was attacked. They got two Birman cats as a gift. The other version says that a man bought two Birman cats from a servant who worked at a temple. One of the cats died on the way, but the other one, Sita, reached France. She was pregnant and became the mother of the Birman breed in Europe.
The Birman became popular in France and was recognized in 1925. World War II almost wiped out the breed, but some cats survived and were bred again. The Birman came to England in 1955 and was recognized in 1966.
The Birman came to America in 1959 and was recognized by the Cat Fanciers’ Association in 1966. The breed is now loved by many people and has won many awards.