The Sacred Birman cat is a pointed, semi long haired cat.
It is of medium size and body structure. The head is round, although with no likeliness to the Persian cat.
The profile is rounded with no stop, but a slight indentation.
The chin is firm. The ears are rather small and set well apart from each other.
The eyes are sapphire blue, the shape oval to rounded - but not completely round.
The color of the coat is something very special. The body color is light - almost like egg shell-
with a golden tone. Tail, legs, ears and face are pointed - which mean in contrast to the body color.
The Birman is recognized in these colors: seal,
chocolate
,
blue, lilac, red and cream as well as tabby (stripes) and tortie (tortoiseshell) varieties of these
six basic colors. It all adds up to 20 different possibilities.
The white gloves are the special feature of the Birman - it is the only breed, where the white socks are part of the written standard.
The socks must be completely white with no colored spots. In front the white must cover the entire paw - no more, no less. No
running up the legs is accepted. On the back feet, the sock must end in a socalled lace or spur on the back side of the leg - looking like
an inverted "V". Far from all Birmans have perfect socks and laces,
and because of the strict demands in the standard, the Birman is one of the
most difficult breeds to breed, because the white markings are impossible to control.
Luckily the white markings - or the lack of these - have no influence on the wonderful purrsonality of the Birman
- they are all gorgeous creatures, whether they have too low, too high - or just perfect white markings!
The following colors are recognized in the Birman:
|
Seal point - SBIn |
Seal tabby point - SBI n21 |
|
Blue point - SBIa |
Blue tabby point - SBIa21 |
|
Chokolate point - SBIb |
Chokolate tabby point - SBIb21 |
|
Lilac point - SBIc |
Lilac tabby point - SBIc21 |
|
Red point - SBId |
Red tabby point - SBId21 |
|
Cream point - SBIe |
CCream tabby point - SBIe21 |
|
Seal tortie point - SBIf |
Seal tortie tabby point - SBIf21 |
|
Blue tortie point - SBIg |
Blue tortie tabby point - SBIg21 |
|
Chokolate tortie point - SBIh |
Chokolate tortie tabby point - SBIh21 |
|
Lilac tortie point - SBIj |
Lilac tortie tabby point - SBIj21 |
The officiel FIFe standard:
|
General |
Size |
medium in size |
|
Head |
Shape |
Strong bone |
|
|
Forehead |
Slightly rounded |
|
Cheeks |
full, somewhat rounded |
|
Nose |
Of medium length without stop, but with a slight indentation |
|
Chin |
Firm |
|
Ears |
Shape |
Rather small |
|
Placement |
set slightly tipped, not too upright on the skull with good width between |
|
Eyes |
Shape |
not quite round, slightly oval |
|
Colour |
Deep blue |
|
Body |
Structure |
Slightly long body. Males must be more massive than females |
|
Legs |
|
Short and strong |
|
|
Paws |
Rounded |
|
Gloves |
The special feature of the Birman is the white feet, called "gloves", on both
the front and hind feet.
These gloves must be absolutely pure white. They should stop at the articulation or at the
transition of toes to metacarpals, over which they should not extend.
Slightly longer white gloves on the hind feet can be tolerated.
On the back of the hind feet the white gloves end in points. The ideal "gauntlets" end in an inverted "V" and extend 1/2 to 3/4 of
the way up the hock. Lower or higher gauntlets are acceptable but should not go beyond the hock.
It is important that the
gloves are equally long and show a symmetry of white, on either the two front feet and two hind feet; or even better on all
four feet. |
|
Tail |
|
Of medium length, forming a plume |
|
Coat |
Structure |
Long to semi-long. According to the actual part of the body: short on the face, gradually growing longer on the cheeks
to a full frill, long on the back and the flanks. Silky texture. Little undercoat. |
|
|
Colour |
Show all the characteristics known from the colourpointed cats, but all 4 feet are white (gloves).
The points include the face, ears, legs, tail and genitals.
The points shall be even and in good sontrast to the body colour.
The body colour and colour of the tummy is very pale egg shell; the back is golden beige in all varieties.
Only in adult cats the colour of the points and the body colour are fully developed. |
|
Remarks |
|
The Birman breed shows a special morphology which is unique for the breed. |
|
Faults |
Coat |
Pure white or coloured patches on the chest or the stomach. |
|
Fautls precluding the certificate |
Nose |
Incompletely coloured nose leather |
|
|
Legs |
* Creeping up of the white on the side or reverse sides of the gloves of front and/or hind feet. (known as "runners")
* Absence of "gauntlets" on the hind feet |
|
|
Coat |
* A white patching in the coloured areas or reverse.
* A white patch on the genitals.
|
Scale of points:
|
TOTAL |
|
100 points |
|
Head |
General shape, cheeks, nose, jaws and teeth, forehead, chin, placement and shape of the ears.
|
20
|
|
Shape colour of the eyes |
5 |
|
Body |
Shape, size, bone structure, legs and shape of paws |
20 |
|
Tail |
length and shape |
10 |
|
Coat |
Body colour and points |
10 |
|
Quality and texture, length |
10 |
|
Gloves |
On the front feet |
5 |
|
|
On the hind feet |
5 |
|
Gauntlets |
5 |
|
Uniformity and symmetry of gauntlets and gloves |
5 |
|
Condition |
|
5 |