The Sacred Cat of
Burma- PyhÀ Birma
Sacred
Birmans are semi-longhaired
cats. The Birman's coat is unusual due to the white 'gloves' on each paw. All
Birmans are born white and they start developing their colours at the age of 1
week if they have a dark colour (like seal-point) and at the age of 14 days, or
more, if they have a clear colour (like lilac-point). Birman's body should be
of an eggshell colour or golden, depending on the intensity of the markings
colour. The markings can be pure seal, chocolate, blue, red, lilac or cream.
Tabby variations are also allowed. Birmans have always blue eyes.
The character of the Birman is very friendly. They are very affectionate to
humans and love to be their companions.
Many centuries ago there
lived a priest in the mountains of Lugh. The priest had dedicated his life to
the goddess Tsun-Kyan-Kse, who had deep blue eyes like sapphires and who
permitted devoted souls to transmigrate into holy animals. The favourite cat of
the priest was Sinh, a white cat with golden yellow eyes and so dark brown
ears, nose, legs and tail like the earth. One night the temple was robbed and
the priest was murdered. Sinh, the cat mourned sitting at priest's head, and
then the miracle happened. The back of the cat suddenly became golden, and his
golden yellow eyes became blue like the sapphires. The paws touching his dead
master remained pure white thus symbolizing his innocence.
In the legend the soul of a dead monk transmigrates from now on into the body
of a cat. The loyal Sinh was in such a deep grief about his dead master that he
died on the seventh day. Since that time all the temple cats had a golden
yellow back like a golden mantle and their golden yellow eyes turned to
sapphire blue.
"Nanna"
Born: 15.1.1993
Breed: Sacred Birman
Sex: female (neutered)
Colour: Blue-point (sininaamio)
Additional information:
Nanna had three kittens with SBI n Mion Aley in the year 1995 (Mion Chloe n, Mion Cheyenne n and Mion Cherie a).
She was diagnosed last year with mammary gland tumor, which was removed surgically. Now all we can do is hope, that tumor won't reoccur.
SBI n Mion Chloe
"Clowni"
Born: 4.12.1995
Nalinin Anjana X Mion Aley
Sex: female
Breed: Sacred Birman
Colour: Seal-point (ruskeanaamio)
Additional information: She's my cat. She has always been healthy, with an excellent nature.
In Loving
Memoriam
"Cassius,Cassu"
Born: 22.08.1990 Died 10.6.2008
Breed: Sacred Birman
Sex: male (neutered)
Color: Seal-point (ruskeanaamio)
Additional info:
Cassius was diagnosed with bladder stones (struvite stones) when he was 3-4 years old. The problem wasn't found immediately, since the first symptoms occurred around the time we got our second cat. So all the nervous and angry behavior was wrongly explained with him being jealous to a newcomer. After the diagnosis he was allowed to eat only special diet, so most of his life he has eaten only Hill's Prescription Diet Cat S/D. He lived his life healthy for quite a long time after that, and reached almost the age of 18 before we had to put him to sleep. In his last months he had few epileptical seizures, and he started to lose weight, and seemed to be most of the time disoriented. Cassius was a self-assured gentleman, who not before his old days discovered that it's nice after all to be close to other cats and humans. He always made sure that the household run smoothly, making sure all the mess was cleaned instantly, and that everyone went to sleep at 11 pm (otherwise he would just come and shout at you as long as needed, before you went and did what he wanted).
More information about the breed can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birman
http://www.birma.fi/ (in Finnish)
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