HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN BURMESE

It is generally accepted that the Burmese breed originated from Wong Mau, a solid colored brown female brought from Burma (now Myanmar) to the west coast of the United States by Dr. Thompson in 1930.  Wong Mau was mated to a Siamese, the breed that most closely resembled her.  The resulting kittens were hybrids and it is likely that Wong Mau herself was a hybrid too.  When one of her sons was mated back to her, some of the kittens were brown like her. This was the point where the Burmese breed officially began. 

In 1948, the first Burmese were exported from the United States to the United Kingdom.  The lack of sufficient breeding stock again led to the introduction of Siamese. The breed was recognized in the United Kingdom in 1952.  Burmese were later exported to parts of Europe, Australia and New Zealand.  From then on the breed followed different courses of development in Europe as compared to the United States until today we have two very different looking cats with two different standards both sharing a common ancestry.

The European Burmese in the United States today are descendants of those Burmese exported to various countries during the 1950's and 1960's. 

Both the American Burmese and the European Burmese have the same, wonderful personality.  The European Burmese is a larger cat than the American Burmese and enjoys excellent health.  A major difference between the American Burmese and the European Burmese is the larger range of colors of the European Burmese.

European Burmese                    American Burmese

Brown                                        Sable
Chocolate                                    Champagne
Blue                                            Blue
Lilac                                            Platinum
Cream
Red
Brown Tortie
Chocolate Tortie
Blue Torties
Lilac Tortie