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The Burmese as we know the breed today originated with a cat brought back from the Orient by Dr. Joseph Thompson named Wong Mau. She was described as “a rather small cat, fine boned, but with a more compact body than that of a Siamese, with shorter tail, a rounded, short-muzzled head, with greater width between rounded eyes" and as being walnut brown with darker brown on her extremities (face, ears, paws and tail). Cats similar to her in appearace did and still do occur in Southeast Asia and many of them have been imported for use in Burmese breeding programs.
Wong Mau was bred to Siamese (that breed at the time being much less extreme that it is today and being the breed closest in appearance to Wong Mau). Part of the kittens were Siamese-type pointed, some were dark with darker, subtler points (like their mother) and others were more solidly dark. These latter kittens bred true with bred to each other and were used as the basis of the Burmese breeding program and the breed began to be registered and shown in the mid-1930’s.
The Burmese was exported to England in 1949. There, they were continued to be outcrossed to Siamese and to British Shorthairs. In England, the red and cream point is also recognized in the Siamese breed (where in the US, it is recognized with the Colorpoint Shorthairs). Additionally, a blue Burmese female escaped and became pregnant by a red tabby domestic, producing a black tortoiseshell kitten later used for breeding. Planned breedings resulted in the additional Burmese colors of red, cream, and the tortoiseshell colors in brown, blue, lilac, and chocolate. The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) first recognized the blue Burmese in 1960, the creams and reds in 1973, and the torties in 1977.
The other noticeable difference in the European Burmese is its type. As the breeders in England were working with different cats, their cats did not develop the extreme round heads and short muzzles that the Burmese in the US did.
As there was a disparity of type between the contients, Burmese in Europe were unable to compete at CFA shows (the standards were that different). The suggestion was made to bring them in as a separate breed and in 1993, they were shown in Miscellaneous class as Foreign Burmese (changed to European the next year). In 2000, they were brought into Provisional status, and attained Championship status in 2002.
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