Editorial by Nancy L. Reeves
The opinions expressed in this editorial are solely the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of other UBCF members or officers.
As editor of the United Burmese Cat Fanciers (UBCF - www.united-burmese.org) Newsletter for the past two and a half years, I have explored and written about a variety of subjects related to the Burmese cat. Over the past few months, however, unexpected events and experiences have given me a fresh perspective on our breed's colorful past, the challenges we are facing, and what the future must hold for the Burmese cat if it is to survive and flourish.
To me, fair friend, you never can be old
For as you were when first your eye I eyed,
Such seems your beauty still.
William Shakespeare, Sonnet 104
Most of our UBCF newsletter readers know that I am a dedicated "traditional" Burmese cat fancier, breeder, exhibitor, and advocate. I have had Burmese in my life for more than 20 years. As a breeder for 12 years I have experienced setbacks along with successes, and learned some difficult lessons along the way. But I have persevered and am proud of the beautiful, healthy kittens I have raised this past year. I am also grateful for the generosity and trust of those who have provided me with outstanding breeding cats, allowing me to produce offspring that are competitive in the show hall. Mine is a small cattery with only a few litters a year, so each kitten I raise is precious.
But on three separate occasions recently, to my amazement, prospective clients rejected my beautiful healthy kittens on sight. I had carefully screened these families, and knew they would provide wonderful homes for my Burmese babies. I looked forward to meeting them in person and anticipated the joy they and my kittens would experience in their lives together. But when these individuals came to my home to meet my kittens, they did not want them for one simple reason: the kittens' noses were too short. Didn't I have any with longer noses, they asked?
I did my best to assure them that the other wonderful characteristics of the breed remained intact, but they did not care. They were searching for the look they admired in the Burmese they had known and loved for ten, twenty years and more. They wanted the same Burmese that captured the hearts and loyalty of countless cat lovers in the decades after Dr. Joseph Thompson and geneticist Billie Gerst raised the first kittens born to Wong Mau, the mother of our breed.
In the eighty years since Wong Mau first came to the United States, her progeny have spread all over our world and, according to recent reports, have even been returned to the land of Wong Mau's birth, Burma. But on their journey across the globe the looks of many Burmese - their noses in particular - has changed dramatically.
Certainly some changes in cat breeds are to be expected over 80+ years, as they are influenced by the personal tastes of the breeders who produce them, the exhibitors who show them, the judges who award them, and by those who subsequently amend breed standards. In that same time period, other breeds besides Burmese have also changed and new breeds have been developed as a result of spontaneous genetic mutations, including Scottish Folds, American Curls, and the wavy coated Rex breeds. An older, existing breed's look can also be affected by these new breeds, in an effort to make breeds distinct from one another.
Arguably, however, no other breed in the cat fancy has ever experienced the rapid and dramatic change that occurred within the Burmese breed. That too was caused by a genetic mutation . . . a lethal one.
I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time
Into this breathing world scarce half made up. . .
William Shakespeare, Richard III
There are different theories about where and when it happened. Some believe it was a spontaneous mutation as has resulted in the creation of new breeds. Others feel it may have arisen concurrently with the development of Exotics, which in the early years were produced through breeding short-nosed Persians to Burmese. Regardless of its origin, no one disputes the fact that a genetic mutation occurred in the late 1960s to early 1970s that profoundly affected our breed and literally changed the face of Burmese cats.
A male named Good Fortune Fortunatas epitomized the new "contemporary" look. According to those who saw him, he was magnificent, with a broad rounded head, short nose, enormous gold eyes, stocky body, and a lustrous sable coat. He achieved great success in the show hall, and Burmese fanciers were soon lining up their females to breed to him, purportedly even in motel rooms in the evening hours after cat shows. His offspring quickly spread across the country and grew up to echo their father's achievements in show halls. When they were old enough, these cats were bred together and their progeny eagerly anticipated. But breeders were in for a rude shock. Deformed kittens began to appear, born alive but tragically without the ability to survive for long outside of their mother's protective womb. Good fortune it may have been for the show success of Fortunatas and his descendants, but that success came at a terrible price.
In the early years after the head defect appeared, it was estimated that an average 25% of kittens born to contemporary Burmese cats were affected by this "cranial facial mutation" or "Burmese Head Defect," and that average continues to this day according to a study completed only a few years ago. It wasn't long before the existence of these deformed kittens created a rift in the Burmese cat community. Some chose to continue breeding the carriers of this lethal defect, as they preferred the new look of the cats and enjoyed their show hall success. Others did not like the look and believed it was wrong to deliberately continue any lethal gene because of the long term impact it would have on the breed's overall health. Many also objected to the sad fate of the deformed kittens that had no chance of survival.
Action is eloquence.
William Shakespeare, Coriolanus
When Fortunatas and his progeny first appeared in the show hall, their conformation was well suited to the Burmese standard, so it was understandable that judges would final them. However, after judges learned this new phenotype carried the head defect, they could have made a stand against the continuation of a lethal gene in a breed, especially one that at the time carried with it such an identifiable phenotype. Unfortunately, they didn’t. I believe that if judges had not continued to award HD+ cats, which practice continues to this day, our breed would not be in the precarious position it is in with such animosity between breeders and exhibitors, two completely isolated gene pools, and declining numbers of breeders and kittens born. While it may not be their job to make those kinds of decisions, only to judge according to a written standard for each breed, we all know politics and subjectivity exist in judging. And since CFA’s objectives, as stated on the cfa.org website, include “The promotion of the welfare of cats and the improvement of their breed,” then the decisions these judges have made and continue to make are counter to the very mission of the organization that they represent.
Today we are faced with an additional problem that makes the choices difficult for any judges who do want to support HD- cats. To produce competitive show cats, traditional breeders have been raising offspring with rounder heads and shorter noses that increasingly resemble contemporaries, though these cats do not carry the lethal genetic defect. And without a genetic test to prove HD+ status, how can all but the most experienced judges now tell which cats are carriers?
Because traditional breeders are now producing competitive cats that so beautifully meet the Burmese standard, there is no longer any reason for breeders to continue the contemporary lines that carry the lethal head defect. Only slight differences remain in the "looks" of traditional and contemporary cats, and they are increasingly subtle. Tragically, however, it is unlikely most traditional breeders will trust contemporary breeders with their lines. Too many harsh words have been spoken, and too many deformed kittens have been lost because of the desire to produce winning show cats. Raising kittens is difficult enough, kitten mortality can and does occur through congenital defects, and as our Burmese population diminishes each loss is to be mourned. And to knowingly produce litters in which an average of 25% of kittens will be deformed and have to be euthanized is absolutely incomprehensible and abhorrent to me, and to so many of my traditional colleagues.
No legacy is so rich as honesty
William Shakespeare, All’s Well that Ends Well
As mentioned in the Fall 2009 newsletter, the past two years I have been registering and showing my cats in TICA as well as in CFA. When evaluating this past show year’s statistics, the numbers show a marked contrast between the show success of contemporary and traditional cats in the two registries. In CFA in 2009-2010, five out of the six top cats (Kittens, Champions and Premiers for the Sable and Dilute Burmese Divisions) were contemporary cats, and four of those top cats were from only one contemporary cattery. By contrast, in TICA all three of the top Burmese (Kitten, Champion, and Alter) are from only one traditional cattery. For the remaining top 10 placements, contemporaries dominate in CFA, while traditional and European Burmese catteries and cats dominate in TICA.
TICA judges in general do not support the extreme Burmese look that is awarded in CFA. But there are exceptions. Last year I spent time with a judge who had placed my traditional kitten high in one final, but who had also placed a contemporary adult high in another final at the same show. I don’t recall how we got on the subject, but when we started talking about traditional and contemporary Burmese, his statement “well, there aren’t really any contemporary breeders anymore,” caught me off guard. Did he really not know that he had just finaled a contemporary cat? As it turned out, no, he didn’t realize the cat was contemporary. It was obvious to me, because through observation and experience I can usually identify the distinctive contemporary phenotype that the lethal genetic mutation produces. But not everyone can, not even some judges as it turns out. And, to quote Shakespeare yet again, “ay, there’s the rub” (Hamlet). For I have come to believe that few outside of the Burmese community, including judges, exhibitors, and the general public, are truly able to distinguish the contemporary phenotype, and even fewer understand how the proliferation of these cats, along with the lethal genetic defect they carry, has affected our breed worldwide.
This sickness doth infect
The very life-blood of our enterprise.
William Shakespeare, King Henry IV
While Good Fortune Fortunatas may not have been the originator of the mutation that created the contemporary Burmese, research shows that he is the bottleneck. Every contemporary cattery today can trace their cats back to Fortunatas. Whatever concurrent contemporary lines may have existed in the past, they have all been brought together through him. We know this because a member of UBCF spent several years analyzing records, using reverse pedigrees to identify the descendants of Fortunatas. Of course only those offspring that were registered and entered in available databases could be traced, so these numbers are likely undercounted. When this research was completed in 2009, it had identified more than 5,000 Fortunatas descendants in the United States and more than 3,000 in Europe. The study showed Fortunatas descendants behind a few traditional Burmese lines as well.
How does this research benefit the Burmese breed? The study was done based on a premise that will remain controversial until a genetic test for carriers (HD+) of the cranial facial mutation is developed. If the gene or genes producing the head defect are simply recessive, then it can be bred out through careful matings and pedigree management. If, however, the lethal gene cannot be bred out, then this database will be useful for those wishing to identify which cats they should test for the lethal gene and, if the test is positive, eliminate those HD+ cats from their breeding programs.
When will the gene or genes identifying head defect carriers be found? We have been assured that they will be found and that there will be a test, and I believe researchers are getting very close. But will this test be all that we hope it to be, will it solve the problems our breed is facing? Will it unite a divided breeding community? And can we wait for this test to take action to help our breed? To all these questions, the answer is no.
It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.
William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
In 2008, Dr. Leslie A. Lyons at the University of California, Davis published a landmark study analyzing the genetic diversity of cat breeds, and that study showed that the breeds with the lowest genetic diversity in the cat fancy are Burmese and Singapuras. The samples for Burmese studied were a combination of traditional and contemporary cats. Unfortunately, however, because of the cranial facial mutation that has divided the Burmese community, those two breeding populations are in actuality further separated into two distinct gene pools. Therefore, the genetic diversity of the Burmese cat is even lower than Dr. Lyons' research has shown. And low genetic diversity is not healthy for any breed, especially in a time when the number of breeders is declining because of the rising costs of raising kittens and other factors. Low diversity can impact a breed's overall health and make it more susceptible to genetic problems. It can make a breed vulnerable to diseases that could potentially wipe out segments of the population. This apparently is happening in Burmese and Birmans in some parts of Europe, which currently are being hit hard by the lethal disease feline infectious peritonitis (FIP).
For years Burmese breeders have been waiting for a test to identify the gene or genes that create the Burmese Head Defect and the mode of inheritance for this mutation. While we have waited for "The Test," it has seemed to take on almost mythical proportions, not unlike a talisman with magical powers that can heal all our wounds. It is past time for that myth to be dispelled and our goals for our breed to be grounded in reality. I do believe that all Burmese breeders, be they contemporary or traditional, would like to eliminate the head defect from our breed. But if the genes involved are shown to be inextricably linked to the distinctive phenotype created by the cranial facial mutation gene, will all contemporary breeders be willing to give up the look they like, the show hall success they enjoy, and the long term investments they have made in their breeding lines? It is my personal belief that many if not most will not be willing to give those up, and therefore the cranial facial mutation gene will continue in our breed even after the test for HD+ cats is available. Given that possible scenario, what steps can we take to help the Burmese cat? The clear path that will lead us to a healthier breed is through outcrossing.
In CFA, there are currently no outcrosses for Burmese even to those cats that are genetically Burmese but cat-egorized in different "breed" divisions: European Burmese, Solid Tonkinese, and Sable Bombays. In TICA, however, European and American Burmese are all one breed. Bombays are also a part of the Burmese breed group. So I joined TICA to be able to outcross to the European and Sable Bombay lines that are not available to Burmese in CFA. I am looking forward to obtaining a blue female kitten that is one quarter European later this summer.
Though our Burmese community is divided, there are ways we can work together to improve the future of our breed. We can do this through taking advantage of the outcross options in TICA and making a similar outcross program available to breeders in CFA. In CFA the discussion has already begun. Exactly where that discussion will lead is uncertain at this time, but there are logical directions in which we could go, including reducing the number of generations before cats from other registries that have incorporated European or Sable Bombay lines can be brought into CFA, and planning and requesting a CFA outcross program that includes Solid Tonkinese and Sable Bombays. Both of these breeds are genetically Burmese, but they are from breeding lines most of which have not been brought together for decades.
Another factor that impacts the Burmese cat's genetic diversity is the small number of foundation cats that were used to create the breed. After her 2008 feline genetic diversity study, Dr. Lyons proposed steps that could be taken to improve the health of the Burmese breed, and these were published in our September 2008 UBCF newsletter. Besides identifying and using outcrosses such as those mentioned earlier in this editorial, Dr. Lyons' recommendations also included bringing in imports from Thailand. Though Wong Mau herself may have come from Burma, it is likely that the breed's true origins were in Thailand. And thanks to Burmese breeders Renee Weinberger and J.D. Blythin, we now have a young Thai Burmese (known in Thailand as a "Suphalak") named Mod Daeng to help us in that step.
To achieve success, we need a carefully planned multi-pronged approach to bringing genetic diversity into our breed. Not every breeder will want to participate. And some may prefer one outcross option over another. For example, contemporary breeders are more likely to be interested in Sable Bombays for outcross, due to the fact that most Bombays are contemporary. Traditional breeders probably would prefer Solid Tonkinese because they are unlikely to be carriers of the cranial facial mutation. Unfortunately, it appears that European Burmese in CFA will not be available as an outcross, as their breeders have worked hard to create this as a unique breed in CFA. But European Burmese lines are available through other registries, as long as the number of generations before they can be brought into CFA can be reduced to make this a practical option for outcross.
Will the current look of the Burmese we love change as a result of these outcrosses? Temporarily, yes, it is likely for the first generations created through outcrossing. But when comparing the long-term health of our breed to the ability to achieve show success in the short-term, the choice is clear.
We must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
William Shakespeare, Julius Caeser
A very significant event for Burmese cats occurred in February 2010, when the CFA Board of Directors voted to combine the Sable and Dilute Burmese Divisions into one breed, following an affirmative vote for that combination by members of the CFA Burmese Breed Council. While this was long overdue and is ultimately the right decision, it was nonetheless shocking and upsetting to many traditional breeders. Yes, traditional HD- Burmese have been making great strides in recent years. We have bred increasingly competitive cats that have won high awards in CFA, but these have primarily been in the Dilute Division. And if this past show season is any indication, those successes remain few and far between. Only one traditional HD- cat made it to the top of the six classes this year (Kitten, Champion and Premier in the Sable and Dilute Divisions), and that was a Dilute Champion. In this current show year in CFA the divisions are now combined, and in a world where contemporary HD+ sables tend to dominate, success for HD- cats may be an uphill battle.
While the recent decision by the CFA board to combine the divisions may seem at first a disadvantage for the breeders of traditional HD- Burmese, I think there is a way we can take advantage of it instead. I believe this is an opportunity -- a chance to speak out and inform the world about our HD- cats and why it is so important, now, to support traditional cats and to create a bright and healthy future for them and for the breed as a whole.
We must develop tools to inform and educate judges, fellow cat fanciers, and the general public about what is happening to our breed. We should not assume that anyone truly understands how widespread HD+ cats are and how few original HD- Burmese cats remain by comparison. And we need to be sure that judges and exhibitors in all registries understand the importance of allowing outcrosses for the future health of our beloved Burmese. Outcrossing will take time, and we cannot wait any longer to start that process. Some contemporary breeders may choose not to work with outcrosses or not to eliminate the HD+ carriers from their lines. But if traditional breeders make that same choice, then the future of our breed will be in jeopardy. Without action on the part of traditional breeders, the number of contemporary cats is likely to continue to increase worldwide and with them HD+ carriers. It is important for all of us to participate in taking steps that will lead us to fewer carriers, greater genetic diversity, and an overall healthier future for our breed.
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet . . .
William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
When UBCF was revived a nearly three years ago, we amended the original mission to reflect our concern for and dedication to the health of the Burmese cat. Yes, UBCF is about inclusion and our membership crosses registries with no affiliation, however our dedication to the health of our cats and the survival of our chosen breed remains paramount. While I believe we have accomplished a lot in two and a half years, we must do more. Before the population of the original, traditional, HD- American Burmese declines any further, there are steps we must take to reverse this trend.
Over the last couple of decades, to produce show cats that are competitive with contemporaries, traditional breeders have been raising offspring with rounder heads and shorter noses. Must traditional breeders keep producing shorter and shorter noses in an effort to make our traditional cats compete with HD+ cats? Is that what we really want, to imitate the look that is a phenotype expressed by a lethal genetic mutation? While in general I do like a more rounded head and a shorter nose, which balances nicely with the cobby bodies of our little brown cats, I think in our own efforts to win show ribbons that also can be taken to the extreme. There are health risks associated with shortened profiles, including excessive eye discharge, susceptibility to URIs, or cherry eyes. And do we really want to entirely lose the look of the original, traditional American Burmese, the look so many of us fell in love with long ago? The look that clients still want to find when they look for Burmese kittens with whom to share their lives?
Let us work together to restore this wonderful cat to the vitality and widespread acclaim that it deserves. If you are not already a member of your registry's breed council, join it and propose and vote for outcross options, then participate in whatever options become available. These now are within our reach, and we must take advantage of these opportunities before it is too late.
In closing, whatever registry you are involved in, please also find a way to exhibit your cats and kittens for the world to see. Bring your HD- Burmese out to show judges, fellow fanciers, and the public, so they understand how important it is to preserve this unique and beautiful breed. Whether you call the cats you love traditional, HD-, European, American, or the original Burmese, the name is not important, but keeping this wonderful Burmese breed healthy and flourishing -- that is what matters.
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