GENERAL: A cat of mystery and legend, the Birman is a color pointed cat with long silky hair and four pure white feet. It is strongly built, elongated and stocky. The distinctive head has strong jaws, firm chin and medium length Roman nose. The blue, almost round eyes are set well apart, giving a sweet expression to the face. HEAD: skull strong, broad, and rounded. NOSE: medium in length and width, in proportion to the size of head. Roman shape in profile. CHEEKS: full with somewhat rounded muzzle. CHIN: strong and well-developed. Profile must show a perpedicular line. EARS: medium in length. Almost as wide at the base as tall. Rounded at the tip. EYES: almost round with a sweet expression. The outer corner slightly tilted upward. Eyecolor is blue, the deeper blue the better. PAWS: large, round, and firm. TAIL: medium in length, in harmonious proportion to the body. COAT: semilong, silken in texture, with dense ruff around the neck. COAT COLOUR: Body: even, with subtle shading. Strong contrast between body color and points. Points except gloves: mask, ears, legs, and tail clearly defined, all of the same colour. No white hair in points is allowed. Golden Mist: desirable is the "golden mist", a faint golden beige on the back and sides.Hardly seen nowadays. GLOVES: Front paws: front paws have white gloves ending across the paw at, or between, the second or third joints. The upper limit of white should be the metacarpal pad. Symmetry of the front gloves is desirable. Back paws: white glove covers all the toes, may extend up somewhat higher than front gloves. Symmetry of the rear gloves is desirable. Laces: Ideally, the laces end in a point or inverted "V" and extend 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up the hock. Lower or higher laces are acceptable, but should not go beyond the hock. Symmetry of the two laces is desirable. Paw pads: pink preferred, but dark spots on paw pads acceptable because of the two colors in pattern. Ideally, there is a symmetry among the four gloves and the laces. |
