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Bombay Cat
IntroductionThrough crossing a Sable Burmese with a black American Shorthair and following up with careful breeding afterwards, the Bombay cat was created. The process started in 1953. The objective was to produce a domestic cat that satisfied the need of some to keep or be near a Black Panther. Perhaps more accurately the purpose of this breed was to create an exotic domestic cat resembling a Black Panther.The word "Panther" euphemistically means a black big cat. One such cat is the melanistic Leopard of India. This Bombay cat is named after one of the major cities of India, Bombay, now named Mumbai. This reminds me of a number of other breeds with similar (exotic cat) objectives some having been created by crossing different breeds of domestic cat (e.g.Toyger - to resemble a Tiger, Ocicat, Serengenti) and some by crossing wild cats with domestic cats (e.g. Chausie, Savannah, Bengal and Safari). There seems to have been a phase in the history of the cat fancy when all things wild and exotic became desirable. This happened during the second half of the 20th century and continued throughout that period to today.
Appearance and CharacterAlthough Bombay cats are black, in a litter resulting from Bombay to Bombay breeding the recessive gene that produces the sable coloring may be manisfest in a kitten. In a Burmese to Bombay cross some kittens will be sable.Sable Bombay cats cannot be cats of this breed, on a strict interpretation of the breed standard. However, it seems that there are Sable Bombays, which cannot for obvious reasons be exhibited but can of course make lovely pets. They are very similar to a sable Burmese. In terms of breedning, the gene that produces the black coat is dominant. As a consequence it is relatively easy to maintain the black coat in breeding. The black coat has been described as "patent leather" in recognition of the close lying short hair and sheen. I am reminded of the Havana Brown in respect of the close shiny coat. The coat natually shows off the muscular, elongated and supple body. The eyes are yellow, copper. The Bombay cat is slightly larger than the Burmese so cannot strictly be called a black Burmese. They also have longer legs and bodies and are therefore slightly more rangy than the Burmese. Helmi says, "Bombays
are very difficult to
photograph.... They are shy at cat shows and
don't want to be
there ... at least the ones that come to me for photos. I
hear they are just wonderful at home, though!"
As expected this breed of cat combines the robust sensible nature of the American Shorthair with the social skills of the Burmese. She is medium to medium-large in size at 8-11 lbs for males and 6-9 lbs for females.
HealthThere is, regrettably, a health problem called "Burmese Craniofacial Defect", which as you might guess from the description results in some kittens very sadly being born with deformed heads. Kittens that survive are euthanised.The condition is only concerned with American Burmese cats (and therefore this breed) that are called "Contemporary Burmese" (similar to the word "modern" used for the weggie Siamese). European Burmese are called "Traditional Burmese" and are unaffected. This is because the American Burmese breeding lines carry a genetic defect inherited from a founding cat that had a desirably round head. In breeding into the line the contemporary head, the American breeders also bred in the defect, which is now hard to eradicate. The Traditional (British) Burmese is not recognized by the CFA as it is presumably too traditional looking. History
BreedersCaricature CatteryLocated in Conneticut, USA. Experienced breeder. Also breed Burmese. Hexpride Located in Salisbury, North Carolina, USA. Also breed Burmese. Typha - Typhast Cats Located in Shepperton, UK. For me the notable feature of this UK site over the US sites is the total openness of the location of the cattery and directions and a map provided to help customesrs find their way - nice one. Sources:
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