I am doing a special job at school and would really like to know a little more about cat breeding. Indigenous cats, how “new” breeds come into being and which breeds are threatened by breeding and why.
Hey!
The cat’s history has its roots in antiquity, long before our era. The occurrence and distribution of different animal species has been due to how the earth’s land masses moved and stagnated several million years ago.
There are animal species that are represented in all continents and others that are found only on certain continents. So e.g. There is not a single species of cat in the wild in Australia. In North and South America, there are some feline species that are not closely related to the domestic cat.
The cat’s original home is Asia, Africa and Europe. The origin of the domestic cat is shrouded in obscurity, and researchers still have divided opinions about its origin and lineage.
About 5,000 years ago, domestic cats were known in ancient Egypt.
There, the cat was highly valued, worshiped in temples, loved and protected during his lifetime and embalmed after death. As it would take several pages to describe the cat’s story, this little brief will cover its origins. As I do Burma breeding, I know most about this breed.
BURMAN: Burman’s origin is a brown malay-type brown short-haired hybrid that was mated to Siamese in the United States. Burman’s road from the Far East to our cool latitudes is as follows:
From Burma to the United States in 1933 (this cat was named Wong Mau, which was mated with a Siamese rooster)
Approved in the United States in 1936
Pure 1943
First import to England from the USA in 1949
Continued imports
Approved in England in 1953
Burman is available in different colors like Brown, Blue, Chocolate, Purple, Red, Cream, Brown Turtle, Blue Turtle, Chocolate Turtle, Purple Turtle.
I would recommend visiting the Burma Alliance’s website for more detailed facts about Burman in particular.
When it comes to cat breeding (yes, all breeding), it is important to have a broad base of animals to breed on.
If this base is too small, there is a great risk of inbreeding, defects, etc. Some inbreeding may occur to modify the shape, line breeding.
You have to know the background of the cats to do line breeding. It is important to get new blood into a breed, so you do not breed on the same cats, ie. cats that are too closely related to each other.
If there are diseases or defects in a breed, you should not breed on these animals, which is self-evident.