Burmilla
The Burmilla is a UK-bred cat from 1981, a cross between Chinchilla Persians and Burmese, known for its silver coat and green eyes.
The Burmilla is a medium-sized cat weighing 3 to 6 kg, with a distinctive sparkling silver or golden coat and luminous green eyes. This breed originated in the United Kingdom in 1981 from an accidental mating between a Chinchilla Persian and a Burmese, resulting in a cat that combines the body type of the Burmese with the coat colour of the Persian.
Origin is an accidental cross
The breed was born in 1981 in the cattery of Miranda von Kirchberg when a Chinchilla Persian kitten named Jamari Sanquist and a lilac Burmese named Bambino Lilac Fabergé mated after a door was left open. The litter produced four shorthair silver shaded females named Galatea, Gemma, Gabriela, and Gisella, who became the foundation for the new breed. Breeders Therese Clarke and von Kirchberg developed the litter into a formal breed, with Clarke forming the Burmilla Cat Club in 1984 and the breed gaining championship status in the UK in the 1990s.
Coat patterns define the look
The Burmilla's most defining feature is its coat, which comes in two lengths: shorthair and semi-longhair. The shorthair variety is the standard, featuring a short, close-lying coat with a soft, silky feel due to a dense undercoat. The semi-longhair variety, known as the Tiffanie in the GCCF, has a soft, silky coat with a large plumed tail. The coat colour is either silver or golden, expressed as either shaded or tipped. Tipped Burmillas have a light dusting of colour covering 1/8 to 1/4 of the hair length, while shaded Burmillas have 1/4 to 1/2 of the hair pigmented, creating a mantle of colour over the back and legs.
Face and eyes are distinctive
The head is a gently rounded wedge that tapers to a short, blunt shape, with a profile showing a gentle nose break. The eyes are large, placed well apart, and have a luminous green colour, though kittens and young adults may show a gold or yellow tinge. The breed also features a distinctive "make up" lining the nose, lips, and eyes, with the nose leather and paw footpads matching the coat colour, such as black footpads for black silver cats or dove-grey tinged with pink for lilacs.
Temperament is playful and independent
Burmillas are known for an irreverent and independent nature, yet they are deeply affectionate and sociable with their owners. They retain kitten-like characteristics well into adulthood, making them playful and good companions for children and other animals. Despite their independent streak, they form strong bonds and are generally adaptable to household life.
Recognition varies by registry
In the GCCF, the Burmilla is part of the Asian group, and only silver shaded and tipped varieties are recognised for showing. The FIFe and ACF registries also accept golden shaded and tipped varieties. The breed is distinct from the Australian Tiffanie, which is a separate development in the late 1990s that contains more Chinchilla Persian genetics and retains the appearance of the Old-Fashioned Chinchilla Persian. The name Australian Tiffanie is declining due to lax standards and a lack of unique identity compared to the standard Burmilla.