Talk:Burmese (cat)

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Is it just me, or does this sentence not make much sense?This breed was first recognized in 1936 by the CFA and that postponed the registration between 1947 and 1953. [[User:Lachatdelarue|Lachatdelarue (talk)]] 20:12, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)

This sentence makes NO sense. I can't edit the grammar because I have no idea of what the writer is trying to say.

" Unfortunately for the breed many who followed after these dedicated researchers were not so well versed in genetics. Whether from lack of knowledge, from lack of available breeding stock, or because the demand for pure Burmese outstripped the available supply, some hybrids were being sold as pure Burmese. For this reason in 1947 the recognition the Cat Fanciers' Association had granted to the Burmese in 1936, was withdrawn and only restored in 1953 when the Burmese Cat Society of America had brought the situation under control." http://www.burmesecatclub.com/history.htm This seems to me to be a distinctily different reason than people simply thinking that Burmese were brown Siamese.

Contents

[edit] Improve

This article is in need of improvement. It is far too short and completely useless to people who want in depth information about this breed. Will be improving it mysef when I find some sources. TydeNet 00:35, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Doesn't that make this a stub article instead - would prefer that over the improvement tag Blackjack4124 06:45, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Odd wording

(Burmese females tend to be princesses. With her beautiful big eyes and sassy personality, she will have you trained in no time. The boys are true lap cats and have that laid-back personality. They both love to greet your guests at the door and follow you around the house to "help" you do your chores. Anything that includes you interacting with them, whether it is watching TV or doing the laundry, your Burmese will be there with you. Most Burmese have been known to "fetch" small favorite cat toys. They also love other animals, whether it be another Burmese or a even a dog or another cat. Whether male or female, Burmese are true people cats.)

I wouldn't say this is a copyedit-worthy paragraph, and the rest certainly doesn't need grammatical copyediting, but this phrasing feels wrong. Perhaps rephrase this to just describing their personality in brief (but then again, isn't it just that Burmese cats, like their Siamese cousins, are more openly affectionate than average, and are otherwise like other cats? - source this somehow) Blackjack4124 06:44, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

I've tried to rewrite paragraph to highlight what makes Burmese different from other cats. I deleted some stuff that I thought was common to all cats. I could be wrong....Caroline1008 03:34, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Re: 'source this somehow'. Googled for all I'm worth, but still couldn't find anything in the way of that's how Burmese cats are, We love 'em... or even Siameses are pretty cute, too... --Shirt58 10:27, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] in "Facts"

'They are very popular with pet owners world wide...' is verifiable.
But '...because of their exceptional personalities'? Well, anyone who owns a Burmese knows that that is an indisputable truth, but... mmm... citation? --Shirt58 10:09, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pictures

This article has a lot of pictures, but none of them are terribly clear. We could really do with one really good picture each of an American Burmese and of a British Burmese, at least. And ideally I personally think one should be brown, since that's the traditional colour; it would give a good idea of typical Burmese. I'd supply one of ours, but she's tortoiseshell, so probably wouldn't show the typical look as clearly. Skittle 22:38, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

  • I think the last picture, of the cat in the kitchen, is of low-enough quality that it should be removed from the article. Joyous! | Talk 15:55, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

I have posted ours at User:The_Fat_Man_Who_Never_Came_Back/Catbook. It's a gallery for Wikipedian's cats ..Feroshki (talk) 06:30, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] References

Okay, I used to have access to some really good books on cats, special cat encyclopedias and such like, but unfortunately they didn't survive a move. I've done what I can using fairly substandard books and the websites we list, the only stuff I've added from books being things that sounded like what I remember from my more reliable books. I'll try to get some decent things from the library, but I can't be sure they'll have anything. Meanwhile, if anyone else has some good books, now would be an excellent time to use them to source and add to the article. We could particularly do with some more history from the American side. However, I have tried to avoid going into too much detail about who begat who etc, and the specific breeders. After all, if people need that they can follow the links at the bottom. Or do others disagree?

Anyway, I also think I've done the references a bit wrong. If someone wants to sort them out, I would be grateful. Also, I could probably do with some input from American Burmese owners. I'm going to look for more information from reliable sources about their temperament, but are American Burmese really as soft as the CFA makes them sound? British Burmese I've had have owned their surrounding territory, fighting off considerably larger cats and running at quite some pace from scary dogs. To say they have no fight-or-flight would be absurd. And, while playful and 'kitten-like' I suppose, they've been quite willing to get out there and kill things. Quite large things too.

I'm also thinking of adding more on the standards of points for Burmese, although that will presumably have to be split two ways.

Any feedback (apart from things along the lines of "Die evil cat-hater") welcome. 86.139.237.132 01:06, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fruit-tasting cats

Re: Although all cats are obligate carnivores, some Burmese will sample fruit and vegetables. I was under the impression that most cats will take a little taste of things like fruits, veggies, or bread. Is this really limited to Burmese? The article certainly makes it sound as though it is. Joyous! | Talk 16:02, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] References again

On 27 October 2007 I changed some of the inline references into "short refs" which pointed to a new Footnotes section which itself referred to the References section with the full citations. I did this to avoid some duplications. However, I agree that this is an unusal style of referencing, only used in a minority of featured articles. Therefore I've brought the long "cite web" references back inline so that they all appear in one section.

While fixing those references I noticed some sourced material had been removed since October 27. This meant I had to move the referent Ultimate Cat Book cite to external links as it is no longer used. Here is the removed section in case it needs merging back.

The Burmese was first recognized as a distinct breed in America in 1936 by the Cat Fanciers' Association. Owing to the extensive breeding with Siamese cats that had been used to increase the population, the original type was overwhelmed and registration was temporarily dissolved during the 1940s. The breed was recognized by the UK Governing Council of the Cat Fancy in 1952. In 1953, after years of selective breeding, Burmese cats in America once again conformed to type and were recognized.[1]

-Wikianon (talk) 16:41, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The Ultimate Cat Book