Dr. Joseph Cheesman Thompson imported Wong Mau, a brown female cat, into San Francisco in 1930. Dr Thompson considered the cat's build to be sufficiently different from the Siamese to still have potential as a fully separate breed. Wong Mau was bred with Tai Mau, a seal-point Siamese, and then bred with her son to produce dark brown kittens that became the foundation of a new, distinctive strain of Burmese.

Throughout the history of these wonderful cats, significant inbreeding has occurred to get to the "breed standard" we have today. Throughout the past, 100 years or so of breeding, this continued shrinking of the genetic pool for these cats has caused a plethora of health concerns and they have lost the part of them that causes them to have any fear, so they don't always recognize danger when they should.

In 2010 (updated in 2016)  Dr. Leslie Lyons with UCDavis and Mizzou suggested outcrossing Burmese cats with their original ancestors in Thailand would be a good solution to begin working to restore the health of the Burmese since it had reached an unprecedented level of inbreeding and legitimate concerns for breed continuation were mounting.

The out-crossing programs seek to breed these wonderful cats back to cats from their original homeland (Thailand) to expand the genetic pool and to help add health and vigor back to this breed we love so much. Each cat who is utilized in the out-crossing program is genetically tested to assure they will not add to the health concerns but will be an asset to the Burmese breed.

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* The inbreeding of our beloved Burmese is exacerbating known health issues, such as the US contemporary Burmese craniofacial defect, cherry eye, heart disease, GM2 gangliosidosis, FIP, Burmese hypokalaemia (Familial Episodic hypokalaemic polymyopathy), Feline Orofacial Pain Syndrome (FOPS), diabetes, high triglycerides, endocardial fibroelastosis, a midline closure defect, dermatosparaxis (stretchy skin, cutaneous asthenia, Ehlors-Danlos Syndrome), flat-chested kitten syndrome, etc, etc.

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********Our foundation Cats have been genetically tested for the know issues that American Burmese have due to excessive inbreeding. We utilize this information when determining a mating, genetic diversity is key in breeding healthy kittens.********

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