” It is always exciting for me to expect a new litter. I always worry about the queen and hope that everything will go right and that kittens will be born healthy. It's a real wonder to feel little warm newborn kitten moving in your palm!

Everything seemed normal, but this time something happened. The queen had already delivered 3 pretty kittens and they lay by her side. I delivered next kitten, removed the fatal sac and froze with horror. The kitten was big, alive, he moved and cheeped, but he had no upper lip, no proper nose, and no eyes at all! Instead he had some big soft lump! There was only one lower jaw and tongue! It was horrifying to see! I had heard about the Head Defect before and knew that my cats have lines carrying this defect, and now I realized that that I was seeing it. I knew that such a kitten could stay alive for an hour or so and that I had to put it to sleep somehow.
The next kitten was born just the same as the first kitten. It was terrible! Instead of being happy about the new kittens that had been born, I was stressed and depressed because of those 2 little lives that were doomed. I felt guilty as those poor kittens were born because of me – I planned that mating so that was me who was responsible for this result.

I could hardly finish delivering the kittens as my hands trembled. In total my cat gave birth to 5 kittens, 2 of them were HD-kittens. Even now one thought about those poor things is enough to make me cry. I promised myself that I will never deal with HD-lines again. I don't want to feel fear each time I wait for my litter to be born and try to guess if all kittens will be lucky or some will be born deformed and doomed to die. Planning such matings is like planning death.

I consider it immoral to sell kittens from HD lines without letting the new owners know about the possibility of having deformed kittens in their litters. And it's totally irresponsible to mix lines carrying HD with lines free from this defect. In doing so such breeders introduce the defect gene into an otherwise healthy line. HD is recessive and there is no test for it yet. So mixing HD lines with non-HD lines will result in pollution of the whole Burmese breed with HD gene. I think that such wonderful breed deserves a better future.

Why propagate HD lines while there is an alternative? Purebred European Burmese and Traditional American Burmese are free from the head defect. There is no HD-gene in their lines. Not yet. It's the problem of Contemporary American lines and mixed cats, having these lines in pedigree.
By mixing European lines and Contemporary American lines some breeders introduce the defect into the gene pool of European Burmese. Why do they do this? I think they do it either because they don't know about the defect or because cats with Contemporary American lines behind them usually have a very good type and show well. But is this worth it to get show type in exchange for damaging the health of the breed? From my point of view it's not.

Breeders of pure bred European Burmese and Breeders of Traditional American Burmese have already proven that good type can be achieved without sacrificing health. Sure it takes more time and efforts, but I think that a show-cat without HD-gene is worth it!”

Marina
Cattery Burmix