- the traditional lines that looks like a black panther
- healthy cats with healthy lines.
Cooperating in this project is Cattery Bellevitazz , Sweden; Cattery EbonyCatz , Sweden; Cattery Kats'n'klamms , Pennsylvania, USA Cattery NeuHeidebergen , Germany; Cattery Securitazz , Sweden. Cattery Yash , Iowa, USA.
We have access to the last Bombay US-lines from the late legendary Hilde Frank (Interview with Hilde Frank). With combined knowledge and these unique lines we can with hard work save the mini black panther.
Thanks to the Burmese-breeders register we have found information about some of our cats: they come from the very same cats that Nikki Horner used to develop the breed Bombay!
Different variants of Bombay
With its shining jet black coat and amber eyes the traditional Bombay looks like a miniature black panther. Nikki Horner had the black panther in mind when she created the Bombay breed. To develop this miniature black panther she mixed brown Burmese and Black American Shorthair.
With time the breeding of the Bombay has developed and split into two different directions. While some breeders have kept the traditional Bombay lines, others have bred cats with considerably shorter noses than the traditional Bombay. A type which, according to our opinion, does not look like a black panther. The new variant is called Contemporary Bombay.
The development has led to the fact that cats being born with Head Defect. This is something that we absolutely do not want to have in our breeding. Our intention is to keep the Traditional Bombay healthy and first of all not mate these healthy lines to Contemporary Bombays.
Our breeding-program
The Burmese-breeders have through the years documented the breed carefully in different registers. Therefore it is possible to find information about the cat’s background (pedigrees) back to the 1930s. A sound Bombay-breeding demands a very careful study of the pedigrees, to avoid the specific cats that caused the Head Defect.
The Head Defect has now also been found in American Shorthair, the breed that is allowed to be out-crossed the Bombay. The reason for this is that some breeders have been using the Burmese to type up the American Shorthair.
Through our cooperation and project we have come in contact with breeders from the US with a great amount of knowledge about the Bombay/Burmese and what lines does not carry Head Defect, also which American Shorthair lines that should be avoided in our work.
The choice was obvious to us, morally and ethically we cannot defend a breeding where the defected gene is passed on. It is a challenging task, but the knowledge of breeding healthy cats compensates for all difficulties.
We have only links to breeders with a sound philosophy about the breeding of Bombays.
