Red Series Birmans

KATASCALI CATTERY

Experimental Breeding with Birmans
with particular reference to the RED series

by K. J. Clarke, Hilken Birmans, January 1987

INTRODUCTION

This chapter is for those of you who are interested in the development of the new colors in the Birman breed. Those who realize that a breed of cat is more than the color of its fur and that just two color varieties (i.e. seal and blue) could never command the breed status that the Siamese, Burmese and British cats have attained in the U.K.

In my opinion the only solution to the problems which were caused by the introduction of a semi-longhaired breed into the longhaired(Persian) section when Birmans were first imported into this country is to develop more color varieties in the breed. Only then will we be able to attract a greater number of breeder/owners and provide sufficient separate classes for Birmans to justify seeking separate section status at Championship level. A section where our cats are judged and only compete against cats of the same type and restrictive markings; not only in the Open class as they do now, but in the Miscellaneous, Club and Champion of Champions classes as well.

The new colors currently being developed are CHOCOLATE, LILAC, RED, CREAM, SEAL-TORTIE, BLUE-TORTIE, SEAL-TABBY, BLUE-TABBY and RED-TABBY, but I am sure that eventually there will be the full range of color varieties within the breed. It will take time and effort, initially from a few dedicated breeders, but with the support of everyone who loves Birmans and who wish to see the breed prosper, I am convinced that these hopes can be turned into reality.

EXPERIMENTAL RED-POINT SERIES BREEDING

Whilst the HILKEN prefix over the past few years has been associated with the Red-point Series breeding program, our involvement with the 'technical' side of Birman breeding began with a study of the pedigrees of the original imports. To determine, if we could, the cause for the genetic defects (kink tails and female mortality) associated with a friend's stud cat. We had the help of Mrs Vivienne Smith (then Creasey) who provided the majority of the pedigrees and Dr Brian Stratton, who was then working in the Genetics Department at Edinburgh University. Although we were not able to determine any direct cause for these defects, the study did highlight the fact that all the Birmans in the country had stemmed from perhaps six individual cats and many only had three or four cats in their total gene pool. Superficially looking at their pedigrees it did not appear that they were in-bred, in reality genetic deterioration (in-breeding depression) was evident even on the show-bench. Female cats were appearing that were much smaller than their male counterparts even in the same litters. This is known as sexual dimorphism and is caused by the 'doubling up' of defective X chromosomes in the female which does not manifest itself in the male because of the XY configuration in the male. Dr Stratton suggested wide out-crossing to introduce hybrid vigor, whilst Viv Smith suggested we should look at the existing Red-point breeding program, started by Mrs Richards, a founder member and Vice-president of the Birman Cat Club, where there were also indications of genetic problems in the female lines.

The outcome of these interchanges, which have been extensively reported in Cat World Annual 1983/4, pages 35-38, was to be that we would introduce a highly heterozygous red and white tabby female cat, 'RED DAWN', in an experimental Family II in the Red-point breeding program. This has lead to some very important discoveries about the genetic makeup of the Birman cat with the birth of the first litter from "RED DAWN" in 1979.

Prior to the birth of this litter, all the technical literature attributed the Birman foot markings to the 'S' gene (a dominant gene which causes white spotting or piebalding) and RED DAWN had been preselected because she had this gene and white feet. However two of the offspring of her first litter with CH. CHANSON DEMATIN had no white spotting whatsoever, these were HILKEN RED POPPY and HILKEN TABARET. When HILKEN RED POPPY was mated back to her father some of the kittens were Birman marked and this result could only be accounted for by attributing the foot markings to a recessive gene. Subsequent generations produced well-marked Tortie-point Birmans which had even intermingling of the red and seal, and poorly marked Tortie-point Birmans (with spots, runners, white chests and chins) in which the tortoiseshell patterning was patched. Thus it does indicate that for the first time we now had an indicator whether or not other white spotting genes occur in addition to the Birman gloving. It also confirmed, what every Birman breeder knew, that the Birman is a unique Breed demonstrating a specific gene mutation and is not a 'man-made' selection from the long-haired, Himalayan marked, Bicolors as some have believed in the past.

By 1983/4 when the G.C.C.F. first allowed experimental breeds to compete for Merit certificates, we had developed the Red-point Birmans to a point where HILKEN RED ARRIVAL, a red-point male, went to five shows and was awarded five merit certificates as well as placing in competition with Seal and Blue males in the club classes. One of our intermingled Seal-torties had produced a show quality Seal-point girl HILKEN MORNING SONG, who was doing well on the show bench and our first Red-point female HILKEN RED PRIMADONNA had been born. Other breeders, notably Mrs Jan Sharpe, Mrs Sue Pullen and Mrs Kate Simms had started breeding Red-points, so as you can imagine we were 'riding high' when disaster struck:

RED ARRIVAL developed F.I.P. and died before the end of 1984. Knowing very little about F.I.P. we expected the worst and thought all our in-contact cats would die without us being able to do anything about it. A sobering thought for any cat breeder with a multi-cat household, but to lose the effort of five years experimental breeding seemed an ironic twist of fate. We know now of course that F.I.P. is not that sort of disease and that providing the in-contact cats have the ability to produce the antibodies (i.e. to develop an antibody titre on the F.I.P. test) then they have every chance of fighting off the infection and since the virus itself is easily inactivated outside its host cells, it is not, and should not be considered such a devastating disease when compared with other killer diseases such as Feline Viral Leukemia and Feline Infectious Enteritis. In fact we did not lose any other cats or kittens and by the time we had settled in our new home in Wales, the F.I.P. tests on the first litters were all negative indicating the successful elimination of live F.I.P. virus from the environment. So our Red point breeding program did not come to a grinding halt, and also two new, unrelated genetic lines have been introduced, one by Mr W. Nethercott (Snoshu) the other by Mesdammes Sayer and Madden (Sayelia and Panjandrum). It is with these other Families in mind and the need for the introduction of a wider gene pool into the breeding of Seal and Blue Birmans to give hybrid vigor, that the following section on hybridization has been written.


Bellebir's Uno b/o Ellen & Dylan Bell cream point male Birman	Quad Gr.Ch.Casa De Amor's L'Orange Red Point Male Birman	Playcat's Rainy Day Lover of Barmar b.Elisa Weeks o.Marilyn Rowley blue cream point spay	Mibest Tulip of Barmar b.Debbie Sperry o.Marilyn Rowley blue cream point female

POINT HYBRIDS

Dominant genes such as red "O for orange" and tabby (A for agouti) are useful as indicators of hybridization, since if they are present in the genetic makeup of a cat then they can always be seen visually and cannot be unwittingly carried over into subsequent generations as a recessive gene can. In the U.K., with the introduction of new colors to the Birman breed, there is an opportunity to widen the existing gene pool and by utilizing the intermingled tortoiseshell effect, to eliminate in part, the random white spotting gene which causes so many of our kittens to be 'pet quality' even before their type, eye color, body size etc. can be assessed. Both factors in their own right should be good for the breed and in addition there is the greater variety of colors available to interest a wider public audience.

So what color kittens will we get with the various combinations of matings which are available in the Red series alone?

Since many breeders do not have the training to understand the genetic shorthand of the checkerboard representation of the distribution of genotype (gene makeup) and phenotype (visual appearance) I have been persuaded to list all the possible cross-breeding combinations and to describe the potential off -spring in each case, I have also tried to give the chance of each color occurring in an understandable (rather than a strictly technical) way, For example, one of the most common ratios in gene behavior is the 3:l ratio. Three of the dominant character to one of the recessive as a ratio expressed on a statistical basis. This can be reported in lay-man terms either as 'the dominant character has a three to one chance of occurring' or that 'the recessive character has a one in four chance of occurring'. Both are correct and although apparently contradictory, both are understandable to the lay-man. However like tossing a coin, the chance of these ratios occurring exactly in a small number of offspring, is rare, so do not expect that each litter will produce the expected proportions of the various colors every time!

TABLE TO DETERMINE EXPECTED KITTEN COLORS FOR VARIOUS MATINGS
1.	RED POINT MALE (not carrying dilute)	to	SEAL POINT FEMALE (not carrying blue)	All the males will be seal, all the females will be seal-tortie point.
2.	RED POINT MALE (not carrying dilute)	to	SEAL POINT FEMALE (carrying blue)	Same as No. 1
3.	RED POINT MALE (carrying dilute)	to	SEAL POINT FEMALE (carrying blue)	Same as No. 1
4.	RED POINT MALE (carrying dilute)	to	SEAL POINT FEMALE (carrying blue)	Three quarters of the males will be seal the other quarter will be blue, three quarters of the females will be seal-tortie point, the others will be blue-tortie point.
5.	RED POINT MALE (not carrying dilute)	to	BLUE POINT FEMALE	Same as No. 1
6.	RED POINT MALE (carrying dilute)	to	BLUE POINT FEMALE (carrying blue)	Half the males will be seal point, the others will be blue, half the females will be seal-tortie points, the others will be blue-tortie points.
7.	CREAM POINT MALE	to	SEAL POINT FEMALE	Same as No. 1
8.	CREAM POINT MALE	to	SEAL POINT FEMALE (carrying blue)	Same as No. 6
9.	CREAM POINT MALE	to	BLUE POINT FEMALE	Same as No. 6
10.	SEAL POINT MALE (not carrying blue)	to	SEAL-TORTIE POINT FEMALE (not carrying dilute)	Half the males will be red point, the others seal point; half the females will be seal-tortie point, the others seal point.
11.	SEAL POINT MALE (carrying blue)	to	SEAL-TORTIE POINT FEMALE (not carrying dilute)	Same as No. 10
12.	SEAL POINT MALE (not carrying blue)	to	SEAL-TORTIE POINT FEMALE (carrying dilute)	Same as No. 10
13.	SEAL POINT MALE (carrying blue)	to	SEAL-TORTIE POINT FEMALE (carrying dilute)	This litter could contain seal and blue point males (ratio 3:1), red and cream point males (ratio 3:1); seal and blue point females (ratio 3:1) and seal-tortie point and blue tortie point females (ratio 3:1). Obviously with a litter size of less than eight the expected color/sex combinations can never occur in one litter.
14.	SEAL POINT MALE (not carrying blue)	to	BLUE-TORTIE POINT FEMALE	Same as No. 10
15.	SEAL POINT MALE (carrying blue)	to	BLUE-TORTIE POINT FEMALE	This litter could contain seal and blue males (equal chance), red and cream males (equal chance); seal and blue females (equal chance), seal-tortie points and blue-tortie points (equal chance). With this mating there is an equal chance of getting eight of the possible ten different color/sex combinations.
16.	BLUE POINT MALE	to	BLUE-TORTIE POINT FEMALE	Half the males will be cream point, the others blue points; half the females will be blue-tortie points, the others will be blue point.
17.	SEAL POINT MALE (not carrying blue)	to	RED POINT FEMALE (not carrying dilute)	All the males will be red point, all the females will be seal-tortie points.
18.	SEAL POINT MALE (carrying blue)	to	RED POINT FEMALE (not carrying dilute)	Same as No. 17
19.	SEAL POINT MALE (not carrying blue)	to	RED POINT FEMALE (carrying dilute)	Same as No. 17
20.	SEAL POINT MALE (carrying blue)	to	RED POINT FEMALE (carrying dilute)	Three quarters of the males will be red points, the others will be cream points; three quarters of the females will be seal-tortie points, the others will be blue-tortie points.
21.	SEAL POINT MALE (not carrying blue)	to	CREAM POINT FEMALE	Same as No. 17
22.	SEAL POINT MALE (not carrying blue)	to	CREAM POINT FEMALE	Half the males will be red points, the other males will be cream point; half the females will be seal-tortie points, the others will be blue-tortie point.
23.	BLUE POINT MALE	to	CREAM POINT FEMALE	All the males will be cream point, all the females will be blue-tortie point.
24.	BLUE POINT MALE	to	RED POINT FEMALE (not carrying dilute)	Same as No. 17
25.	BLUE POINT MALE	to	RED POINT FEMALE (carrying dilute)	Same as No. 22
26.	RED POINT MALE (not carrying dilute)	to	SEAL-TORTIE POINT FEMALE (not carrying dilute)	Half the males will be red point, the others seal point; half the females will be seal-tortie point, the others will be red point.
27.	RED POINT MALE (carrying dilute)	to	SEAL-TORTIE POINT FEMALE (not carrying dilute)	Same as No. 26
28.	RED POINT MALE (not carrying dilute)	to	SEAL-TORTIE POINT FEMALE (carrying dilute)	Same as No. 26
29.	RED POINT MALE (carrying dilute)	to	SEAL-TORTIE POINT FEMALE (carrying dilute)	The litter could contain seal and blue males (ratio 3:1), red and cream point males (ratio 3:1 ); seal-tortie point and blue-tortie point (ratio 3: 1), and red and cream point females (ratio 3:1 ).
30.	RED POINT MALE (not carrying dilute)	to	BLUE-TORTIE POINT FEMALE	Same as No. 26
31.	RED POINT MALE (carrying dilute)	to	BLUE-TORTIE POINT FEMALE	The litter will contain seal, blue, red and cream point males in equal proportions and red, cream, seal-tortie and blue-tortie point in equal proportions (see comments on No. 15).
32.	RED POINT MALE (not carrying dilute)	to	CREAM POINT FEMALE	All kittens will be red points.
33.	RED POINT MALE (carrying dilute)	to	CREAM POINT FEMALE	Half the kittens will be red points, the others cream point regardless of sex.
34.	RED POINT MALE (not carrying dilute)	to	RED POINT FEMALE (not carrying dilute)	Same as No. 32
35.	RED POINT MALE (not carrying dilute)	to	RED POINT FEMALE (carrying dilute)	Same as No. 32
36.	RED POINT MALE (carrying dilute)	to	RED POINT FEMALE (not carrying dilute)	Same as No. 32
37.	RED POINT MALE (carrying dilute)	to	RED POINT FEMALE (carrying dilute)	Three quarters of the kittens will be red points, the other quarter will be cream point regardless of sex.
38.	CREAM POINT MALE	to	SEAL-TORTIE POINT FEMALE (not carrying dilute)	Half the males will be seal point, the others red point; half the females will be seal tortie points, the other red points.
39.	CREAM POINT MALE	to	SEAL-TORTIE POINT FEMALE (carrying dilute)	The litter could contain red, cream, seal and blue point males and seal-tortie, blue-tortie, red and cream point females all in equal proportions.
40.	CREAM POINT MALE	to	BLUE-TORTIE POINT FEMALE	Half the males will be blue point, the others cream point; half the females will be blue-tortie point, the others will be cream point.
41.	CREAM POINT MALE	to	RED POINT FEMALE (not carrying dilute)	All the kittens will be red points.
42.	CREAM POINT MALE	to	RED POINT FEMALE (carrying dilute)	Half the kittens will be red points, the others cream point regardless of sex.
43.	CREAM POINT MALE	to	CREAM POINT FEMALE	All kittens will be cream points

I have to disagree with the author concerning the white spotting gene.

I believe the white spotting gene is suppress by the point pattern gene, rendering its dominance to incomplete dominance. I believe this is the reason the white creep in either direction. Too high of white is counter by low white and vice versa. Left unchecked the white gene will reestablish dominance. Leading to the van pattern, to bicolor etc. This incomplete dominance may possibly be the cause of some white Persian kittens temporarily exhibiting a color spot on the top of the head.

- Val Kotas Katascali Cattery

So, having checked the above table carefully to see which combination I have missed out and if I have made any mistakes, you now have an excellent grounding in the genetics of the red-point series!!

Remember, all the seal-tortie and blue-tortie points should be intermingled and not patched. If they are patched then they should be neutered out of the breeding program because they will also have the 'S' (white spotting, piebalding) gene and Birman breeders have been trying for decades to eliminate this problem from the breed. Owners of intermingled tortie-points have a head start on the road to producing stable markings in their litters. This opportunity should not bediscarded lightly since, as said before, the major reason for deciding whether kittens go for show, breeding or as pets still remains the characteristic gloves, socks and gauntlets which distinguishes our breed from any other and which is controlled by a recessive gene, not the dominant 'S' white spotting gene.

OTHER EXPERIMENTAL BREEDING INFORMATION

Being involved in an experimental breeding program brings one into contact with others who are actively interested in other breeding programs, either with Birmans or with other breeds. The one outstanding similarity in all of the serious (i.e. successful) programs is the way in which the foundation male is proven (i.e. tested). It is essential that only sound animals are used in a breeding program otherwise all kinds of defects could be introduced into a breed which could take years to eliminate. Therefore most caring owners of foundation studs will test mate to find out if he is carrying any recessive defects from his sire or dam. Obviously he will not be demonstrating any dominant defects otherwise he would not have been selected as a foundation sire in the first place!
The test matings which seem to produce the best indicators of soundness in our experience are as follows:-

TO PROVE THE MALE LINE

Mate the young stud to either his paternal aunt (his fathers full sister), his paternal grandmother or one of her full sisters. All of these females will have a gene pool which is common to the male half of his pedigree and the chances are that if there is a defective recessive gene from the paternal side one or more of the kittens from these inbreeding matings will show it.

TO PROVE THE FEMALE LINE

Mate the young stud to his mother, his grandmother or his maternal aunt (full sister to his mother). Again these females only have a gene pool which is common to the female half of his pedigree and if any recessive defective genes have been passed on, then one or more kittens from these matings should show it.
Brother to sister matings are not to be recommended, since if any defective kittens are born then the other matings still have to be done to see if they have arisen from the male or female line, therefore they prove nothing. If the same gene pool is required, then it is probably better to repeat the sire/dam mating as this has already been proved successful.
Close in-breeding such as described above should only be done for a specific purpose either as illustrated, to prove a stud cat or, more usually, to stabilize a successful outcross. Very often breeders will say that grandfather to granddaughter matings have produced their best litters. Anyone interested in further information on this subject should read Chapter 4 in "Genetics for Cat Breeders" by Roy Robinson pages 70-105. Most hobby breeders however will not have the facilities or the patience to prove a stud cat for themselves but I would sincerely recommend that they enquire whether or not their chosen stud has been proven, either by the above in-breeding methods, or if he himself was a product of a successful proving mating sequence, before paying a stud fee. Remember if a stud is not sound enough to in-breed, then he is not sound enough to breed from! Owners of young female breeding stock would do well to look for successful kittens on the show bench from a similar line to their own queen and then to negotiate the use of the same stud.

Similarly prospective stud cat owners should seriously consider whether they are prepared to prove their stud correctly before putting him to public stud (i.e. advertising and charging a fee for his services). Keeping a stud cat, making him up to Champion, providing proper quarters for him and his visiting queens is a job which should not be undertaken lightly and stud owners in particular have a heavy responsibility to maintain the high quality of the breed.

Following this system of proving studs with the red males does slow down the progress to some extent, but it does safeguard the lines. For example in 1986 proving matings from HILKEN RED GOLIATH proved that he was not a red-point, but a red-tabby point and that his father HILKEN RED HERCULES was also a red-tabby point. We would have felt more than a little embarrassed if we had used him at public stud without knowing, and a paying customer had come up with the beautiful seal-tabby and blue-tabby point kittens instead, Now that we do know his genotype we shall be able to provide an additional outcross line to the tabby-point breeding program which has been reported on separately.

THE NEXT DECADE

During the last ten years the development of new colors in the Birman breed has progressed from a clandestine activity, bordering on the subversive, to being supported and documented by the Birman Cat Club, so what should we expect from the next decade?
With certainty we should expect Open classes for ANY OTHER COLOR BIRMAN. Whether they will have attained Championship status will depend largely on the dedication of the small number of Birman breeders who are working with the new colors. The G.C.C.F. will require numerical data of all colors shown and which have gained Merit certificates. They will require a minimum number of breeders and they will expect them to be supported by the Breed club. Whether any individual color will attract sufficient breeders in the next decade to warrant a separate class from the A.O.C. is probably doubtful. If we look at the progress made by the Colorpoint breeders, it would appear that there is more likelihood of the Tabby series gaining separate status. This would give four separate classes e.g. Seal, Blue, A.C. Tabby-point and A.O.C., hardly enough to warrant separate section status at shows even if we include two classes for the Turkish Van. So there does not seem to be much hope for separate section status in the next decade.
Much will depend on the ordinary members of the Breed club, if they can work together for the development of the Breed then the G.C.C.F. will be supportive, if however, factions appear as happened in the Siamese, breakaway clubs are formed, then the influence that any one of these factions has on the G.C.C.F. will be limited, and the development of the Breed will correspondingly be delayed.
Should this fragmentation of the Breed membership be allowed to occur, then this will also lead once again to an artificial restriction of gene pool, since it subscribes to the thinking that only pure-bred colors are good and that crossbred colors are bad. Whereas, for the animals health and well-being, the opposite is much more likely to be true. Providing the genotype is well proven and that breeders are encouraged to approach their hobby with honesty and candor, then experimental breeding can only bring benefits to the development of the Birman Cat.

Red Series Birmans KATASCALI CATTERY