It
was following a number of problem litters while breeding traditional
Seal/Blue and the newer Red & Tabby Birman lines that we came
to the conclusion that the breed was in serious need of 'new blood'.
This belief was not based purely upon our own experiences with the
breed, many other sources of information had contributed.
A
look at the breed and its origins through computer analysis identifies
the tiny gene pool shared by all Seal & Blue Birmans, regardless
of how many times their Prefix may change. Having our own large
database on the breed, which we combine with breeding information
shared by others, we could identify that the same breeding problems
were being relentlessly carried down, through the generations,
from the Imports to the present day.
Although
introducing 'new blood' cannot solve this problem, we decided
that if more people were to add a little of something different
into the breed, the incidence of these defects could be reduced.
I do feel very strongly that the onus is on us, the breeder, to
address these problems in order to eliminate them. Sadly, given
the personal sacrifice involved in neutering/withdrawing a Top
Show winner from stud, the obvious solution is unlikely to happen.
Some
of the problems involve 'Lethals' and one of these - the Liver
Shunt and the discovery that this defect had been produced down
five generations of our own Seal kittens pedigree, prompted the
beginning of a new Tabby line. We are not allowed to outbreed
for Seal/Blue - only new colours.
Adouzlo
Cleopasht a Brown Tabby Longhair female was purchased as the starting
point, and when mated to our Addeilo Rishabhas Red 13c5 produced
two female kittens one Tortoiseshell the other a Blue Cream, plus
to our great good luck and delight, a Blue Mackerel Tabby boy.
Rishabha Chimera as he was named weighed ten and a half pounds
at just seven plus months old when he was mated to the two Seal
Point queens we hoped he would produce a Tabby Point kitten with.
At
the same time he shared our home with one other girl - Ch. Addeilo
Cameow Coquette who was a Blue Tortie Tabby from one of the 'original'
Tabby lines. It had not been our intention to mate these two,
however Cameo (a silent caller) had other ideas, and was also
discovered to be in kitten a few weeks later!
We
are in agreement with the statement, 'if a cat's not good enough
to in-breed, it's not good enough to breed from'. The decision
was made to mate the Persian, Cleopasht back to her father in
order to test mate the line we were introducing to the Birman.
No surprises were discovered, she produced six babies - quite
a large litter for a Longhair.
The
first litter from Rishabha Bubastis, produced a Seal Pt. a Blue
Pt. a solid Blue but no Tabbies! Next came Cameo, two babies -
one a Blue Tortie Tabby female not pointed and a stunning Blue
Tabby point female with very good markings who was named Rishabha
Frankincense. One to go, and once more we were blessed with good
fortune when Hanrujam Sansoux produced three kittens, two Brown
Tabbies, one male and one female, and a female Seal Tabby Point
who was named Rishabha Brownie Points. We decided as we had been
waiting for our Visas for Australia that we would try to place
these girls in homes where they would be mated to our choice of
Stud. Hopefully this would produce third generation kittens good
enough for us to progress with. Frankie went to live with Jane
& Barrie Tackley (Klassyklogs) where she was duly mated to
Woody (Gr. Ch. Klassyklogs Furst Edition). A lovely litter of
five were produced, and we welcomed to our home Klassyklogs Khymerical
a Blue Tabby girl.
Rishabha
Brownie Points lives with Pam Collins (Dubrova) her first mating
with the Blue Pt. Dubrova Baccara produced a Seal Tabby girl of
breeding quality which Pam has kept, called Dubrova Bracken. Her
next mating to Addeilo Romany Tassle (my original choice), has
given us the adorable Dubrova Rocketman a Seal Tabby boy of excellent
show quality. The future is hopefully a little brighter, and it
didn't take too long!
Rocky
has come to live with us as our new Stud, and following test matings
to his half sister Bracken and our own Khymerical, we hope he
can add his 'little something' in the way of 'new blood' to the
Beautiful but potentially problematic Birman. We hope more of
you will consider creating new lines while we still can. The data
on Heart & Kidney problems, Liver Shunts, Dermoid Cysts, Hernias
etc. etc. is on the increase across all lines.
As
a postscript I have just been told that Bracken's brother aged
under one year old, currently weighs twelve and a half pounds
- perhaps the outcross will at least herald the return of the
MASSIVE Birman cat if nothing else!!
Linda
Steven - Rishabha Birmans
