By Pat Gowland

With acknowledgment to 'Feline Focus'

 Would you like to know your neighbours better to be on friendly terms with your local deliverymen to be able to make easy small-talk with the people who regularly pass your front gate—in short to combine the advantages of country-town friendliness with the conveniences of city living? Then buy a Burmese kitten and see how rapidly his addition to the family circle causes your own circle of acquaintances to expand.

It's incredible, it has to be experienced to be believed. You are in the front garden (so naturally Puss never one to be left out of any activity is there too) how can people avoid stopping to pass the time of day when your extroverted brown cat waylays them with greetings so enthusiastic that they have to untangle him from their legs before they can move on? You answer the doorbell and instead of a businesslike delivery man poised for flight his car double-parked and the engine running thrusting at you a docket book and biro with a "Sign here please" you find on your doorstep a rather startled gentleman clutching his parcel and attempting also to support eight pounds of sooky brown cat that has jumped off the doormat straight into his arms and is clinging to his chest, purring noisily.

People don't expect cats to be extroverted. Puss's new friends are undeniably flattered. Your cat rapidly becomes notorious for his apparently remarkable temperament. Yet all Burmese tend to be like this. They appear to believe that the whole world is kind and cat-loving—an optimistic and rather endearing point of view. Not only are Burmese distinguished by this initial friendliness and confidence but also by their tolerance. Without fuss they will adapt to living with bouncing small children or energetic dogs or even other cats provided only that the share of love and attention they receive does not suffer thereby. For they are home-loving cats and in spite of their catholic taste in casual friends the real family life which their owner provides is what they appreciate most and what they need for well-being and happiness.

The breed's mushrooming popularity is a tribute to Burmese adaptability. For a family with children they are an ideal choice. For people who admire cats but find cats' occasional aloofness and independence baffling and difficult to accept the tolerant Burmese who will fall in will your mood and cheerfully allow you to make much of him is an easy cat to learn to live with.

For households that include a member who is pro-dog to the extent of being vaguely anti-cat a Burmese kitten with its almost canine temperament is a well-chosen ambassador. For people who hanker after a cat of which they can be particularly proud what could be more impressive than a Burmese? Their coats have a glorious shine that is unique to them. The Brown variety have a rich burnished appearance that is most striking and once admired cannot be easily forgotten; the Blue variety are a delicate blue-grey—a beautiful effect rather like antique silver.

All this beautiful fur needs a minimum of attention for the shine is a natural one arising from heredity and good health. Your Burmese in spite of his lithe lean aristocratic appearance—even to the non-cat person the resemblance to Siamese elegance is usually apparent—will tend to be a hardy specimen and an enthusiastic non-fussy eater. Being pedigreed he will cost money but for his purchase price you obtain a kitten whose appearance and temperament are at least partly predictable and who will repay you tenfold in years of companionship and pleasure.