Burmese Mating Color Charts

Burmese in the United States are officially recognized in four colors:

CFA TICA
Sable Brown
Blue Blue Sepia
Champagne Chocolate Sepia
Platinum Lilac

When breeders cross studs with queens, each parent has two color genes available to pass on to the kittens:

D
Dominent Dark		 d
recessive dilute
B
Dominent Black		 b
recessive brown

The different combinations of Dominent and recessive genes can be summarized in this table:

         
BD Bd bD bd
  BD   BBDD
Sable		   BBDd
Sable
w/Bl		   BbDD
Sable
w/Ch		   BbDd
Sable
w/BlCh*
  Bd   BBDd
Sable
w/Bl		   BBdd
Blue		   BbDd
Sable
w/BlCh*		   Bbdd
Blue
w/Ch
  bD   BbDD
Sable
w/Ch		   BbDd
Sable
w/BlCh*		   bbDD
Choc		   bbDd
Choc
w/Bl
  bd   BbDd
Sable
w/BlCh*		   Bbdd
Blue
w/Ch		   bbDd
Choc
w/Bl		   bbdd
Plat
"Ch" stands for either Champagne or Chocolate Sepia
"Bl" stands for Blue
Sable is equivalent to Brown
Platinum is equivalent to Lilac Sepia

For a more thorough explanation of color charts and recessive genes,
read Dinner Table Analysis of Color Genetics by Jo Whitman.

However, a thorough understanding of the genetic combinations is not always what breeders use to determine what they can expect when the cross their queens and their studs. Knowing either who the Sire and Dam are, or from the offspring, all the recessive genes can often be determined.

There are four kinds of Sables:
  • Sable (dominent, neither carrying Blue or Chocolate)
  • Sable carrying Blue (carrying a recessive dilute gene)
  • Sable carrying Chocolate (carrying a recessive brown gene)
  • Sable carrying both Blue and Chocolate (carrying both recessive genes, dilute and brown)
There are two kinds of Blue Burmese:
  • Blue (carrying two dominent Dark genes and two recessive brown genes)
  • Blue carrying Chocolate (carrying one recessive dilute genes and two recessive brown gene)
        A Blue Burmese has no dominent brown genes to give its kittens.
There are two kinds of Chocolate (or Champagne) Burmese:
  • Chocolate (carrying two dominent Black genes and two recessive dilute genes)
  • Chocolate carrying Blue (carrying one dominent Black gene and two recessive dilute genes)
        A Chocolate Burmese has no dominent dilute genes to give its kittens.
To be platinum, a cat cannot have any dominent Black genes or it would be Chocolate.
To be platinum, a cat cannot have any dominent Dark genes or it would be Blue.
  • The Platinum Burmese has no dominent genes to give its kittens.

There are, therefore, 9 different combinations of the two pairs of dominant and recessive genes.

There are (at least) two different ways of presenting breed combination/outcome tables. In The Burmese Cat, a table was presented that fits on a two pages. However, I find it more useful to have the tables broken down into 9 tables, the 9 different combinations of the two pairs of dominant and recessive genes.

Single table
Color Chart format		 Nine table
Color Chart format

I encourage you to play with the color charts. Some crosses cannot produce certain offpring, and you can use the offspring to determine if one of the parent's has a hidden recessive gene. However, beware. You can't prove a negative by the offspring. Just because a Sable cat who might be carrying both blue and chocolate never produces a blue or platinum kitten, you still don't know he's only carrying champagne. You can only prove that he IS carrying the hidden recessive by the offspring.

To determine hidden genes, the best mating is a cross to a platinum, who has no dominent genes to give.

Study the charts to set yourself any number of puzzles.

Puzzles:
  1. A breeder claims to have a sable kitten out of a platinum queen and a champagne stud. Is this possible?
  2. A breeder claims to have a sable kitten out of a blue queen and a platinum stud. Is this possible?
  3. A breeder claims to have a sable kitten out of a blue-champagne cross. Is this possible?
  4. A sable stud who is carrying champagne, who MAY or MAY NOT be carrying blue is crossed with a blue carrying champagne, a champagne carrying blue and a platinum queen. All the kittens are sable and champagne. Is he carrying blue?
  5. What two combinations are most likely to create a true rainbow litter (one of each, champagne, blue, sable and platinum?)
Answers:
  1. No. A Sable must have at least one Dark gene and at least one Black gene. Neither parent has a Black gene to give the kittens.
  2. No. Again, a Sable must have at least one Dark gene and at least one Black gene. Neither parent has a Dark gene to give the kittens.
  3. Yes, if the blue is carrying champagne AND the champagne is carrying blue.
  4. In the same way that "you can't prove a negative," until he actually sires a blue or platinum kitten, you can never know for sure. Statistically, he probably isn't carrying blue, but until he actually sires a blue or platinum, you won't know!
  5. There are two crosses where the odds are 1:4 for each of the colors:
    • Sable carrying both Blue and Chocolate crossed with Platinum
    • Champagne carrying Blue crossed with Blue carrying Champagne




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