However, both in South Africa and in the United Kingdom, larger litters have been recorded of between eight and twelve. Burmese are very good mothers, and have little problem producing their young. The kittens are born with fine 'downy' coats and therefore, care must be taken to ensure that the kittening box is placed in warm, draught free environment. Kittens can lose body heat rapidly, become chilled and die from pneumonia. With large litters care must be exercised to ensure that each kitten has sufficient nourishment from the queen, as the strongest will push the smallest aside.
Most queens cope well with four to six kittens.
History Full credit must be given to Dr. Joseph Thompson who bravely decided to pursue his breeding programme with Wong Mau in the 1930s. As noted earlier, speculation exists that Burmese have been around for a lot longer than most surmise. Overall, there was some confusion, regarding eye colour as descriptions varied from fancier to fancier. As with the Siamese, the Burmese were temple cats. Apparently each cat was assigned a student monk whose duties were 'to cater to, and indulge their every whim'.