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 Origins
The Bombay cat was created in 1958 in Louisville, Kentucky (USA),
when Nikki Horner of Shawnee Cattery deliberately bred an American
shorthair with a Burmese for the purpose of creating a domesticated
cat that resembled a wild panther. The offspring of this breeding
did indeed resemble the black leopard of India. The name came from
the Indian city of Bombay (now Mumbai). Horner called her creation
the "patent leather kid with the new penny eyes."
Characteristics
The Bombay is a muscular yet agile cat with a black coat. The heads
of Bombay cats are rounded and wide with a short tapered muzzle. The
eyes, which are of golden or copper color, are rounded and set wide,
and their ears are broad, slightly rounded and medium sized and,
like the eyes, set wide. The Bombay has a coat that is short, satiny
and tight to the body. Bombay cats do not require grooming, although
petting the cat will keep their coat shiny and will also remove dead
hair. A rubber brush can help when the cat sheds larger amounts of
fur (uncommon). If the cat is fed a balanced diet, the coat will
shine and the cat's naturally energetic personality will become
evident.
Personality
Bombay cats crave human affection; while this can be said of most
felines, the Bombay will, if pleased by the amount of affection
being given, purr loud enough to be heard over 15 feet away indoors!
Bombay cats are quiet and watchful, prefer the indoors and can be
affected by loud intrusive noises. An uncommon side effect of loud
noises in Bombays can result in them losing fur from their stomachs
and near their tails. Should this occur, simply keep the cat indoors
or away from loud noises for a short period and make sure they have
somewhere they can hide. Preferred locations noted from experience
are:
1. behind chairs
2. behind cupboards
3. anywhere small that is difficult to gain entry to, including
* behind TVs
* inside cabinets
* underneath small tables
Bombay cats are by nature lap cats; they
are almost heat-seeking in their lifestyle and are known to jump up
their owner's backs and rest around their neck if they feel they are
being ignored. While Bombay cats will tolerate other breeds of cat,
they are dominating over them and will not take well to being
treated as a subordinate by other cats. Bombay cats seem to get on
exceptionally well with dogs due to dogs' sensitivity to
hierarchical relations, which the Bombay will exploit to the full.
Both males and females are excellent pets.
These cats are smart, agile and inquisitive. They will often seek
out human interaction. Visitors to the home are best advised not to
hide things in pockets or packages that the cat might find
interesting, as Bombays will investigate packages and will commonly
chew through carrier bags and containers to get at meat. This can
lead to problems as they will seek out chicken bones, which have
been known to cause damage to their throats after getting into a
poorly secured bin containing chicken bones. These cats are
head-bumpers and nose-rubbers, Some can be very "talkative" and have
distinct "voices". These cats love nothing more than to be held and
fussed over.
Quiet, sensitive, reserved and intelligent, the Bombay is suited to
life in a quiet home, where it is affectionate to the whole family.
History and Genetics
The Bombay was developed by Nikki Horner, a breeder in
Louisville, Kentucky. She set out to create a "miniature black
panther" by crossing sable Burmese with a solid black American
Shorthair. Her first attempts in the late 1950's were disappointing.
A few years later, working with different breeding stock, she began
to get the results that she was looking for: a cat with good
muscular development and a very short, close-lying black coat.
Recognition and acceptance of the new breed by the registering
associations took 18 years; the Bombay was accepted for championship
in CFA in 1976.
Bombay breeders frequently outcross to Burmese to retain the body
type and coat texture. Almost no one outcrosses to American
Shorthair any more, because it is very easy to maintain the
(dominant) black color in the Bombay lines and such outcrosses would
usually result in undesirable body type. Some associations no longer
permit outcrossing to American Shorthair.
As a consequence, the Bombay shares many physical characteristics
with the Burmese. Nikki Horner considers the Bombay a "black
Burmese", but other breeders point out the physical differences.
Bombays tend to be a little larger, with longer bodies and longer
legs than the Burmese, and have a less pronounced nose break.
The gene for the black coat is dominant, but many Bombays still
carry the sable color as a recessive. A sable-colored kitten may
appear in a litter from a Bombay x Bombay breeding. If both of the
parents are heterozygous for black, one in four kittens will be
sable, on average. A Bombay x Burmese breeding will frequently
produce some sable kittens along with the black ones.
These "sable Bombays" are generally sold as pets, since they
cannot be shown as Bombays. One association, TICA, allows these
kittens to be registered and shown as sable Burmese, but the Bombay
body type is sufficiently different from Burmese that they generally
are not show quality. However, a person looking for a pet Burmese
might do well to contact Bombay breeders, since only a trained eye
would notice the differences between a "sable Bombay" and a pure
Burmese.
The Bombay breed also shares an unfortunate trait with the Burmese.
The "Burmese Craniofacial Defect" is a genetic disorder that affects
the development of the skull in the fetus. Occasionally, kittens
from lines that carry this defect will be born with severely
deformed heads and must be euthanized at birth. The mode of
inheritance of this anomaly is still poorly understood. The defect
is of no concern to pet owners because it only affects newborns, but
anyone who is considering breeding Bombays or Burmese and who is
unwilling to deal with this defect must perform extensive pedigree
research to find bloodlines that are free of the defect. A few lines
of "traditional" Bombays and Burmese that are free of the defect do
exist today. This is a complex and emotionally-charged issue among
Burmese and Bombay breeders. Anyone who is interested in this
subject should obtain the published research and should not rely on
hearsay.
Characteristics and Temperament
The Bombay also shares many of the behavioral characteristics of the
Burmese. They are adaptable to apartment living and are generally
calm. A Bombay will often accept dogs in the household more quickly
than it will adapt to the other cats. The Bombay often wants to be
the dominant cat in the household.
They are intelligent, actively seek interaction with humans and love
to play games. Many retrieve and do tricks. Some have been
sucessfully leash-trained. Like Burmese, Bombays are heat-seekers,
and often like to sleep under the bedcovers.
Both Bombays and Burmese have a voice that is distinctive, but not
as loud or harsh as the Siamese voice. Some individuals are quite
talkative, but others rarely vocalize.
Bombays reach sexual maturity relatively quickly, so owners should
plan on spaying females and neutering males between 6 and 9 months
of age. A few males have been known to sire litters at 5 months of
age. Their physical development, however, is somewhat slower. A
Bombay male may not reach his full muscular development until he is
almost two years old. An adult Bombay male will typically weigh
between 8 and 11 pounds; females between 6 and 9 pounds.
Care and Grooming
Bombays generally have strong appetites. While most Bombays can
free-feed without becoming overweight, some Bombay owners find that
they must ration the food or switch to a low-calorie feed. Most
breeders use and recommend a high-quality dry food, but will
supplement this with raw meat to put on more muscle for showing. The
use of raw meat is risky, however, because of the danger of
contamination.
The tight, short coat sheds very little and requires practically
zero maintenance. The Bombay is completely capable of grooming
itself, but a rubdown with the palm of your hand or a rubber brush
is always a welcome activity. There is very little seasonal
variation in the coat.
In preparation for showing, exhibitors generally bathe the Bombay
three to four days before the show. This gives the coat time to
recover some of the natural oils that help give it the proper sheen
and texture. On the day of the show, a rub with a chamois cloth puts
a final polish on the coat. No texturizers, glosses, or powders are
ever needed on the Bombay coat.
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