Russet Burmese and Mandalays
Russet is the name that has been given to this new colour pattern. This pattern is not the result of any deliberate breeding programme - it just happened as a sport in the cattery of Bob and Nicky MacKenzie. They generously allowed me to have the first russet kitten sold for breeding. The original ones and most of the current ones have completely traditional pedigrees - no silver, tabby or Mandalay anywhere in the background. The original parents (one father and two mothers who were mother and daughter) were all seal Burmese. There was dilute and chocolate in the pedigree but no red, cream or tortie for several generations back.
The parentage of the original russets was confirmed by DNA test. Three of the early russets were also tested for all the colour genes for which tests are available, and the tests showed them to be indistinguishable from standard seal (in one case chocolate) Burmese at these genes - the new pattern is not a reversion to tabby, but something completely new. DNA testing in the USA has now shown that russet is another mutation of the Extension/MC1R gene, the gene involved also in amber Norwegian forest cats (although amber and russet are different mutations), and in red/yellow coat colours in many other species.
As kittens russets look rather like tabbies. However, they have pink noses and pads, pale fur around the pads and genitalia and a pale tail-tip - all these areas are dark in tabbies. As they mature they turn much more red - the reddest of them are quite similar to a red Burmese by two years old. However, unlike red, this colour doesn't appear to be sex linked, but to be inherited as a recessive. Others retain more visible melanin pigmentation underlying the red; my neighbour described Enigma as an adult as looking like a puma. Russell is even darker - seal brown on his back and cream underneath with just a bit of red shading on his face.
They have been granted recognition and challenge status and we now have champions and grand champions in this pattern.
We are very keen to get additional breeders involved in the breeding of this striking new colour pattern, to spread the risk of having the gene currently confined to just two catteries (Nicky and Bob McKenzie are no longer breeding following Nicky's sudden death in 2023 and Bob's failing health, but Wendy Pluijmers, Burmjmer Cattery, Napier, is also breeding russets with cats from the McKenzies), allow wider out-crossing to create more diversity in family lines, and get the variety more widely known. Please contact us if you're interested.
We are very keen to get additional breeders involved in the breeding of this striking new colour pattern, to spread the risk of having the gene currently confined to just two catteries (Nicky and Bob McKenzie are no longer breeding following Nicky's sudden death in 2023 and Bob's failing health, but Wendy Pluijmers, Burmjmer Cattery, Napier, is also breeding russets with cats from the McKenzies), allow wider out-crossing to create more diversity in family lines, and get the variety more widely known. Please contact us if you're interested.
Our current Russet breeding cats
All-Burmese pedigree russets and russet carriers
Studs:
Lowenheim Russell the Enigma
Russell is a very handsome, sweet-natured seal russet Burmese boy, from an all-traditional pedigree. He carries chocolate and dilute, and has some good outcross lines for my breeding. I'm very grateful to Nicki and Bob for letting me have him. He has produced a really nice litter to Missy, from which I kept Rufus and a seal russet girl (Poppy) went back to Bob and Nicki (now back with me).
Russell is a very handsome, sweet-natured seal russet Burmese boy, from an all-traditional pedigree. He carries chocolate and dilute, and has some good outcross lines for my breeding. I'm very grateful to Nicki and Bob for letting me have him. He has produced a really nice litter to Missy, from which I kept Rufus and a seal russet girl (Poppy) went back to Bob and Nicki (now back with me).
Rafoej All At Once
Rufus is a real character, and a very handsome young cat with stunning eye colour. He's from Russell and Missie and is a red russet, the only one that's been bred so far. I'm greatly looking forward to seeing kittens from him.
Rufus is a real character, and a very handsome young cat with stunning eye colour. He's from Russell and Missie and is a red russet, the only one that's been bred so far. I'm greatly looking forward to seeing kittens from him.
Queens:
Rafoej All In All
Poppy is a lovely seal russet litter sister of Rufus. She has a beautiful head. She was sold to the MacKenzies for their breeding programme but I got her back following Nicky's sudden death.
Poppy is a lovely seal russet litter sister of Rufus. She has a beautiful head. She was sold to the MacKenzies for their breeding programme but I got her back following Nicky's sudden death.
Lowenheim Kat Winsalot
Kat is a full sister of Russell, from a different litter. She is a very beautiful chocolate russet Burmese. I bought her from the MacKenzies after they had to give up breeding following Nicky's sudden death.
Kat is a full sister of Russell, from a different litter. She is a very beautiful chocolate russet Burmese. I bought her from the MacKenzies after they had to give up breeding following Nicky's sudden death.
Russets with Mandalay, cinnamon and silver ancestry
Studs:
Rafoej Once Again
Once Again is a big, handsome, friendly and confident seal Burmese boy, carrying cinnamon and russet. He's the son of Honey and Ming-Li. He has good eye colour. He has only a very small proportion of Mandalay in his pedigree after several generations of back-crossing to Burmese.
Once Again is a big, handsome, friendly and confident seal Burmese boy, carrying cinnamon and russet. He's the son of Honey and Ming-Li. He has good eye colour. He has only a very small proportion of Mandalay in his pedigree after several generations of back-crossing to Burmese.
Rafoej Shadow
Shadow is a dark ebony ticked tabby son of Sammy and Ruby. He has a superb, affectionate, laid-back temperament and a lovely head. Because he doesn't have wide-banding/golden as his father does, the two of them look quite different in colour - Shadow is much darker and cooler in tone. He will carry dilute and chocolate from his mother, and has a 50% chance of carrying russet from his father.
Shadow is a dark ebony ticked tabby son of Sammy and Ruby. He has a superb, affectionate, laid-back temperament and a lovely head. Because he doesn't have wide-banding/golden as his father does, the two of them look quite different in colour - Shadow is much darker and cooler in tone. He will carry dilute and chocolate from his mother, and has a 50% chance of carrying russet from his father.
Queens:
Rafoej Regret
Regret is a gorgeous little ebony Mandalay girl, with stunning eye colour. A daughter of Summer and a grandson of Xanthus via a lovely male bred from him by my friend Christa, she is a DNA-tested carrier of both russet and cinnamon. She has only one or two kittens at a time, but is an excellent mother, and they're beautiful!
Regret is a gorgeous little ebony Mandalay girl, with stunning eye colour. A daughter of Summer and a grandson of Xanthus via a lovely male bred from him by my friend Christa, she is a DNA-tested carrier of both russet and cinnamon. She has only one or two kittens at a time, but is an excellent mother, and they're beautiful!