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What's
a Birman?
Birman’s
are a beautiful sweet loving cat with the most gorgeous blue eyes.
Their hair is soft like a rabbit to touch, low shedding and never
tangles. They are very humorous and entertaining, but not loud and
noisy just full of soft purrs and they will talk to you with meows
but are never annoying. Birman’s are proud with the right touch
of grace. When the lights are turned off, it's quiet all night.
They each have their own special place. They are very good with
children and company.
Unlike most
mammals that walk on the soles of the paws or feet, cats are digitigrades,
which means they walk on their toes. Their back, shoulder, paw and
leg joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves are naturally
designed to support and distribute the cat's weight across its toes
as it walks, runs and climbs. A cat's claws are used for balance,
for exercising, and for stretching the muscles in their legs, back,
shoulders, and paws. They stretch these muscles by digging their
claws into a surface and pulling back against their own claw hold
- similar to isometric exercising for humans. This is the only way
a cat can exercise, stretch and tone the muscles of its back and
shoulders. The toes help the foot meet the ground at a precise angle
to keep the leg, shoulder and back muscles and joints in proper
alignment. Removal of the last digits of the toes drastically alters
the conformation of their feet and causes the feet to meet the ground
at an unnatural angle that can cause back pain similar to that in
humans caused by wearing improper shoes.
Another notable
feature that cats have are whiskers or vibrissae. Whiskers are special
hairs that are used as highly sensitive touch organs. A cat uses
its whiskers to determine if their bodies can fit through small
openings such as small pipes, cans, and other various objects.
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