Head & profile
The head should have strong bone structure, a slightly rounded forehead, full cheeks, a firm chin and a medium-length nose without a real stop, but with a slight indentation.
The standard describes the desired entirety of the breed: head, eyes, body, coat, color, tail and the characteristic white gloves. A show standard is not a ranking of how nice a cat is to live with.
See the whole catPerfect gloves cannot stand alone. Type, balance, condition and overall impression all count.
♛
Eyes & ears
The eyes are medium-sized, slightly oval and deep blue. The ears are relatively small with rounded tips and well spaced.
Body, legs & paws
The body is slightly elongated. Males should appear more massive than females. The legs are short and strong, and the paws are round.
Tail & fur
The tail is medium-length and forms a plume. The coat is long to semi-long, silky and with a little undercoat.
How the 100 points are distributed
It is useful to see the scoring scale because it shows that the Holy Birman is judged as a whole – not just on the white paws.
20Head
5Eyes
20Body
10Tail
20Fur and color
20Gloves, wedges and symmetry
5Kondition
Gloves and wedges – the distinctive feature of the Burmese
All four feet should be pure white. On the hind feet, the white continues up into a point – the so-called wedges or spurs. The ideal is inverted Vs that reach about halfway to three-quarters of the way up the hock. Uniformity and symmetry count.
Mistakes that can cost the certificate
1
White that runs up the side or back of the leg from the glove – what is called a “runner”.
2
Missing webbing/spurs on the hind feet.
3
White spots in the colored areas – or colored spots where there should be white.
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This page is an explanation. At shows the official FIFe standard is always the decisive text.
Source: Fédération Internationale Féline, Sacred Birman (SBI), version valid 01.01.2026.
A Sacred Birman should look like a Sacred Birman
Hanne-Sofie Sneum's insightful review of the breed standard deserves to be read again – today more than ever. We present her professional main points with clear updates to the current FIFe standard.
Original author: Hanne-Sofie Sneum, FIFe all-round judge. Editorial processing and contemporary notes: The Birmakredsen.
Read Hanne-Sofie's review and the new standard notes →