The Bombay is a breed of cat that came into existence in the late 1950s. The late Nikki Horner, a breeder from Louisville, Kentucky, created the breed. Nikki wanted to make a cat that was a miniature version of the black panther. She aimed to create a breed of cat that would resemble a panther but with the loving, affectionate temperament of the domestic cat. She started by breeding a black American Shorthair with a sable Burmese. After many generations, the result was the Bombay breed.
This new breed of cats became the Cat Fancier’s Association in 1976. The Canadian Cat Association and the UK Governing Council of the Cat Fancy are noteworthy organizations. As of today, Bombay is all cat registries’ favorite.
Breeding of the Bombay Cat
In a general sense, Bombay was developed in the late 1950s by Mrs. Nikki Horner of Louisville, Kentucky. She intended to create a show-quality cat that had the panther-like aspect of the Burmese but had a sleek black coat and copper eyes. She crossed a sable Burmese with a black American Shorthair to achieve this result. Mrs. Horner had been breeding Burmese cats for several years. She had also previously bred a Burmese/American Shorthair female that looked much like a Burmese, except with a deeper gold eye color and slightly darker coat.
Mrs. Horner thought a cross between select Burmese and black American Shorthair cats might lead to a cat with the Bombay’s look. Mrs. Horner chose the finest cats of the two breeds as foundation cats for Bombay and backcrossed to them exclusively for the next few generations. While foundation breeders also experimented with outcrosses late in the 1970s to create faster results, this practice often led to further confusion about what the authentic Bombay should look like, requiring stricter guidelines and outcross prohibition in the early 1980s to get the breed to the standard we see today. Today, some breeders also work with sable and foreign Burmese bloodlines to maintain large domestic American Shorthair features while retaining the sleek coat distinctive to Bombay.
Early Recognition and Popularity
Indian or Burmese. In 1965, the judges at the CFA cat show refused to let the Bombays under that breed name, which led to the formation of the American Bombay breed. Over time, Bombay has established itself as a breed and has bred true. In 1976, Pat Turner wanted to create a breed of black cats. She started with two black domestic tomcats and a black Burmese from the Yakee cattery. The resemblance between the Bombay and the black Burmese is only superficial since the Yakee cattery had used American Shorthairs and sable Burmese in their breeding program. Pat and other breeders have also used copper-eyed Persians to enhance bone structure and to help set the eye color to a deep copper penny.
This selective breeding has made Bombay what it is today, with its uniquely sleek, panther-like appearance. Pat Turner wrote the breed standard and the breed by the CFA for championship status in 1979. During the early years, Pat/Tommy and the other founding breeders faced many challenges in gaining acceptance in Bombay. At the time, light-colored cats were famous for showing, and there was significant resistance to accepting an all-black breed. Bombay has become popular in various parts of the world thanks to their dedication and hard work. It is now a favorite among people who want a unique and somewhat exotic companion. Today, by most cat associations, Bombay has an established presence in North America and Europe. The International Cat Association (TICA) granted the Bombay championship status in 1992. A breed to ideally fit the inside of your home, the Bombay cat truly is an elegant panther for the home.
Bombay Cat Characteristics
The Bombay is a sleek, medium muscular, black-coated cat with copper to golden eyes. The black coat is supposed to be like polished black marble. This cat is the color of the Indian black leopard. The Bombay cat’s fur is short, satiny, and tight to the body due to the American Shorthair blood in its ancestry, which makes the Bombay an easy cat to groom. Bombay cats are all born black: the gene for the Sable Burmese is an epistatic solid gene, only allowing the black color to means a Bombay must have at least one Sable Burmese parent to carry the gene, and so it can be a carrier through not displaying the black color. These cats are fully mature at two to three years old. The Bombay is affectionate, highly social, and a great companion. They are intelligent, playful, and attention seekers. They are known to remain playful—a vocal cat with a pleasant, soft meow. The Bombay tends to be a lap cat, seeking out human interaction, and is also friendly towards other pets. These cats are adaptable, and many enjoy traveling with their owners. The Bombay has “Aparajito,” the winning black leopard in The Jungle Book, and “panther-like.”
