The cat breed black with copper penny eyes is the Bombay cat. People search for this cat using the words in the title to this post so I thought I’d be another website that provides the answer.
I have a page on this cat breed so I won’t go over everything again. Click on this link to read about and see the Bombay cat.
I remember seeing Helmi Flick photograph a Bombay cat at a cat show (see my photo above under Helmi’s). The remarkable feature of this cat is the jet black coat. You’d have thought that all black coats are the same, more or less. Black is black after all. But the Bombay’s black coat has a sheen to it: patent leather sheen, which is the breeder’s objective. I don’t know how they achieve it. Perhaps the breeder just polishes the cat up for Helmi’s camera 😉
I am sure the coat requires regular grooming to keep it shiny.
Another titbit of information is that this cat is very tricky to photograph with autofocus because the black coat doesn’t provide a point upon which the camera can focus.
Perhaps it was quite brave of cat breeders to create a black cat breed. Black is not a popular cat colour. The Bombay is not that popular, in fact.
My feelings are that it is a little bit too heavily bred. The round eyes look unnatural. This is the Burmese inheritance I believe and being linked to the Burmese it may inherit the genetic health problems associated with the American Burmese: Burmese craniofacial defect.
This cat breed was created in America at a time when the greatest number of new cat breeds were being created and also at a time when the interest in wild cat hybrids was beginning. The Bombay is an all-domestic cat but it is meant to be a miniature black panther in the home.
Thanks Sarah. The names of the breeds are confusing. What I mean is the GCCF have a different way to the American associations and it would be nice if they entered into an international agreement to unify the names and classification.
Over here, they look more like the European Burmese. They are also known as the Black Self Asian (Asian being any European Burmese cat without Burmese colour restriction).
Black is an unfortunate color for a cat because of worldwide superstitions regarding the color black 😉 Sad isn’t it that the fate of a cat depends on her color. Cat racism.
Therefore it is possible that this cat is not much popular in INDIA, it’s my own idea 😉
Thanks Michael
I have a similar cat in my Feral Colony and she is very shy, She only knows me and visits me often on the terrace.
Her kittens were killed last year by any maniac B_st_rd.
She visited me today and I pet her and she gave me a meow and ran away with her tail high up a little bent.
She has a shiny coat and well groomed herself, long hair.
I will share her photo here some day but she does not stay in front of camera, as I have tried a lot to photograph her but she gets afraid, I don’t know why?
<3 <3 <3 I love my free roamers this is just I know, thanks again Oh yes! The Black cat is consider a BAD LUCK in INDIA's mostly believes, just remember this point.
Thanks 🙂
Mesmerizing eyes.
But, I think I’ve seen some of those before, long ago.
Can’t remember.