A Tonkinse description and coats of many colours

Tonkinese cats are beautiful, elegant and of Foreign type. They are considered moderate in that they have no extreme features. Their build is lithe and well balanced, firm and muscular with an elegant body on slender legs and neat oval paws all in exquisite proportion to each other. They have slightly rounded chests and their flanks are level. Their back rises gently from their shoulders to their rump demonstrating a truly elegant predator's body. Their tail is of medium length, tapering gently to a rounded tip, being neither thick or whippy. Their eyes are large and expressive, set well apart with a gentle almond shape. Their colours are sparkling hues of aquamarine, sapphire blue and golden green according to their coat pattern. The Tonkinese is an attractive breed famous for their "mink" coats which are short, fine and close lying, with a soft, silky and lustrous sheen. A coat that incidentally needs little upkeep in order to retain its sleek, soft, luxurious texture. On closer examination, the colour and coat-pattern of their fur is reminiscent of the wild animal's pelt. However, the description also refers to the similarity of pattern and colour between the wild animal's pelt and the foundation cat of the Burmese breed, Wong Mau, who was actually a Tonkinese with a tonkinese coat pattern, i.e. a medium-brown body that shaded to a lighter hue on its underparts and to a dark brown colour at its points. The Tonkinese belongs to the genetic type group known as Himalayan. In Tonkinese like most with a Himalayan coat pattern we find that the Points (mask of face, ears, feet, legs, tail and testicles in males) are darker because the temperature at the extremities of the body are lower than the rest of the body. However, fleshier legs and feet tend to be paler in tone than the other points.

A solid variant of the Tonkinese coat pattern is evenly coloured over its body and in most colours have no noticeable contrast. These cats have greenish -gold eyes. The pointed variant of the Tonkinese coat pattern is very pale in its body with contrasting dark points. These cats have blue eyes. All Tonkinese have some contrast, as the dominant allele (C) gene is not found in the Tonkinese or Burmese breeds. There is only a single variation between the three strains of Tonkinese: the 'C' gene. It is this that controls their coat pattern. Each Tonkinese has one pair of genes that control their gene pattern with one gene derived from each parent. Each gene can be either a pointed (cs) or a solid (cb) coat pattern gene. Tonk. Breeders realize that when Tonkinese are mated together, their offspring will uniquely have one of only three coat pattern variations. Thus,the Solid, variant has two (cb) coat pattern genes. The cat is evenly coloured across its body and points. It has the weakest colour contrast and will have chartreuse eyes, ranging from greengold to yellowgreen. Pointed, this type has two (cs) coat pattern genes. It has the strongest contrast with a pale body coat, dark points and bright blue eyes in shades from sky blue to violet. The tonkinese (Mink), version has one (cs) and one (cb) coat pattern gene. Since both are recessive genes, neither will be dominant. The type is characterised by a strong body with darker points but overall the coat pattern illustrates a medium contrast. Unlike their eyes which are a brilliant aqua colour: a beautiful combination of the golden Burmese and blue Siamese eye colour. A word of caution should be inserted here as it is not always possible to be authoritative as to what type of coat pattern the young kittens may have. It often takes some time (as much as 18 months) for kittens to acquire their definitive coat-pattern / eye-colour / colour. Don't blame the breeder if they initially err on the side of caution!