Tonkinese

The Tonkinese is a medium-sized cat, of Foreign type with excellent balance and no exaggeration with an unusual coat pattern whereby darker points shade into the body colour with no abrupt change of colour. His background is that Burmese and Siamese were bred together to re-create the cat that was called the Chocolate Siamese in Victorian Britain.

The Chocolate Siamese never established itself in the way that the blue-eyed pointed Siamese did and the breed gradually disappeared, to be revived in the USA in the 1970s. Their eyes reflect the ancestry of the parent breeds being somewhere between blue and green, as does their coat pattern. In common with so many breeds, the Tonkinese is permitted in a huge range of colours, but it is important that the colour tone is the same but darker on the points without appearing to offer a contrast.

Friendly and affectionate, the Tonkinese likes to be noticed and are active and inquisitive and enjoy plenty of stimulation. Numbers of kittens registered with the GCCF have fluctuated over the past 10 years, but they are on an upward gradient, 371 being registered in 1994 and 497 in 2003.

Although Tonkinese have no particular health problems, it makes good sense to insure your cats.  Many breeders sell their kittens with six weeks free insurance cover.  More and more owners are now insuring their pets as advances in veterinary medicine, plus the soaring costs of drugs can mean astronomical bills.

Tonkinese Breed Clubs & Rescue

• Tonkinese Cat Club
• The Tonkinese Breed Club