Tonkinese (cat)

Tonkinese
Platinum mink Tonkinese male
Common nicknames	Tonk
Origin	Canada
Breed standards
CFA	standard
TICA	standard
AACE	standard
ACF	standard
ACFA/CAA	standard
CCA-AFC	standard
Domestic cat (Felis catus)

Tonkinese are a domestic cat breed produced by crossbreeding between the Siamese and Burmese. They share many of their parents' distinctively lively, playful personality traits and are similarly distinguished by a pointed coat pattern in a variety of colors. In addition to the modified coat colors of the "mink" pattern, which is a dilution of the point color (as in watercolors), the breed is now being shown in the foundation-like Siamese and Burmese colors: pointed with white and Solid overall (sepia.) They are also now designated a natural breed, as their history has now determined them to have been extant since the 14th Century.

It is believed that Tonkinese-like cats have existed in the West since at least the early 19th century. The founder of the American Burmese type, a female named Wong Mau imported to the USA in 1930, is thought to have been genetically a crossbreed of this type. (Wong Mau was actually a Tonkinese, though the "breed" was not recognized as such at the time. Some of today's Tonkinese can be tracked by pedigree back to Wong Mau.

More modern Tonkinese cats are the result of a Canadian crossbreeding program between the Siamese and Burmese breeds, with the aim of creating the ideal combination of both parent breeds' distinctive appearance and lively personalities. The cats thus produced were moved from crossbreed classification to an established breed in 2001. The name is a reference to the Tonkin region of Indochina, though it is suggestive only, as the cats have no connection with the area. Tonkinese cats under the age of sixth months have historically been referred to in the West as 'small-cats' rather than 'kittens' to reflect a more direct translation from Burmese, although this term has become almost obsolete since the mid-20th century.

More recent historical data is detailed in the CFA Breed Profile (see below.)

Tonkinese are a medium-sized cat, considered an intermediate type between the slender, long-bodied modern Siamese and British Burmese and the more "cobby", or substantially-built American Burmese. Like their Burmese ancestors, they are deceptively muscular and typically seem much heavier than expected when picked up. Tail and legs are slim but proportionate to the body, with distinctive oval paws. They have a gently rounded, slightly wedge-shaped head and blunted muzzle, with moderately almond-shaped eyes and ears set towards the outside of their head.Note: This is the European/British aspect of the breed. The American style is a rounder but sculpted head with a shorter body and sturdier appearance to reflect the old-fashioned Siamese and rounded Burmese from which it was originally bred in the States. While many American breeders avoided using the extreme "contemporary" Burmese in favor of the more moderate "traditional" Burmese, the original Tonkinese breed standard was based on the extreme spherical style of the Burms descended from Wong Mau. Newer Tonk breeders wanted to avoid defective genes in the original Burmese lines, so avoided using cats they believed carried the so-called lethal genes. A very few older breeders simply worked around the problem by selective breeding, thereby eliminating problematic births. It is possible to find some descendants by knowledgeably reading Tonkinese pedigrees, which are available in Tonkinese databases.