The Tonkinese is a breed of domestic cat created by crossing the Siamese and the Burmese breeds to produce a cat that has many of the best traits of both its parent breeds. It also has the distinctive colorpoint coat pattern of the Siamese in a range of different colors.
History
The Tonkinese is thought to have existed among Western cat populations since the early 19th century as the founder of the American Burmese, a female called Wong Mau who was brought to the US in 1930, was believed to now actually have been a Tonkinese.
The majority of the modern breed are the descendants of cats from a Canadian crossbreeding program that aimed to combine the best of the Siamese and Burmese breeds in both looks and character. The breed achieve full status in 2001. These are named after the Tonkin region of China, though there is nothing to connect them to the area.
Appearance
These cats are of medium size and their body type is midway between the slender, long bodied Siamese and the more substantially shaped American Burmese. They retain the strong musculature of the Burmese and are heavier than expected when picked up. Their tail and legs are slim and proportionate and they have oval paws. Their head is a gentle wedge shape with a blunt muzzle and they have almond-shaped eyes.
The CFA recognize four base colors for the Tonkinese - natural, a medium brown; champagne, a paler buff-beige; blue and platinum. In addition, some of the European registries also recognize red, caramel, apricot, cream and tortoiseshell.
Each color is them further divided into three coat patterns;
* point, the classic Siamese look with dark ears, face, legs and tail;
* solid, similar to the Burmese with the same color over almost the entire body though faintly visible points can be seen
* mink, a combination of the two where the base is a lighter, complementing shade to the points.
Personality
Both the parent breeds of the Tonkinese are intelligent and active cats who are very vocal and very people-orientated cats, so the Tonkinese is also so. This means they can get bored or lonely if left for long periods of time so aren't the best cats for homes where no-one is in all day. Their vocalisations are similar to the Burmese, so not as loud and harsh as the Siamese is and they are known to perform dog-like tricks such as fetching toys. They are excellent climbers and can jump to great heights easily.
Genetics
Tonkinese are a true crossbreed so the color of their coat and its pattern depends totally on the genes that they carry from one of their two ancestors. Two mink cats bred together, for example, doesn't always produce mink kittens because this pattern has one gene for the Burmese solid and one for the Siamese pattern. In fact, breeding two mink cats will normally result in one half of the litter being mink, one quarter being pointed pattern and one quarter being solid pattern. A pointed and a solid bred together will produce all mink kittens while a pointed or a solid bred to a mink will produce half mink and half of the other parent's color.
