My Tonks

Active, Precocious, Inquisitive, Affectionate, Irresistible

 

Tonkinese are this and lots more. They ingratiate themselves into your family and your hearts. They will want to know anything and everything that goes on and be a part of it. They have a wonderful sence of fun, are very mischievious and will entertain you for hours. Tonks have a gentle disposition and develop strong ties with people rather than places. They make superb family pets as they love attention from everyone. Some Tonks like to ride on your shoulders, often leaping from surfaces or even the ground, to this position, where they then drape themselves around your neck and purr in your ear. Others prefer to be nursed like a baby in the crook of your arm.

Tonkinese just love company and are not suitable as only animals in a household where everyone is away from home for most of the day. They will readily accept the friendship of other cats and dogs. Tonks love to hunt and are very efficient at catching their prey.

The tonkinese is a very balanced cat of medium size with lovely Aqua eyes; the shade of which varies depending on coat patterns and colour. Tonkinese come in all the main colours of both Siamese and Burmese plus tabby and tortoishell. They have three different coat patterns, mink, sepia (solid like Burmese) and pointed (like Siamese). Currently only the mink coat pattern can be shown at GCCF shows but TICA do not discriminate, I therefore register my cats with both Cat Fancies.

Showing Tonkinese: In my eyes all my cats are beautiful and deserve a prize on the show bench but in reality I currently only have two eligible cats for showing - Carina and Raffy. Carina as a home bred has done me proud, she was my first show-able kitten/cat and has now made Grand Champion. Raffy on the other hand has only been to a couple of shows.

Carina was very successful as a kitten winning Best in Show at the Tonkinese Cat Club show in 2011, she went on into Adult classes and made "Champion" before her first birthday. In 2012 she had kittens so has had a very short showing season but has still managed to make "Grand Champion" before her second birthday. I am so proud of her and hope that in the future some of her kittens will enjoy success on the show bench.

To be eligible for showing in the breed class a tonkinese must be of mink/tonkinese coat pattern and on the CSSR register. Sounds easy but when you consider that tonkinese can have one of three coat patterns as well as needing to be third/fourth generation or above, you begin to realize why there may only be one eligible cat in a household. The other major consideration is the temperament; NOT every cat is content to travel, sometimes for many hours, in a cat carrier and then spend up to 8 hours in a small cage being taken out frequently and handled by strangers. Despite a tonks very affable and laid back nature some tonks become quite stressed by it all. Fortunately for me Carina is a real show off and has never shown any signs of stress from being shown. Raffy on the other hand absolutely hates it all, particularly the traveling. A show day can be very long and tiring, sometimes it can be very rewarding. and at other times disappointing. It can be a very sociable activity as you meet up with like minded people and its great to see all the different cats. Shows are also a good place to buy items for your pampered cat usually at very reasonable prices compared with the local shops. My advice if you are interested in showing cats is to go along to a show with a friend first to try it out and also get to know the judging system and the rules and regulations, there is always something to learn and when you first start going it can be a bit difficult if there is no-one with you to answer your questions. The GCCF have quite a lot of information on their web site.

Seven of these lovely creatures share our family, Sky & Dipper (Mother & Son) are both now neutered. Venus, Sky's daughter is my 4th gen queen who has already produced two lovely litters of six kittens, from which we kept Carina, a lovely Brown who has reached Champion status before her first birthday. Gem and Maia are now in their second year. Gemini and Maia are both F1 tonks and now that they are in their second year have both produced litters. Aurora is Gemini's daughter and has a pointed coat pattern.

Please click on their pictures to read & see more of them