TONKINESE COLOURS & PATTERNS

Tonkinese kittens are all born pure white, with blue eyes.  At 2-3 weeks old, they start developing colour.

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  • With Point pattern, they develop colour on the points only.

  • With Minks and Solids, the point colour comes in first, and the body colour darkens as they age.

  • Eye colour of Points stays Blue, and eyes of Minks & Solids start changing from Blue to Aqua at 6-8 weeks old.

 

To demonstrate, pictures below of my Champagne/Chocolate Mink queen Lily, at 8 weeks, 16 weeks, and 18 months old:
 

8 weeks
Point colour only
Blue eyes
16 weeks
Point colour only
Aqua eyes
Adult
Fully developed body colour
Aqua eyes
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COLOURS:

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Tonkinese cats come in 10 colours.  These are:

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  • Common:    Seal/Natural, Chocolate/Champagne, Blue, and Lilac/Platinum

  • Rare:          Red, Cream, Apricot, Cinnamon, Fawn, and Caramel

Seal Point
White body
Dark Brown points
Blue eyes
Seal Point
White body
Dark brown points
Blue eyes
Seal/Natural Mink
Light brown body
Dark brown points
Aqua eyes
Seal Solid
Dark brown all over
Aqua to Chartreuse eyes
Chocolate Ticked
As Chocolate Mink, with
Tabby marks in point colour
Each hair on body is banded dark-light-dark
Chocolate Point
White body
Chocolate points
Blue eyes
Champagne/Chocolate Mink
Champagne body
Chocolate points
Aqua eyes
Chocolate Solid
Chocolate brown all over
Aqua to Chartreuse eyes
Blue Tabby Point
As Blue Point, with Tabby
markings in point colour
Blue eyes
Blue Point
White body
Dark blue points
Blue eyes
Blue Mink
Light blue body
Dark blue points
Aqua eyes
Blue Solid
Dark blue all over
Aqua to Chartreuse eyes
Lilac Tabby Point
As Lilac Point, with Tabby
markings in point colour
Blue eyes
Lilac Point
White body
Warm blueish/fawn points
Blue eyes
Platinum/Lilac Mink
White to silvery-platinum body
Warm blueish-fawn points
Aqua eyes
Lilac Solid
Warm blueish-fawn all over
Aqua to Chartreuse eyes
Caramel Tabby
Banding or Spotting should be nice and clear
Caramel Spotted (Winter)
A deep blue-fawn colour
Darker in winter than summer
Caramel Spotted (Summer)
A brighter fawn than in winter,
the colour of honey.
Caramel Mackeral Tabby
Pattern is striped instead of spotted
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COAT PATTERNS:

Point
Point pattern is like the Siamese pattern - white body, coloured Points, and Blue eyes - light china blue to dark sapphire blue

Mink
With Mink pattern, the body is a paler shade of the Point colour, and eyes are Aqua - blueish-green to greenish-blue

Solid
Solid pattern is like Burmese - the body is the same all over, or only slightly lighter than the point colour, and eyes are Aqua to Chartreuse - sea green to a slightly gold-toned green.  They should not have pure yellow or amber eyes.

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COLOUR PATTERNS:

Colour patterns OVERLAY the Coat pattern - so you'll get Point & Tabby Point, Mink & Tabby Mink, Solid & Tabby Solid, and so on.  The three Colour Patterns are Tabby, Tortie, and Torbie.

Tabby Pattern:

Ticked Tabby
Each hair is banded:  base colour - point colour - base colour.

Mackeral Tabby
Body is banded with the Point colour, unbroken bars from spine to stomach, stomach generally with short dashes or spots

Broken Mackeral Tabby
Body is banded with the Point colour, in broken dashes - generally the bands starting at spine are the longest, getting progressively shorter towards the belly

Spotted Tabby
Body is spotted all over.  Evenly placed, round spotting preferred. Currently, I'm the only Tonkinese breeder in Australia with Tabby Tonkinese.

Tortie Pattern:

As with a normal Tortoiseshell cat, but no white allowed.  This gives the Tortie Tonkinese a fairly unusual look - for example, blue with brown patches.

Tabby-Tortie (Torbie) Pattern:

Combines the Tabby pattern with the Tortie pattern.

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