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Mr. Beverly
Fort Worth, TX
Rooty
Alameda, CA
Valentino
Tucson, AZ
Blaze - Blue-eyed Flamepoint/Creampoint KITTEN
League City, TX
Violet
Houston, TX
Purdy
Lancaster, CA
Tarzan
Dayville, CT
INFINITI
League City, TX
CHARLIE
Cypress, TX
Ms Blue
Dodgeville, WI
Sunkist
Columbia, SC
Lady
Merriam, KS
Amber
Mertztown, PA
Candi
Cocoa, FL
See more adoptable Tonkinese cats available on Petfinder
These Siamese and solid-colored cats were exhibited in Europe during the late 1800s and the early 1900s, but
soon all but the blue-eyed Siamese were disallowed in the show halls. In the early 1900s cats lacking blue eyes
were accordingly banned from competition and disappeared from the cat fancy.
The Tonkinese got its start as a recognized breed in the early 1960s, when Canadian breeder Margaret Conroy
crossed a sable Burmese with a seal point Siamese. The product of the cross was a cat of intermediate
temperament and type, which Conroy originally called the 'Golden Siamese'. When the Tonkinese began, both the
Burmese and the Siamese had not yet been transformed by selective breeding into their current conformations.
The Siamese had yet to attain his extremely sleek show style, and the Burmese was not yet as compact and
cobby, nor the head shape as broad and rounded. Still, combining the two and achieving a uniform and consistent
head and body type was challenging for Tonkinese breeders.
To distinguish the breed from the Siamese, the name was changed to 'Tonkanese' in 1967. In 1971 breeders
voted to change the name to 'Tonkinese' after the Bay of Tonkin off southern China and North Vietnam. The name
was attractive and had a nice exotic ring to it, even though the breed did not come from the Bay of Tonkin area.
In collaboration with other notable breeders like Jane Barletta of New Jersey, Conroy wrote the first breed
standard, which was presented to the Canadian Cat Association (CCA). The Tonkinese was the first breed to be
developed in Canada.
In 1971 CCA became the first cat registry to grant Championship status to the Tonkinese. CFF recognized the
Tonkinese in 1974; TICA followed in 1979.
The road to acceptance wasn't always smooth. Many new breeds can't achieve acceptance without a period of
controversy, and the Tonk was no exception. Achieving acceptance and support from the cat fancy community
was as challenging as achieving a good head type. In October 1979 the CFA passed a 'five year rule', requiring
new breeds to remain in the newly established noncompetition miscellaneous class for five years. Some
Tonkinese breeders thought the rule was specifically designed to hold the Tonk back, since the Tonkinese breed
association planned to ask for provisional status in 1980. However, the setback only made Tonk breeders and
fanciers more determined to promote the breed and achieve eventual acceptance. The CFA granted
Championship status in 1984. By 1990 all of the major associations had accepted the breed for Championship.
Copyright 1998 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. based on
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CAT BREEDS by J. Anne Helgren.