APPEARANCE

There are three distinct Tonkinese coat-patterns:

BURMESE COLOUR RESTRICTION (BCR) — The colour is expressed as an even tone over the head, ears, legs, feet, tail, and body, with the colour gradually lightening towards the underparts.The eyes can be any shade from deep yellow to bluish-green.

TONKINESE COLOUR RESTRICTION (TCR) — The colour is expressed as a subtle merging of toning colour from the darker ears, mask, legs, feet, and tail to the lighter body colour; the difference between the points and body colour is not sharply defined.The eyes can be any shade of greenish-blue or bluish-green.

COLOURPOINTED PATTERN (CPP) — The body colour is a shade relative to the points, with clearly defined contrast between the body colour and the colour on the ears, mask, legs, feet, and tail.The eyes can be any shade of clear blue.

IT ALSO COMES IN FOUR DIFFERENT COLOUR PATTERNS:

● Self (single colour) – brown/ seal, blue, chocolate, cinnamon, lilac, fawn, red, cream, caramel, and apricot.

● Tortoiseshell – where the base colour of brown, blue, chocolate, cinnamon, lilac, fawn, or caramel is broken with varying shades of red, cream, or apricot.

● Tabby – in this variety the tabby pattern may be ticked, mackerel, spotted, classic, or a combination of these in all of the self colours.

● Tortie Tabby - elements of both the tortoiseshell and the tabby patterns must be present, but the distribution of colour/tabby pattern is immaterial.

All of these colours and patterns add up to a possible seventy-eight different combinations!

The Tonkinese head should have a gently rounded top with good width between medium-sized ears. The head forms a moderately proportioned wedge with a muzzle that is neither pointed nor square and a definite, but not exaggerated, whisker pinch. In profile, there should be a slight nose break leading down to a level bite and a chin of medium depth. The eyes are large and expressive, almond shaped and set well apart.

The body is medium to long, well balanced, firm, and muscular with a slightly rounded chest. The legs are slender and well-muscled and the paws neat and oval in shape.The tapering tail is medium in length and neither thick nor whippy.The fine, silky coat is close lying and short, soft, and with a lustrous sheen.