Tonkinese Grooming

About the Tonkinese

A Tonkinese is what happens when a Siamese is crossed with a Burmese and the result is bred on until it is consistent. It has been a recognized breed since the 1970s rather than a designer cross, and it sits between its two parents in almost every respect: less extreme in build than a modern Siamese, less compact than a Burmese, and quieter than either.

The coat is the interesting part. Both parents carry a version of the same gene controlling how color is expressed with temperature, and the Tonkinese carries one of each, which produces the mink pattern the breed is known for and two others besides.

For grooming this is one of the lightest jobs on the site. What it needs is the care every fine coated oriental cat needs, which is mostly about warmth and skin.

What the Tonkinese is crossed from

• Siamese
• Burmese

Three patterns from two parents

Color in these cats is controlled by a gene that responds to temperature: the cooler parts of the body, meaning the face, ears, feet and tail, develop more pigment than the warm core does.

The Siamese version produces a strong contrast, a pale body with dark points. The Burmese version produces almost none, giving an evenly colored cat. A Tonkinese with one of each gets the middle, which is called mink: a warm body color with points that are clearly darker but softly blended rather than sharply divided.

Because each parent gene can be inherited twice, a litter of Tonkinese kittens can contain all three patterns. Mink is the classic, point looks more Siamese, and sepia looks more Burmese, and all three are Tonkinese.

Eye color tracks the pattern: mink cats have the aqua eyes the breed is famous for, point cats have blue, and sepia cats are green to gold.

None of this changes grooming, and it is worth knowing anyway, because an owner told their point patterned kitten is not a real Tonkinese has been misinformed.

One practical note: kittens are born pale and the pattern develops over the first year, and cats housed somewhere cold darken over time because the gene is doing what it does.

The coat, which is almost no work at all

The coat is short, fine, close lying and soft, with a natural sheen and the mink texture that gives the pattern its name. There is minimal undercoat.

Comb once a week with a fine metal comb or go over the cat with a rubber grooming mitt. That is the entire coat routine. It removes what little loose hair there is, spreads the skin oils that give the coat its shine, and doubles as a weekly check over the body for lumps, scabs and parasites.

Shedding is low and there is no seasonal blow worth the name.

Do not bathe routinely. A Tonkinese keeps itself immaculate, and washing a fine short coat strips oils it needs.

Do not clip. There is no reason to and a fine coat can come back differently.

What the weekly handling is really for on this breed is the skin underneath rather than the hair on top, which the next section covers.

Thin coat, lean body, and why temperature matters

This applies to every cat in the oriental group, and it is what the group has in common.

A Tonkinese is lean and muscular with very little body fat, under a thin coat with almost no undercoat. It has far less insulation than a British Shorthair or a Persian, and it loses heat fast.

Practically, that means anything involving water is a real chill risk. If a bath is genuinely necessary, keep the room warm, keep the water comfortably warm rather than tepid, be quick, and dry the cat thoroughly with towels and warm, not hot, air before it is allowed to wander off damp.

Clipper work carries the same caution. There is very little coat between the blade and the skin, so a hot blade or a close cut nicks and burns much more easily than on a plush coated cat, and there is no reason to be clipping one of these in the first place.

These cats seek out warmth, which is why they end up under blankets and on top of anything electrical, and that is normal behavior rather than a sign of illness.

Weight is the flip side: a lean breed hides gain badly and a Tonkinese that becomes heavy loses the ability to reach its own back end, which is the commonest reason a short coated cat suddenly needs grooming help.

Claws, teeth and a cat that will supervise

With almost no coat work, the routine is claws, teeth, ears and weight, and those are easy to let slide precisely because the cat never looks like it needs anything.

Claws want tipping every two to three weeks: the sharp tip only, well clear of the quick. Provide a post, and do not consider declawing, which is an amputation and is unnecessary.

Teeth are worth brushing, and oriental breeds have a reputation for gum disease that makes it more than a nicety. Dental pain is one of the main reasons a cat stops grooming itself.

Ears are large on this breed and open, so they collect a little wax and dust. Wipe the visible part weekly with a soft damp cloth and never push anything into the canal.

Tonkinese are famously sociable, talkative and involved in whatever their people are doing, which makes all of this easy if you start in kittenhood and make it routine. This is not a cat that hides while you get the clippers out; it is a cat that comes to see what you are holding.

Short daily handling is far more effective than a long session once a month.

What to tell your groomer or vet

Say the cat is fine coated and lean with very little insulation, so warmth matters during and after anything wet.

Ask for warm water, a warm room, quick work and thorough drying if a bath is genuinely needed, and question whether it is.

Say the coat is not to be clipped, and that there is very little between a blade and the skin.

Ask for a comb or a rubber mitt only.

Ask for claws tipped and the mouth looked at, since dental disease is the thing most likely to matter.

Mention the pattern if the cat is a point or sepia rather than mink, so nobody records it as the wrong breed.

Keeping the coat between grooms

Common Questions About the Tonkinese