Mojo

Although I wish this handsome young man was one of mine, either a resident or one I'd bred, he isn't. This is Tallica Mojito, Amanda's (reader, commenter) tonk.

Mojo was thought to be a chocolate solid, but Amanda thinks he looks more like a chocolate mink, so has given me permission to post his piccies on here to see... and hopefully as he grows there will be more pictures and we can see what he eventually settles into.

Mojo is currently only 5 months, so plenty of time to settle into his final colouration... remember the shenanigans over the REM litter when they turned about one? And C reports that Jacob has recently lightened, whilst Jonah has darkened into their (presumably) final colour. in fact it can take a Tonk several years to settle into their final colour and even then colour can keep on developing- mature browns, for example, can get very dark indeed.

Mojo's body colour now. I have not had chocolates here, so I couldn't say one way or another. His body is still pretty pale, but chocolates are pale anyway, he has a lovely creamy belly but it isn't almost white, as I've seen in a mink, but that could be the light.

His eyes look pretty aqua though, which would be more typical of a mink.

For comparison, here are Pasha and CoCo (Liesl and Brigitta) at 2(ish) months- Pasha, front, is a brown mink and CoCo a solid, but their eye colour is pretty much the same. By three months though, the eye colour is starting to look pretty different. You can't really see from this pic, but CoCo is a lot darker in the body.

Here's Bailey, a brown solid like CoCo, a month or so later:

You can see his eyes are already starting to look green/ greeny-yellow compared to Pasha's, below... Pasha is a mink and had very nice aqua eyes at 3 months...

Back to Mojo! Those eyes look much more like Pasha's than they do Bailey's don't they? If I had to guess, now, and with all the usual provisos about really not being terribly good at colouring kittens, I'd say he was a chocolate mink. But as always, opinions welcomed! M, your Dylan is a chocolate mink isn't he, is Mojo similar in colouration or is he darker-??

Blue, Blue, Blue...

And more blue! L and L's family sent me some new pictures today, and this is Lottie... no doubt about that in this pic is there? She's a blue! A blue solid Tonkinese. No question. Funny the effect of different lighting isn't it?

(I'm ridiculously pleased...)

Here's Lola, blue mink Tonkinese. You can see her points are the same colour as her sister's, yet her body colour is lighter and warmer.

Aren't they beautiful pictures? Lottie and Lola, now that they are neutered, (reminder, if you haven't, now is the time!)  have started being allowed out for supervised garden time, and by the looks of it are loving it!

And just for comparison, here's Theo, my blue point Birman. Now try to imagine his colouration in a Tonkinese body, and minus the white paws, and this would be a blue point Tonkinese.

There are three different colourpoint patterns in the Tonk breed, solid, mink and (confusingly) pointed. Indigo can't have pointed kittens, for which I am eternally grateful because can you imagine the confusion I'd get into trying to sort out THREE different point possibilities rather than just the two? Colours are bad enough!

Guess Who?

Why it's Ind....

Oh no, it isn't! This handsome chap is Alfie, Indikon Kenneth, from the REM litter last year. Looks very much like his mummy though doesn't he? And that's a solid cat, not a mink, for sure. Looks like either a lilac or a caramel to me, although I'd like to see that tail better, the bit that can be seen looks a bit caramelly to me!

Thanks S and D for sending me the piccie, he's adorable!

More Colour Musings

But firstly, once again, if anyone is here from the advert in Your Cat, welcome to my blog, where I ramble on about my kittens and permanent resident cats and post lots of cute pictures... like this one!

This is Freddie, and yesterday he officially became the first kitten to crawl out of the nest. Very clever!

I've had another nibble, someone who may want a kitten. Hello, P, if you are reading this!

I'm going all out this time to get the colours correct *grin* so now that their nose leathers are starting to colour up- the earliest indicator- I've taken pictures of the kitten's noses to see if they hold true- plenty of time for them to change, but we will see.

I'm only lightly holding the kittens heads in these piccies... of course they all screamed their heads off like I was murdering them hehe. The photos aren't clear (my replacement camera isn't as good as my other one, but what do you do just before Christmas??? Still haven't found it...)

Liesl.

Nose leather really quite dark. She's also developing quite a marked difference between ears and body, so my guess is brown mink.

Friedrich

I'd had Freddie down as a brown solid, but look at his nose. It's dark, but a warmer, pinker dark than Liesl's. He's still pretty dark all over though, so I'm going for chocolate solid.

Kurt

Very dark nose. I think he must be a brown, whether a solid or a mink I have no idea because of his odd colouring- I got a pic of it...

his bottom half looks really pale in comparison to his dark little head. No idea what's going on there! Judging by his head colour I'd say solid, but by his bottom colour mink. Um...?

Louisa

I had Louisa down as a chocolate, but that nose is looking very lilac to me... much paler than her possibly chocolate siblings noses. Her fur has lightened up considerably too and her ears are not really noticeably darker than the rest of her- yet. So possibly a lilac solid. Otherwise a chocolate.

Brigitta

I had thought she was a choc solid before, but that nose is really dark, so now I'm thinking brown solid

Marta

Looks like a chocolate nose to me. Chocolate solid?

Gretl

That little face cracks me up!

In the photo her nose looks a bit pinky but looking at Gretl and Louisa side by side, Louisa's is much warmer. I'm sticking with my original thought here, blue mink.

Anyway them's my thoughts at the current time! No doubt they will change again though, but I think having a visual record will help me in future years when it comes to determining a kitten's colour. Whatever they are, they are all yummy! 

Alfie's Eyes

Sometimes a kitten's colour isn't always obvious. I've heard many stories of cats going to show and the judges witholding certificates because the cat simply isn't the colour he is registered as being, cueing red faces all round. Tonkinese are notoriously difficult, because they have the three coat patterns as well as the multiple colours (some of which are pretty similar) and sometimes it doesn't become clear until the kitten reaches adulthood. Well we have to decide at 8 weeks, in order to send off the paperwork. Sometimes we get it wrong.

Alfie's been bothering me lately. His family send me regular photos, and in one recent one, it shows Alfie with the most beautiful golden eyes... just like his Mama's.

Golden eyes. Alfie is registered as a mink, which means he ought to have aqua eyes, but he doesn't.

So it's almost certain that Alfie isn't a mink at all! His coat has also darkened so it is much more uniform, with less of a point/ body contrast than you would expect from a mink. I strongly suspect he's a solid, which means he can't possibly be a blue, as he's never been as dark as Wendell (Jacob). I now think, having spent hours looking through all my kitten pictures, that he is a solid caramel.

Of course now that I'm looking with fresh eyes, it seems obvious. This is one of the first photos of the kittens ever taken, they were less than 48 hours old. Looking at this, it now seems quite clear that the kitten to the top right is a solid- he's MUCH darker than the four minks in a row at the bottom. That, I'd be wiling to bet, is Alfie (Kenneth, as was). Ok, he's in shadow, but he's still darker. I hasten to add that most of my pictures were NOT so glaringly obvious! I swear they all looked the same colour to me! Interestingly one of my minks, second from left, looks a shade lighter than the other three... I wonder if that was Kensey, my other caramel?

And then there's this picture here. Definitely looking caramelly there too. Remember that Tonkinese are colourpointed cats, we use the term 'solid' but it doesn't actually mean the cat will have a uniform colour all over, just that the difference between points and coat will be subtle.

Where does that leave Alfie's pedigree? It's still valid. Alfie is a pedigree Tonkinese, and nothing can change that! If he was for breeding, then I would need to apply for a slight change to his certificate, and of course his solid-ness means he is no longer eligible to be shown, but Alfie's family do not wish to show him or breed from him, and as they say, Alfie doesn't care one way or another! However, I personally guarantee to change any pedigree in error at my expense, if the family wish it- that goes for any of my kittens of course.

Does it matter, then? Well, it matters to me. Obviously I want to get things right, and this kind of thing is incredibly useful to me. I think I must have been thrown by the whole expecting lilacs and getting blues thing! I'm still very much a novice at this, but it's all a great learning experience.

Of course now I'd love some more caramel kittens, to put my learning into practice!!! Perhaps next year eh, caramel isn't an option this time around!

So Here's What Happened...

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11

Six of them! I have no idea where she put them all, but six there are. One little dark guy, who I am presuming is a solid coat, and five pale beige babies, who I am assuming will be 'little t' tonkinese coats. Of course that's just for fun... really I have no idea. I THINK we have four boys and two girls... haha... I'm fully expecting that to change in the next few weeks though.

This will be a long blog entry... so much to say.

So the birth. Well, I first need to admit that I slept through the birth of the first two! In my defence I've had a stinker of a cold all week... complete absence of anything resembling a voice, (still got no voice, although I can do a penguin honk quite well by now...) high temp/ chills, rattly chest and all, the full works basically, and I was feeling very unwell. I'd been sleeping on the sofa anyway to be close to Indie, so the pillows and duvet were there and it was late and I just... zzzzz.

I'm a bit disappointed in myself actually, I did feel like I'd let her down a bit especially considering her mother had a stillborn kitten in Indigo's litter, but am trying to be pragmatic about it. It's sheer bad luck that I was feeling so poorly, and some queens deliver their whole litter at night without their people being aware of it. (I guess. I still feel bad :( )

I noted in my blog that Indigo had been acting differently on the Wednesday. Well later on that evening, she got into her kittening box, dug around for a bit, purred and generally made herself at home- she stayed in there for two hours. Excellent, thought I, as she had only gotten into the box previously to wee in it, and she'd been making concerted efforts to get under the sofa earlier that week, a virtual impossibility with her bump, which led to me stuffing the cavity with soft toys, towels and bedding lol.

So, she got out, ate a whole sachet of whiskas kitten food- I'd read that queens stop eating in the 24 hours before birth... not mine!- had a leisurely wander around, and at that point she snuggled up next to me on the sofa and appeared to go to sleep. Which is when I dropped off too, darn it.

Fast forward to several hours later. I awoke to a VERY LOUD SQUEAKING- kitten one, (the little dark one) protesting. There in the box was mama, kitten one, kitten two and mama was straining and quickly produced kitten three. Now, my opinion is that the birth of the first three kittens happened very quickly indeed. Kitten one was still very damp, Indigo had chewed his placenta off but not eaten it, and number two looked as though he had only just been born, still in his sac, placenta attached and all, looking exactly like the third, he couldn't have been more than a minute or two old himself.  Poor Indigo was thoroughly overwhelmed and just wanted to clean up the first baby! I guess he was squeaking because he had had a nice mama fussing over him and suddenly abandoned him... he did sound very put out!!

Between us we got the three sorted out, the third kitten's placenta didn't deliver so he had to be clamped and cut, thank goodness I'd bought in a good quantity of kittening supplies 'just in case'. Number 4 was born after a reasonable interval, Indigo dealt with him on her own and then settled down to feed her offspring. I'd honestly thought she was done at this point, she had a long-ish rest while I took some more medication, made copious but messy notes, changed the bedding, weighed the babies, gave them a good check over and waited the delivery of placenta 3.

To my surprise, I noticed her straining again, and kitten 5 plus placenta was delivered, shortly followed by kitten six, which Indigo detatched with the placenta still inside her. Within half an hour, one of the retained placentas had been delivered, and 10 mins or so later the other one appeared, to my relief. At which point I changed Indigo's bedding again, weighed and checked the last two, updated my notes, took more paracetamol and collapsed into a pathetic heap on the sofa! More zzzz!

Up again at 8 to weigh and check them, and then I spent most of the day in a medicated haze, sleeping, and checking on Indigo and the babies and updating this blog and TRYING to do a bit of work between naps. Ugh to this horrid cold!

Needless to say, Indigo is being a fantastic mother, very attentive and happy with her brood, the kittens are adorable and visibly bigger each day, I'll post some weights etc tomorrow. I'm waiting a little while to make sure I'm sure (ish) as to the gender before telling you their names- babies 4 and 5 I'm very unsure of, in particular, and I've changed my mind several times- for the last 24 hours though it's been the same so fingers crossed.

Who's The Daddy?

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11

It's Harry!

Harry, or Grand Champion Fecheldee Harry, to give him his proper title, is apricot with a tonkinese (intermediete) coat. He's very handsome and cuddly with a lovely nature, and Indigo was quite happy in his company- even when she was hiding in his bed she didn't hiss or yowl at him, and- well obviously they got on a whole lot better than that after a day or two *grin*

Apricot is a colour we haven't covered yet, genetically speaking, but it's red (orange), diluted to cream and caramelised to apricot. You'll have to take my word for that for the moment! We'll cover dilution and caramel eventually on here.

Which means there are eight possibilities, kitten- wise. These are:

Female, lilac tortie, tonkinese coat
Female, lilac tortie, solid coat
Female, (lilac-based) caramel tortie, tonkinese coat
Female, (lilac-based) caramel tortie, solid coat
Male, lilac, tonkinese coat
Male, lilac, solid coat
Male, (lilac-based) caramel, tonkinese coat
Male, (lilac based) caramel, solid coat

They all have an equal likelihood, so a 1 in 8 chance. Of course this is an average, so we might get two of one, none of another... it's the luck of the draw. And it may be many weeks- months in the case of the caramels, before their colouration becomes apparent. It will be interesting to see what we do get.

Update 06/01/11 Ha ha! I got my genetics wrong, and instead of a litter of lilacs, we have a litter of blues! This is because although Dad cat is cream, he also has the underlying colour the cream masks, (blue, in Harry's case), and has passed that onto his kittens of course! I'd totally overlooked that. I do feel a bit of a prune!

Beautiful Eyes

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11

Sofia is a hard cat to photograph. Like all black cats, she tends to disappear into the background (like in this photo) or her fur gets flattened and loses all definition in pictures. It's such a shame because in the flesh, so to speak, she has the most beautiful coat, a lush covering of sleek black fur with shades of indigo, purple and rich chocolate brown where the light hits it. I love me a black cat!

I've posted this photograph, however, as you can see, sort of, her lovely eyes. Sofia has the prettiest, deep amber eyes that contrast so well against her coat. Her mother, a black smoke Persian cross had the same eyes. Her sister Ava, in the foreground, also has golden eyes, but they are paler and less intense than Sofia's are.

The other two cats. Indigo and Theo, are colourpoint cats (we'll look at that at a later date) and their eye colour is related to their coat pattern. So Indigo, as a 'solid' cat has yellowy-green eyes and Theo as a 'pointed' has baby blues, which make him look appealing and innocent even when he's just been causing mayhem. An intermediate colourpoint, known as mink or, confusingly, 'tonkinese', would have aqua eyes.

They are all beautiful cats, with beautiful eyes. But of all the eye colours, I think I love Sofia's the best.

A Proper Introduction

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11

This is Indigo, a 5th generation solid lilac tonkinese girl of about 19 months old. Indigo is registered with the GCCF on the Active Register, which means she can be bred from, a journey we are just beginning now.

I am planning on keeping this blog to document this journey, to keep our kittens' prospective families updated on their progress and in due time to discuss all things tonkinese, such as the fascinating effect of genetics on the tonkinese coat colours and patterns. Our household also consists of three other cats, two moggies and a Birman, so I am sure they will have their fair share of blog space too.