My first intoduction to the tonkinese breed was after my last Burmese had died at 16 years old - I’d bred Burmese briefly 18 years earlier and was surprised when I went to look for a replacement Burmese as I discovered that the breed had evolved over that short period - the modern Burmese had become much shorter in the face and stocky in the body than they were only 20 years ago. I was undecided.
Around that time I caught up with a friend who happened to have a new Tonkinese cat (first gen) seal-mink girl… and I was immediately smitten with this beautiful and elegant cat.... I decided there and then that Tonkinese would be the breed for me.
Thus I started researching the breed but I was confused by what I saw on the internet - many pics I saw of tonks had me confused - The huge variation seen in type seemed to indicate that there was no consistency within the breed, and I thought many were odd looking and nothing like the exquisite cat I’d seen in the flesh.
I realized that the country of origin had a profound implication to the look of the breed. The cats that I thought were most unappealing and not what I was looking for all hailed from America - they seemed to have stocky bodies that were lacking elegance or grace, round eyes, receding chins, protruding cheekbones, and small ears set on the top of the head - and appeared to have nothing in common with a tonk-bred from Australian origins with the exception of colour. It was to be many months before I was able to find the right Tonkinese for me.
My first Tonkinese arrives ...... I'd been researching local breeders too and I answered an ad for Tonkinese kittens and made an appointment to view them. There were two litters to choose from - the mothers of both litters were beautifully balanced cats so I was confident that I was on the right track with the type and that the kittens would mature similarly.
However I was torn between the Seal-Mink kittens in one litter and the Chocolate-Mink litter that were both on offer. I thought the Chocolate-Mink kittens were 'prettier' than the Seal-Minks, yet ultimately I realised that it would be better to choose the colour that I preferred in the adult cats, and the Seal-Mink mum was a rich and stunning dark brown, just like the Gen-1 Tonkinese that had sparked my interest in the breed.
After much deliberation I decided on a kitten from the Seal-Mink litter and then had to choose who was coming home with me.
Sienna on her first day @ Anniesong
Sienna on her first day @ Anniesong - aged 10 weeks
All the kittens were lovely and interactive, so it was hard to choose which of the 4 girls that I wouldn't be leaving without.
The kittens' mum re-entered the room and all except one kitten ran over to the 'milk bar'. One little girl preferred to stay and play... so she chose me ...... and that's how Sienna came to be my first ever Tonkinese.
As a 'home-raised' kitten, Sienna had a lovely temperament and was confident and outgoing from the moment that she set foot in my house. At the time I had only Dusti the Border Collie, and Dylan a desexed Burmilla.
While enjoying and getting to know this amazing kitten, I knew immediately that one would not be enough and thus I was still researching local Tonkinese and found huge variations in what was being bred and wondered why the type was so variable - to the point that the breed was generally dismissed on the show-bench as being too inconsistent in type to be considered a breed.
We had produced one litter under the prefix of Sienna's breeder - and it seemed that in order to have the type of Tonkinese that I favoured, I would need to become a registered breeder and I was able to transfer Sienna's breeding registration to myself and Anniesong Tonkinese was thus established.
Sienna @ 12 months old
Our second Tonkinese girl arrives @ Anniesong
Gracie on her first day @ Anniesong
In wishing to add another female Tonk to the fold, the challenge was to find another cat of similar type to Sienna, but all that I looked at and researched at the time locally were either back-crossed to Burmese and/or comprised the undesirable US genes.
Further research on available kittens of compatible type led me to the conclusion that my best bet was to purchase a first generation Tonkinese (Siamese x Burmese) kitten, as this would most likely result in intermediate type, as first generation Tonkinese, comprising equal input from Siamese & Burmese, are most likely to inherit a half-way look between the parental breeds.
Thus a kitten was purchased from a Sydney breeder, a (Gen-1) Blue-mink girl, who was to be named Gracie......
To say that Sienna was not quite happy about the new arrival is the understatement of the century. As she'd become accustomed to being the centre of her world, the sudden arrival of Gracie knocked her for six.
On first introduction, I would describe Sienna as being 'incandescent with rage'. Hissing and spitting, she let it be known that she was 'furious'. However her curiosity meant that she wouldn't let the kitten out of her sight, but neither would she let the kitten get close to her, and as Gracie in her exploration of her new home would disappear around a corner and out of sight, Sienna would run after her and peer around the corner, ensuring that she didn't lose sight of the kitten.
Gracie however was very well-mannered and didn't know what all the fuss was about, and just continued in her explorations and was confident and outgoing. She tended to ignore Sienna's protests.
To placate Sienna I decided to 'slow down' their intro, so decided to keep them separate overnight. The next morning Sienna had seemingly forgotten there was an 'imposter' in the house and began the day as her usual calm and loving self.
However, on sighting Gracie her mood deteriorated instantly and again began hissing and spitting. Sienna watched from the kitchen bench and was once again very angry !!! ..... but then something amazing happened .....
One of the dogs, Hazel came running into the room and startled the kitten. Gracie had only been with us for less than 24 hour so was a little wary still of my dogs so she arched her back and tried to look 'fierce'.
This stance in Gracie triggered an instant protective instinct in Sienna, who rushed to her 'defence' - then standing over Gracie she scowled at Hazel then began grooming the kitten, and that was it, the moment that Sienna decided that the kitten was clearly a present for her... from that day Sienna and Gracie were to be inseparable.
24 hours after Gracie's arrival - Sienna takes her new friend for an explore of the garden
Mentoring as a Mum
By the time that Gracie was old enough to breed, Sienna had already been a mum twice, and as such she became a mentor to Gracie on her first litter.
As Gracie had assisted with Sienna's previous litter, she learnt much about what it is to be a mum from Sienna.
The girls have over the years been bred at the same time to enable them to raise their kittens together.
As they have very different genotypes for colour inheritance (see genetics page), when bred to the same Lilac stud, Sienna produces Seal & Chocolate kittens, while Gracie produces Blue & Lilac kittens, so when bred at the same time we get a range of kitten colours yet there can be no mistaking who belongs to who as they cannot produce the same colours. The seals & chocolates belonging to Sienna, and the Blues and Lilacs to Gracie.
Gracie cuddles up with Sienna, who has earlier in the day birthed 4 kittens
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've learnt so much about breeding from Sienna & Gracie, who are both remarkable in their maternal roles and are very instinctive in their approach to motherhood. And yet both are very relaxed around other cats and also the dogs, and are highly approachable and trusting with the handling of their babies. Sienna is particularly relaxed as a mum and Gracie has absorbed much from Sienna's mentorship.
There are benefits in raising the two litters together and often we time matings in order that an experienced girl will birth at the same time as a new maiden-queen. The mums can usually be encouraged to merge their litters, that's if they don't naturally gravitate toward each others' nests if given access.
Sienna & Gracie, each with 6 kittens share their mothering roles
As co-parenting mums, Sienna & Gracie have been wonderful to watch, where they share their workload equally and take short breaks from the family knowing that the other is there to mind them.
Thus it's not uncommon for one of them to come away and sit on my lap for 30 minutes before returning to the family.
I find that the mums raising solo seem rarely to do that, and prefer to stay with their babies at all times.
The image to the right depicts the first litters that Sienna and Gracie raised together, and as it was also Gracie's very first breeding.
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For their first joint litter-raising venture, both Sienna & Gracie were both bred to the same stud, Kadis Arden, a Gen-1 Lilac-Mink Tonkinese.
These matings meant that the resulting kittens were half-siblings through their paternal line, although their mums were unrelated.
It took a long time and a great deal of research to locate a suitable mate for the girls. Arden was selected due to his intermediate status and type, as at the time there were no locally-available lilac studs of a higher generation that were intermediate. As a Gen-1 stud, Arden displayed nicely balanced type.
As the intention was to retain a daughter from each of the mothers, it was critically important that the offspring matched the type of their mothers, and so a back-crossed stud would not have been considered suitable.
These matings produced our next 2 girls;
'Anniesong Eden' from Sienna & 'Anniesong Avalon' from Gracie.
The handsome 'Kadis Arden' was to sire 'Anniesong Eden' & 'Anniesong Avalon'
Eden @ 19 days old
Eden @ 10 weeks old
Eden @ 12 months old
Avalon @ 19 days old
Avalon @ 10 weeks old
Avalon @ 12 months old
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ne of the hardest things I found with the breeding of the early litters, was the fact that my precious girls had to be 'sent away' - and regardless of my faith in the facility they were visiting, it was a nerve-wracking time where I worried excessively about how they were coping.
An even greater difficulty lay in trying to find compatible males to breed with my girls, that would result in the type that I'd chosen to work with. As many locally available studs comprised an excess of Burmese genetics, or US genes, and I knew these would not provide the 'look' I was hoping to breed. It frustrated me at the time that in discussions with some local breeders there seemed to be very little perception of the huge variations that existed in the breed and many couldn't understand my uncompromising stance on finding the 'right' stud, rather than using any available stud or one that was suggested by the stud-owner.
Thus my research path took me to the prospect of importing a cat from overseas, but in terms of finding the most appropriate cat that would complement the direction I'd established, it was again difficult. In wishing to avoid the 'US-type' Tonkinese, my search took me the Europe and to the UK in particular.
The arrival of Suantre Tazer of Anniesong was the culmination of a two-year plan to import a stud from the UK.
I had originally written to Sue Arnold of Suantre Tonkinese in Mobberley, Yorkshire to introduce myself and explain my desire to import a UK stud. Sue had some lovely looking cats and was clearly a passionate home-breeder. While she had never previously entertained the idea of exporting a cat overseas, and despite her concern for one of her much-loved cats travelling such a huge distance, I was thrilled that Sue was willing to consider the prospect.
Thus we struck up a friendship and Sue became a long-distance mentor from whom I've learned so much about working with the breed, particularly on health and nurture of these amazing cats.
As I was wanting particularly to get a Lilac-Mink kitten, the odds of a suitable kitten became greater and we had a couple of false hopes with litters that were born, from which there was not the right colour or pattern.
Finally a suitable boy was born, and we began the long-process of arranging his importation into Australia.
Tazer; the day after his arrival in my home
After 30 days in quarantine in Sydney and an excited wait, Suantre Tazer of Anniesong finally arrived in Brisbane which was to be his new and permanent home.
Sue had done such an amazing job of breeding and rearing this boy. Tazer was 5-months old at the time of his arrival, and it was clear that Sue had prepared him magnificently for such a long and arduous journey to Australia.
Sue had ensured that Tazer was quite used to walking on a harness and had taken him on frequent car journeys and day-trips to assist him to become bomb-proof. Tazer was so smoochy and affectionate from the moment I met him and just took everything in his stride.
making himself at home
relaxing on the sofa
making himself at home
Tazer becomes a dad
Tazer sired his first litters to Eden and Avalon who were then mature enough to breed. We were extremely excited to welcome his first babies and to see his amazing temperament would be passed on to his offspring.
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Eden with her 2 week-old kittens, fathered by Tazer
Anniesong Eden as a mum.
Just like her own mum Sienna, Eden was to be a natural in her role as a mum, and was incredibly loving but fiercely protective of her babies. She took a long time to adjust to the presence of the dog around her kittens, unlike most of the girls.
Eden stayed with us at Anniesong until she was 3 years old - by which time she was struggling to adjust to the multiple cat household.
She was not happy it seems and the difficult decision was made to place her in a pet home with one of her kittens, ensuring that she would be the centre of her world, and she never looked back.
Although we missed her, knowing that she'd be happier was the driving force for letting her go to a new home.
Ava with her 2 week-old kittens, fathered by Anniesong Willow
Anniesong Avalon as a mum.
Ava was also a natural and instinctive mother and displayed a calmness that has been hard to match in subsequent girls that I have bred.
Ava was also the only girl that I've owned who would routinely give birth without my presence, all other Tonk-girls tend to wait until i'm home before going into labour and insist on me being there for the duration of the birth.
Thus I've come home to find her kittens all safely birthed and settled down with mum.
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Eden & Ava share a cuddle with one of Ava's kittens
Just like the relationship between their own mums, Eden & Ava were strongly bonded and that made perfect sense as they were half-sisters, who had been raised together.
Thus they naturally gravitated toward each other as mums even when apart.
With some litters when they was more than a day but less than a week difference in age between their babies, I would let them birth on their own then amalgamate the litters after a few days of being solo - this was to ensure that the latter-born litter receive sufficient colostrum from the first days of feeding.
However it was not unusual to find them attempting to reunite or 'borrowing' kittens from one another while apart and they were always happiest when raising their babies together.
Introducing; Anniesong Willow - Gen-4 / Seal-Mink Tonkinese - son of Sienna & Tazer
Tazer went on to father numerous litters and many an Anniesong Tonkinese owner is lucky to have one of his progeny - It's amazing how his eccentric and loving temperament is passed on to his offspring.
Bred to Sienna, he fathered 'Anniesong Willow', a Seal-Mink / Gen-4, who routinely passed on the same loving and affectionate nature to his babies.
Willow also sired Anniesong Jagger, who is currently one of our main stud boys.
Anniesong Willow all grown up
Taking a stroll
So the story of how Anniesong Tonkinese came to be doesn't end here, there have been many births and several introductions since then. The project to introduce the colours Cinnamon & Fawn to Australia has resulted in the infusion of 4 new lines, but the cats described above are pivotal to the direction we have taken as breeders of the amazing Tonkinese. Anniesong owes much to these foundation cats that kick-started our breed program.
After 11 years of being a registered breeding Sienna & Gracie are now the 'matriarchs' of Anniesong - Sienna is now desexed and enjoying her role as grandma to all babies. Tazer has just been retired from his role as 'head stud'.
Eden, as described above is now living a charmed life in a pet home with one of her daughters. Sadly Avalon is no longer with us as she passed away at the age of six due to complications that resulted from an allergic reaction she had to medication. I still miss her like crazy.
Willow is on a long-term loan to Trutonk Tonkinese in Townsville.
Why the name 'Anniesong'
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