Anniesong Tonkinese is proud to introduce the colour Cinnamon and Fawn to Australian shores, and this has resulted from a 4-year plan to establish and develop the new colours within the Tonkinese breed.

My interest in the colour of Cinnamon & Fawn initially stemmed from seeing a fawn Abyssinian at a cat show and after enquiring about the colour – I wondered how the colour Cinnamon would be expressed on a Tonkinese and decided to investigate if Cinnamon Tonkinese existed.  A quick Google search revealed they did indeed exist and were accepted in some countries but not others, yet fortunately were well represented in New Zealand.

Research of the standards for Tonkinese in Australia revealed also that a provision for the colour already existed within the Australian standard – it had been included in the standard since 2007 but no-one had shown any knowledge of, or interest in developing the colour in Australia. The reference to Cinnamon was hard-to-find in the ACF standard on their website, but had not been updated in other breed standards.

My research revealed some lovely Tonkinese on NZ websites, I investigated further as to who had the Cinnamon gene in their breed programs and who had 'type' that was compatible with my breed direction. One breeder stood out.

It was then that I contacted Jenny Lovering of Angistri Tonkinese in NZ who had been breeding some beautiful Cinnamon Tonkinese for some time. Jenny has been amazingly helpful and has been a fantastic mentor in working with this new and exciting colour. After forging a connection with Jenny, it was another 12 months before a suitable kitten was available and then began the excited wait for Blaze’s arrival in Australia as the first Cinnamon Tonkinese to grace our shores.

 Blaze's first photograph - 1 hour after arrival

Shortly before Blaze's arrival in Australia, I was introduced to Louise Warren at a show, due to our shared interest in developing the colour in our respective breeds – Louise is a highly reputable Burmese breeder from 'Yahztak Burmese' who had introduced the first Cinnamon Burmese to Queensland, and was supported in her program by Bambi Edwards from Bajimbi Cats in Sydney who had developed the colour within the Burmese breed in Australia.

Louise put me in touch with Bambi and who had previously attempted to breed a Cinnamon Burmese to a Siamese but that pregnancy had failed – Bambi was willing to repeat the mating in order that I could secure a second Cinnamon line, and so an excited wait began for news of the first Cinnamon babies.

While awaiting for the Cinnamon news from Bajimbi, Blaze was making his debut on the show-bench. On the show-bench both Louise and I ran into a lot of obstacles – initially there was a ban on entering both the Cinnamon Burmese and Tonkinese in all Queensland council shows, but we were able to display them at some council shows where at others they were banned entirely. We would frequently set up our display cages in the corner of the room.

 

because the colour ‘made waves’  on the show bench, I was going to call my first Cinnamon girl ‘Tsunami’ ….. and that is how Tsunami was to get her name.

At one particular show there were so many issues arising about the colour that I quipped to Louise that because the colour ‘made waves’ on the showbench, I was going to call my new kitten ‘Tsunami’ when she arrived ….. and that is how Tsunami was to get her name.

There are still many restrictions that affect the showing and vbreeding oof both Cinnamon & Fawn within Australia, with various councils having different rules that apply to the breeding and showing of these colours.

QFA (Queensland Feline Association) took a particularly hard line with Cinnamon & Fawn in both the Burmese and Tonkinese breeds, and due to a distinct prejudice against the new colours and their developer within Australia exhibited by the president of their organisation, both Tonkinese and Burmese were singled out and banned from the showbench, and not just if they were exhibiting the colours, but also if any cat had these colours within their ancestry.

QFA also made the unprecedented move to demand that all Tonkinese and Burmese from New Zealand provide an 8 generation pedigree, a ridiculous knee-jerk reaction to the intriduction of these new colours.

The road to acceptance was not an easy one ......

In my time as a breeder I have learn that it's sometimes a good idea to 'hold your card close to your chest', and so I was hesitant about revealing my plan to introduce these colours into Australia with other Tonkinese breeders due to potential opposition to establishing the colours. Thus I was discreet in my negotiations with all relevant parties when arranging to import Blaze to ensure my plan would be unhindered by others.

It seems that my instinct for discretion was warranted as the initial response from fellow local tonk breeders was less than favourable – after ‘the word got out’ that I had imported the first Cinnamon, (a good 8 months after his arrival) some Queensland Tonkinese breeders got together and having ‘discussed the issue’ then informed me that I would not be able to breed, register or show Cinnamon kittens as the colour was “not permitted in the standard” ….

The breeders concerned had visited the standard on a website that had not been updated to include 2007 amendments and therefore were ignorant of the fact that the Australian breed standard did indeed allow for both Cinnamon and Fawn. By that stage we'd already fought numerous battles on the showbench in trying to gain acceptance, and had worked hard to change opinions about the colours.

In contrast, Interstate breeders were however quick to embrace the possibility of these new colours, and have also worked to gain greater acceptance of Cinnamon & Fawn.

 

The first Cinnamon Tonkinese girl in Australia

On the February 3 / 2013, Bajimbi Cinnamon Tsunami was born in Sydney and alongside her littermate brother these were to be the first two Cinnamon Tonkinese born in Australia and as the only female in the litter, Tsunami became the first female Cinnamon Tonkinese in the country, and the first Cinnamon breeding girl for Anniesong. Tsunami's brother Bajimbi Cinnamon Royale went on to live in Western Australia with Penny Van Kempen of Tonkadelic to spearhead her Cinnamon and Fawn Program.

Meanwhile back at Anniesong, we were eagerly anticipating the birth of our first Cinnamon carriers as Blaze had been mated to both Storm and Sienna. As the gene for Cinnamon is recessive to both Seal and Chocolate, it is a very difficult gene to establish and requires input from several gene pools comprising Cinnamon to develop the colour effectively. Thus a Cinnamon cat bred to any cat that is not carrying the gene can never produce cinnamon offspring regardless of the colour of the other parent, but will produce Cinnamon carriers in all the progeny of that mating.