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Tonkinese Tabby-Patterns Part 1 - A Brief explanation

© Linda Vousden

I don't intend to go too deeply into the genetics of the tabby patterns here - but a simplistic explanation will help to set the scene.

What is the difference between 'Agouti' & 'Tabby' - these are two terms that you'll often hear relating to a tabby cat.

1. Agouti - is the gene that causes the production of colour along the individual hair shafts to be switched on and off, giving light and dark bands of colour in each hair. This is a dominant gene (A-), the recessive version (i.e allele) is non-agouti (aa)

2. Tabby - is the gene that governs that pattern in which the agouti gene switches colour on and off over the whole coat, some hairs are kept lighter than others. Tabby is not a coat-pattern, it is a colour pattern and it has four versions.

The Four Tabby Patterns - Tabby cats should really be called agouti cats because ALL cats have at least one of the four tabby patterns in their genetic make-up, but unless their agouti gene is dominant (switched on) you are unlikely to see it.

For example a Brown Tonkinese is non-agouti because its agouti gene is recessive (switched off) so that the colour is able to be produced along the full length of the hair shaft. However, if for any number of reasons its non-agouti gene isn't fully recessive then you may see its tabby pattern showing through - in a self coloured cat this is known as barring. This is often the case in kittens whose colour is not yet fully produced in the baby fur. A typical place to see barring is on the tail and hind legs, but sometimes it can even be seen on the body. This is not just true of Tonkinese but of all cat breeds - look very closely next time you see a Russian Blue or other breeds that don't have agouti patterns.

Ticked - also known as agouti because it is the unmodified result of the agouti gene.

Mackerel - striped as per the markings on the fish of that name.

Classic - also known as blotched or marbled

Spotted

In all agouti cats the ears, face, legs, feet and tail have standard markings regardless of breed - the scarab (‘M’) on the forehead, thin pencil lines on the cheeks, pale spectacles around the eyes,  spotted whisker pads, one or two dots on the side of the nose,  thumb-prints on the backs of the ears, solid coloured hocks and a half-moon on the outside of the back foot. Most tabbies will also have stripes on the fore and hind legs, one or two necklaces (that may be broken or unbroken) and a ringed tail with a solid coloured tip.

Imperial GrPr Mymystic Nimrod - a ticked pattern (Photo: Alan Robinson)

The Tonkinese have inherited their tabby patterns from the Burmese and Siamese, neither of which have had to breed for clarity of the tabby pattern. Therefore, the Tonkinese may be ticked, mackerel, mackerel-spotted, classic, classic-spotted or a combination of the ticked and mackerel patterns. The body may show a more solid expression of colour than tabby pattern but the tabby pattern must still be evident and the body colour should be a paler shade of the tabby markings on the points - in the typical Tonkinese coat-pattern.

Mymystic Chiffon - a mackerel-spotted pattern

The Tonkinese Tabby Pattern  in :-

The Orange Tonkinese (Red, Cream, Apricot) -  In the GCCF Standard of Points (SOP) introductory notes to the Solid colours there is a rider that states that ghost-tabby markings may be found on the points – not the body -  of Red, Cream and Apricot cats and should not detract from an otherwise good cat.  This recognises that orange gene inhibits the complete masking of the underlying tabby-pattern. Tabby markings on the body should still prevent the awarding of a certificate.

The Non-Orange Series Tonkinese -  The SOP states that Certificates should be withheld from cats that exhibit tabby or ghost-tabby markings.

The Tortoishell Tonkinese – Here we have a combination of orange and non-orange so we look for the equivalent conditions. On the non-orange colours there should be no tabby markings. The intermingled orange colours on the body should be free of tabby-markings but on the points the orange colours may exhibit some ghost-tabby markings. 

The Tortie-Tabby Tonkinese - (known as Torbies in some organisations)

These are Tabby-patterned Tonkinese with randomly intermingled patches of orange - the SOP requires evidence of tabby markings - including areas of  intermingled orange. The tabby markings on the points should be darker than on the body.

The 'Tabby' Effect on Nose and Paw Leathers

The manipulation of colour by the agouti and tabby genes is not restricted to the fur, it also has an effect on the nose and paw leathers of the cat. In the tortoiseshell cat we can see that both the fur and leathers show a mottled colouration – in tabbies the effect on colour is to restrict it in certain areas. The nose leather of a young tabby kitten may appear to be solid in colour but as the kitten develops the colouration appears to seep back to the edges of the nose – eventually leaving a pink nose with a pencil-line of colour around the edge.  The paws may also appear to be solidly pigmented in a young tabby kitten but a mature tabby will invariably have pink patches on its paws – whatever its base colour is.