Rarer Cat Breeds Profiles - June

13 min read

Deviation Actions

CatCraze's avatar
Published:
3.2K Views

Group Rules & Guidelines | Featured Photo Of The Month | Feline Info Links
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

:star: Rarer Cat Breeds Profile - June: :star:

:: Toyger ::



General Description:

The call of the wild right in your living room: that's the Toyger with its dramatic striped and glittered pelt. The Toyger is being bred to resemble the tigers of the wild but in a package that fits easily into the modern urban lifestyle with the same nature as the domestic cat. The medium-sized cat has the rolling gait and vivid striped patterns of the wild cats without a single drop of real tiger blood. These miniature tigers are friendly outgoing cats that delight in being with their human companions. A young breed, the Toyger is in development as breeders work to replicate the pattern and colors of the tiger with ever-increasing accuracy. Tigers are an endangered species in the wild and many of the Toyger breeders are also very concerned about conserving the beautiful wild species that cats are created to resemble.

History:

People often refer to mackerel tabby cats as tigers or tiger stripes and yet their pattern is a far cry from the bold braided patterns of the real tiger. In the late 1980s, Judy Sugden was working to improve the clarity of the mackerel markings in these tiger cats. She noticed that her cat Millwood Sharp Shooter had two spots of tabby markings on the temple and realized that this could be a key to developing a cat with the true circular pattern on a tiger's head. The temples of domestic tabbies do not usually have such markings on the head. Two cats that formed the cornerstone for the young Toyger breed were a striped domestic shorthair named Scrapmetal and a big-boned Bengal named Millwood Rumpled Spotskin. In 1993, Judy also imported Jammu Blu, a street cat from Kashmir, India, who had all spots between his ears rather than the regular tabby lines.

Judy embarked on her program to develop these toy tigers with a firm picture in her mind of the characteristics that would be needed to replicate the tiger in this miniature form: a large, long body to display the bold vertical patterns; a stretching and branching of the tabby patterns and rosettes found in other cats that would break up and elongate those patterns; the circular head markings found in no other domestic cat; the vivid glittering colors; and most importantly a laid-back temperament to make the Toyger a delight to live with. Joining Judy early on in this pioneering work were Anthony Hutcherson (JungleTrax) and Alice McKee (Windridge). In 1993, TICA accepted the Toyger for Registration and in 2000 advanced them to the new breed exhibition classes, finally granting them full recognition as a championship cat in February 2007.

Personality:

The Toyger is a friendly outgoing cat that delights in being with people. They are highly intelligent and interactive cats that also get on well with other pets. Their intelligence means that are easy to train and can be taught to go for walks on a leash and to play fetch. Their laid-back personalities make them easy to live with and mean they fit easily into the household bringing you a sense of having truly tamed the wild.

Traits:

The Toyger coat pattern is unique in the domestic cat. Instead of the vertical stripes of the mackerel tabby or the rounded rosettes of some spotted tabbies, the Toyger has broken, or branched, bold vertical stripes in a random pattern. Some of the stripes resemble rosettes that have been stretched vertically. The goal of the facial markings is to have a circular pattern. As with the tiger, the colors being sort are dark markings on a vividly bright orange background on the outer to top portions of the cat with a whited ground color on the undersides and insides. These beautiful dramatic patterns, each of which is unique to the individual like a fingerprint, are enhanced by the scatter of gold glitter over the top to enrich the coat pattern even further.

This distinctive new breed of cat has other attributes than coat that help it resemble the tigers of the wild. The long, deep rectangular body has the low slung powerful look of the tiger along with big bones and high shoulders that give the domestic Toyger the rolling gait of the large wild cats. Like the tiger, the Toyger is a very muscular cat with a long inverted heart shape to the face. These medium-sized, living room tiger replicas weigh in at 10-15 pounds for the male and 7-10 pounds for the female. The Toyger will capture your imagination as you watch it moving through your home in the urban jungle that is its native habitat.



Breed Standard:

TOYGER (TG)

HEAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 points
Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Ears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Eyes .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Chin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Muzzle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Nose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Neck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

BODY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 points
Torso . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Legs and Feet . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Tail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Boning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Musculature . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

COAT/COLOR/PATTERN . . . . 40 points
Length/Texture . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

CATEGORY: Traditional.

DIVISION: Tabby.

COLOR: Brown Mackerel Tabby ONLY.

PERMISSIBLE OUTCROSSES: None.

HEAD:

Shape: Medium-sized. Long, broad
and deep. Side view: 1/2 hexagon as
defined by angle change points of chin,
nose, forehead and back skull. All contours
well-defined, muscular and rounded.
Ears: Rounded. Small preferred. Set
as much on the side as on the top. Thickly
furred temples and ears preferred. Lynx
tipping undesirable.

Eyes: Small to medium, circular with
gentle hooding of upper inside. Set back
into face, and on slight bias toward base of
ear. Rich deep color preferred.

Chin: Very strong. Deep, wide. Bite
must be correct.

Muzzle: Medium length to long and
deep with well-defined, rounded muscular
contours. Full face view: a long inverted
heart shape from forehead to rounded
whisker pads.

Nose: Muscular, long, and rounded,
widening toward end to at least as wide as
the space between the eyes. Greater nose
leather width is preferred, depth is shallow.

Profile: Biplaner: angle change above
the eyes. A slightly concave nose line
acceptable.

Neck: Long and muscular.

BODY:

Torso: Medium to deep, long and
muscular with rolling contours; strong and
robust but not blocky. Strength is in the
forequarters. Shoulders may interrupt top
line. Chest is broad and deep, never
interrupting neckline from head to foreleg.

Legs and Feet: Medium length such that
the space between the ground and the body is
equal to the depth of the torso. Legs as long
in back as in front. Long toed, well knuckled
feet seem large.

Tail: Very long and muscular with blunt,
rounded tip; rope-like. Set low and carried
low.

Boning: Very large, dense, robust; never
delicate.

Musculature: Very muscular and athletic
looking, especially in young males.

COAT:

Length: Coat is short except: markings
may be slightly but uniformly longer than
ground colored fur on body for a sculpted
effect. Longer temple and jowl ruff fur is
preferred.

Texture/Density: Fur is thick, luxurious
and unusually soft, plush but resilient.

Glitter: Some glitter required. The more
the better without undue loss of contrast or
whited ground.

COLOR: Tabby markings shall be virtually
black to brown or even tan. Very dark
markings on a richly colored rufused ground is
preferred. Markings uniformly dark from tip of
hair to skin are preferred. Mouse colored
undercoat is acceptable. Whited ground color
shall be as uniformly light to as white as
possible and appears as per pattern
requirements below.

Contrast: All colors next to each other
should be as different in value as possible.
The visibly noticeable difference in color and
value between two coat colors should be
great or high between the tabby markings and
the background color, and high between the
dorsal orange background ground color and
ventral whited background ground color, and
high between the dark ear color and the
lighter "thumb print," and high between the
whited ground color of parts of the face and its
modified tabby markings.

PATTERN:

Markings pattern: Modified mackerel
tabby. The contrast of markings to ground
pattern must be extreme and distinct; giving
a clear, sharply edged pattern.

Ground pattern: A modified dorsal
(upper and outer), colored ground with a
ventral (inner and under) whited ground as
described and excepted below. Edges of
ground areas should be distinct with
contrast.

Body: Body stripes shall generally be
vertically aligned with encircling markings
on neck, legs and tail. Bold, braided, nonuniform
stripes including stretched rosettes
are preferred. Some stretched spots are
acceptable. Belly and inside of legs must
be marked. Whited ground shall include
ventral areas of belly, underside of base of
tail, insides of legs, and chest. Spillage or
wrap of whited ground onto lower sides,
backs of legs and sides of chest for a
greater amount of visibility is desirable. Paw
pads and tail tip must be black.

Face and Head: Facial stripes and
markings shall be circularly aligned around
the face. Preference shall be given to
forehead butterfly markings and to
encircling jowl markings. Traditional tabby
markings moving radially away from the
face for any distance are undesirable.
Whited ground areas shall include throat,
chin, outer parts of jowls and cheeks, and
lower part of whisker pads as well as areas
around and over eyes, spilling upward onto
temples and forehead. Ears having dark
backs, with a lighter to virtually white "thumb
mark" desirable. Black mascara, lipstick
and whisker spot markings and white
spectacles are desirable.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: The Toyger is
a designer cat: a loving, glittered, medium
sized domestic shorthair companion cat
reminiscent of the big cats in pattern, type,
confidence and movement. Designed with
the experience of active cat ownership in
the modern urban setting foremost in mind,
this cat must be a uniquely beautiful and
engaging companion, willing and able to
thrive in a human centered life. Thus,
companionability traits, such as, but not
limited to, dependable, quiet temperament;
laid-back personality, intelligent and easily
trained and handled; good athletic ability;
stately movement; excellent health and
longevity are all important and desirable and
must be considered an integral part of the
breed profile, breeding program and genetic
makeup of the Toyger.

ALLOWANCES: Females may be somewhat
smaller and less muscular than males and
may exhibit no head ruff. Well-muscled males
may lack shoulder to neck definition. Kittens
may be somewhat longer coated, be less
rufused and be rather uncoordinated. Color
may vary somewhat in intensity seasonally.

PENALIZE: Classic alignment of mackerel
stripes on body (strongly suggesting a bulls
eye or curved lines). Substantially darker
markings on points. A dorsal stripe.
Traditional tabby face markings ONLY. No
glitter. Narrow nose leather. Excessive size
or unmuscled bulk. Lockets.

WITHHOLD ALL AWARDS (WW): Ticked fur
that obscures markings. Belly or chest not
marked. Tail tip not black. Blue eyes.

DISQUALIFY (DQ): Mouth alignment not

Revised 06/18/08 Toyger Breed Standard, 05/01/2008


* From TICA.org

Just chillin' by kristaphobia Mahatigers: Devotchka by CheshireFrown Kitten Battle by CheshireFrown

:bulletgreen:Where to find a Toyger:
FBRL
Toyger Breeders Around The World
Petfinder

==================================================================================

Previous Rare Breeds:


May: Nebelung
© 2011 - 2024 CatCraze
Comments2
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
vasodelirium's avatar
yet another interesting journal!