Tonkinese are beautiful, medium-sized cats, surprisingly heavy and muscular. The Tonkinese was developed in the 1960s-1970s from the Siamese and Burmese breeds to achieve a more moderate breed without the extremes of the two parent breeds. This also allowed the "mink" colors with aqua eyes.
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| Portia |
Tonks are sometimes crossed eyed and can inherit this propensity from their Siamese ancestors. It develops naturally to compensate for a genetic flaw in their eye structure, which is the same genetic trait causes the coloration of the Siamese.
The cat's eyes are not permanently crossed - they purposely cross them to see straight... and I see this in my one, and only, cross eyed Portia. She is only slightly cross eyed but as I watch her focus on things, I see her eyes adjusting the cross. Its very interesting.
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| Felix |
Almond shaped aqua eyes
No other breed can boast almond shaped aqua colored eyes, resulting from blue Siamese and gold Burmese eyes. This trait is most often found in the mink patterned Tonkinese cats as shown in Felix.
