Tonk color question

Okay.. anyone who knows Tonk colors.. What color is this baby? Or what does it look like it'll turn out to be?

I'm guessing Platinum Mink or a Blue Mink - body is still really white, so I'm not sure - never seen baby Tonks - what does the breeder say it is?

Ohhhhhhh look at that little munchkin!!! What an absolute sweetheart! no idea about colour, but he's soooo cute!

Well, the breeder says Champagne Point, but .. he started out completely white. Really,.. well, there was probably a teeny bit of color but you couldn't tell it in the group picture of them. They all looked identical to me. Now, they're all looking similar, even though I do see some differences. Here's the site...

http://www.hometown.aol.com/ticktocktonks/Kitten1.html And, be aware that you have to highlight above the "reserved for" lines to get the colors... she put white font on the white background.. not sure if she's in the middle of updating or not.

anyway, last batch of kittens, this sort of happened, because she'd had them all "colored" and then when their eight week pictures came out, some of the colors had changes. And, surely, I don't know how a Tonk breeder, any breeder, could tell ya what color they are because, I don't think I could figure it out. But the breeder at the Richmond cat show said it's fairly easy to tell what color they are. She said her natural mink was almost black when he was born. Maybe if there was a black kitten among the white kittens I'd be able to tell...?

Thanks Sarah! He's my newest addition... well, soon to be.. May 11th or thereabouts.

I can't really tell on the exact color, but that kitten isn't a mink, at least in my opinion. He sure is cute! I can't wait to see him grow up!

Like I said, I haven't seen pics of really young Tonks, so I don't know the color changes - just guessing in this case. Seems tho, if its a champange, its darker on the color then I would imagine.

I'd have to do some research and see what tonk breeders are putting on their websites for comparison.

I mean, I don't know enough about them to be a good judge, although I'm trying to learn.. I was looking at a website on how to determine colors/patterns in Tonks, but I think I just don't have the knack for figuring it out, lol.

Can you give me the link on the website you looked at - I might be able to figure it out

Let me see if I can find it. I didn't, of course, save it.

http://www.fanciers.com/breed-faqs/tonkinese-faq.shtml here's one..

and here's one with the champagne's which is actually a breeder site and not exactly a guide to all colors/patterns, but I thought it might be useful since it shows different champagnes. http://www.kittyfield.com/tonkinesepage.html

Okay, so far I think this one is the best and easiest to follow.. http://tonkinesebreedassociation.org...boutTonks.html

I think you'd have to really wait on more color whether it will be pointed or a mink. I'm still going for the blue/platnium as first choice. It would also depend on eye color too - pointed would have blue eyes, and mink the aqua eyes - so that takes awhile.

Unless its a champagne to champagne breeding, the kittens could be any color. The photos show some difference but not enough at this point to really tell.

I'm assuming if this is a long time breeder, they SHOULD know the colors of the kittens.

You'd think so, but I know with the last batch it changed after a few weeks.. but then, you know the color was so drastically different at eight weeks than it was at four that I can see why she would have changed them or updated them. But looking at the original pictures, they all look white to me, lol. She's taken that one down though so I can't show you the picture, but they were just a pile of white babies.. with nothing differentiating them from one another as far as I could tell.. their eyes were still closed even. (cute pile of babies, though)..

Well that's a given - pointed and mink kittens ARE born white - think "siamese" - they are all born white and develop the points.

Since mink is a variation of the pointed gene (just darker body coats), you would still basically have a pointed cat.

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Well that's a given - pointed and mink kittens ARE born white - think "siamese" - they are all born white and develop the points.

Since mink is a variation of the pointed gene (just darker body coats), you would still basically have a pointed cat.

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Wouldn't a mink show some color when they are born? I had a aquaitance ragdoll breeder have a litter born all dark, she could tell as soon as they were born the color/markings ei mitted, or bi-color. When looking back in the lines there were some minks in there and they were "throw back lines" and not born white. So I am asking would tonks be the same way, or are mink ragdolls different?

Ahh, well, I've always had domestics and have known almost nothing about pure bloods of any sort until the past few years when I started learning about Bengals..and then I got one of those, which my sister claimed.. and we started learning more.. then we added a Mau, and learned some about that breed, and then there was another Bengal who stole my heart.. and then she was killed.. but we and the breeder were convinced that she had some siamese or oriental in her background due to her personality.. and my heart was just so broken when she died, poor little girl..well, anyway, we had to get another kitten to offset all the broken hearts in the house, human and feline.. and so entered our second current Bengal, the Marbled Menace officially known as Joyeux.. but I got interested in the Tonkinese after checking into the Siamese.. Siamese might be a little too.. one person oriented to do well in my household, but the Tonk seemed like a nice mixture.

Anyway, that's a little off-topic but that's how I got interested in Tonks. I am interested in the Siamese, and I *love* their look, but I didn't think the personality would fit well. He's quite cute though and I'm excited about him but I still don't have any real idea about standards and color patterns and gosh, don't show me genetics because looking at genetic information makes my eyes water with concentration.. Some of it's just too technical.

Originally Posted by celestialrags

Wouldn't a mink show some color when they are born? I had a aquaitance ragdoll breeder have a litter born all dark, she could tell as soon as they were born the color/markings ei mitted, or bi-color. When looking back in the lines there were some minks in there and they were "throw back lines" and not born white. So I am asking would tonks be the same way, or are mink ragdolls different?

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That's one I have no idea about. Apparently, though, colors do differ from one type of cat to another? From what I've discerned and it's a completely amatuer opinion.. I seem to recall seeing something about blue in one is not the same blue in another breed.. but I'm a complete amateur.

Minks might have a tiny bit of color on the bodies when born, but IMO they would still be white. I've never really dealt with points in cats, but only go by general genetics.

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Minks might have a tiny bit of color on the bodies when born, but IMO they would still be white. I've never really dealt with points in cats, but only go by general genetics.

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You are probley right they are still white. The pics I saw of those mink kittens were very light but you could see the lines in their feet and on the face where they were either mitted or bi-colors. Where it took a week or so for my "white" kittens to show their patterns. That is all I meant by color though.

I'd like to learn how to tell color but.. I just don't seem to have the knack for it.

Originally Posted by CatsAreBetter

I'd like to learn how to tell color but.. I just don't seem to have the knack for it.

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Sure you do, it just takes time and practise. I knew the pattern of this litter before it was born (because of their parents genes) but didn't know exactly which colors I would have. for the most part with these "white" color points you can tell alot by their nose leathers and paw pads.

Maybe I'll get better with practice on Aby's thread on color..