Rare Breeds of Cats. Toiger

In the modern world there are more than two hundred breeds of cats, but far from all thoroughbred cats can boast of the fact that the history of their origin is reliably known. But the togers were lucky, perhaps, this is the rare case when everything is known about the origin of the breed in details. First of all, this is due to the fact that the tigers are one of the youngest breeds (in 2007 it was first registered, and only in one international cat association). And the second reason is that the breed was created according to a pre-designed sketch, something that had never been before in the history of felinology.

The author was a concrete person, by profession - an architect, by vocation - a felinologist and a breeder, and his name is Judy Sagden. But is it a coincidence that a man of technical specialty came up with the idea of creating a new breed of cats? Of course not! After all, Judy did not grow up in a simple family, her mother, Jane Mill, at one time withdrew one of the most famous and popular in the world breeds of domestic cats - Bengal.

Perhaps the mother was an example or inspiration, and perhaps Judy wanted to have no less lavish laurels, but, anyway, she took a piece of paper and just drew on it a future toger. According to her idea, the toger should look like a soft toy tiger cub, a plush toy. Hence the name of the future breed appeared: toy (toy - toy) + ger (tiger - tiger). Now, when the shape of the beast and its name became clear, the breeding work began to boil.

The ancestors of the togers were a Bengal cat and the most common streetbreed, which was specially brought by Judy from India, because he had all the necessary signs of a future breed. For the further work, the most diverse animals were selected, and where the maker of the togers found them, probably she will not remember herself. And finally, animals were obtained that were sustainably carried and passed the pedigree signs, making the togers unique and resembling the very sketch on a piece of paper. So, in 2006, after thirteen years of persistent breeding work, the toy-tiger was introduced to the world, a year later the breed was officially registered in one of the international felinological systems.

What is he, a toger?

It's a strange thing, but according to the official standard, the toyger is not at all like a toy tiger, more like a stylized copy of a real tiger. Judge for yourself: the toger should have a long, muscular, strong body with a heavy front part, wide neck and shoulders, with a strong bone and deep chest. The tail is low, long and even, like a rope, with a rounded tip. Wide and long head with clear contours, small eyes, long broad nose, small rounded ears. A drawing ... the most contrast, black or brown stripes on a red background, preferably looped and covering also the stomach, and paws, and tail; Black pads, feet and the tip of the tail - in general, it seems that the authors of the standard did everything so that no one would guess that the prototype of the toy was a plush toy.

In our country, the Toygers appeared in 2008, Judy personally oversaw the breeding program, so for the first time both the breed representatives and the nurseries that deserved the right to have them were single. Today the number of Russian kennels of togers has increased, the popularity of the breed has grown, but still, mini-tigers remain one of the most expensive and rare representatives of felines.

It should be noted that the Russian tiger kennels not only responsibly concern Judith's legacy, but also continue to work on improving the type and color of their graduates, seeking to maximize their approach to their wild congeners, the tiger. The most difficult task in this task is to achieve the fixation of the characteristics peculiar to wild cats (bleached belly and inner surface of the paws, a longer coat on the cheeks, so-called hairpins, very small round ears, juicy and bright red body background). Thus, it can be said that the breed continues its development and formation, and Russian nurseries have already achieved impressive results - in 2013 the teeter from the Moscow nursery GreenCity became the best teeger of the year in the world and closed the highest title "Suprem Grand Champion".

It should be said that kennels are practically not selling kittens to breeding, all graduates are sold as either show animals (show-class) or pets (pet-class). Kittens of the toyger leave the kennel at the age of not less than 3-4 months already castrated, with documents issued and vaccinations made. Depending on the kitten's class and the purpose of its purchase, prices vary significantly, but are among the highest among all breeds.

However, let's return to the actual teghers, because they are unique not only by their origin and appearance. These extraordinary creatures have a truly tiger grace - a strong gait, a low tail, confident movements, a heavy body - everything reminds of a wild "fellow". And it does not matter that confident movements sometimes lead to embarrassing situations, and a dense body becomes an object of endless grindings, this does not bother the toger at all. Moreover, it is difficult to imagine a cat that would be so attractive with a wild appearance and at the same time a funny behavior peculiar to foolish kittens.

Toygs are unusually smart, have excellent memory, are moderately talkative and very active, prefer games more likely to dogs - bring a toy or a stick to your feet, carry your thing into a basin of water, put yourself in a bowl with your baby's plush bunny or Just poboltyhatsya in the bath under the stream of water. All these wonderful abilities were given to the togers from their ancestor - the Bengal cat, which, in turn, was bred by obtaining offspring from the wild Asian leopard cat (ALK) and domestic cat. You see, it turns out, there is a share of real wild blood in the veins of a domestic tiger cub!

In conclusion, I would like to add that your humble servant - the author of this article, is the lucky owner of a four-year-old teleguer weighing 12 kg, who walks about his affairs solely in the toilet, out loud and indignantly for an empty bowl, every evening he meets at the door, loudly issuing cheers, Plays with branches from the trees and sleeps with the masters in bed. Although ... maybe it's us who sleep with him and carry his wands?