Thai, my Tonkinese

This is my youngest baby of the furry four legged. I have had cats all my life and I can honestly say he is by far the most needy, demanding cat I have ever owned! He demands complete attention, gets jealous of anything else that takes this away from him, be it other cats, snakes, lizards, or children. But aside from all this is my baby! He's like a special needs child that even though he requires more work he just has that special place in your heart!
This is a picture of when we first got him:



And this is one from today:



He has changed color so much from when we first got him that he doesn't even look like the same cat. I'm curious if any other tonkinese owners have seen such drastic changes

And actually, that picture from today is lighter than he has been, he seems to get darker in winter, and a bit lighter in simmer.

How old is your cat and how old was he when you just got him?
It is quite normal for cat to change the color of their fur as they grow up or get older. Some people also say their cats' color can change according to the amount of sunlight they get. While others say their diet have an impact on the fur's color too.

Fishbone is also right. Some cats can get lighter colored fur in the summer. I guess this one is in fact related to the amount of sunlight they receive, since we get longer day time during the summer and naturally more sunlight.

Cats change color? Not that I have noticed. I suppose that happens in countries where there are seasons. Where I live, we only have rainy season or very rainy season. Used to have a dry season but it's getting rather wet lately. So the cats here are the same color the whole year round.

Thai is actually a rescue cat. From the info we got on him I think he's about 16 months. He was supposedly 5 months when we got him last august. At first I thought he was some sort of siamese mix, but the more research we've done it appears he is a tonkinese, and they do change color due to seasons it seems. although he has never gone back to the light cream all over. It would be interesting to see if he would change more in direct sun all the time. Living un florida we have an abundance of that, but to keep the electric bill down we have awnings over most windows, plus curtains, so we don't have direct sun coming in all the time. I have noticed over the last couple weeks that as we have been brushing him he has lightened more.

(06-25-2012, 03:23 AM)purplecapricorn Wrote: Thai is actually a rescue cat. From the info we got on him I think he's about 16 months. He was supposedly 5 months when we got him last august. At first I thought he was some sort of siamese mix, but the more research we've done it appears he is a tonkinese, and they do change color due to seasons it seems. although he has never gone back to the light cream all over. It would be interesting to see if he would change more in direct sun all the time. Living un florida we have an abundance of that, but to keep the electric bill down we have awnings over most windows, plus curtains, so we don't have direct sun coming in all the time. I have noticed over the last couple weeks that as we have been brushing him he has lightened more.

I love you dearly, but we need to get you an old fashioned calculator.

You got him in August 2010. We've had him two winters, the first winter was when he went from cream to chocolate, and he never completely lightened up since. For those that read some of the older cat threads, this is the one that puts all of his toys in the water dish, and either leaves them there, our fishes them out and levees them on the floor because he no longer wants to play with them because they're wet.

I'm glad you posted the thread about your Tonkinese and showed the photos. All Tonkinese cats change colors pretty drastically within the first 18-24 months of life. It's just inherent to the breed. For all cats changing colors, it can depend on temperature, sun exposure or even be a sign of illness. I never had another cat that changed colors before though.
I have a Champagne Mink Tonkinese that started out very pale, but has darkened up both in his points and body color. Yours really, REALLY darkened up though! I was surprised to see the vast difference in his coloring.
I'd love to post a photo of my Tonk, but I don't see how to do it. He is also very demanding and clingy, which is just a typical personality trait of this breed. He is very tiny, only 8 lbs, but runs the show here with the much bigger cats. They cower in fear of him. He doesn't like any of them getting attention and will "punish" them if he sees they're taking up any of my time. He and my Bengal especially hate each other. It's a never ending battle between them.

Thai doesn't get along with my other male cat. Well to an extent he does. he's more like an older brother always picking on his younger brother, except he's younger then my Nermal.they have their moments when they cuddle or play together but most of the time its Thai harassing him. Nermal can just be walking by, minding his own business and Thai will just reach out and smack him. Not even hard, kind of like walking by your child and ruffling his hair!

The way I share pics is to save then in photobucket to get the image code.

Your cat is beautiful. I actually never heard of that breed before this forum, so I learned something new. It's pretty cool that they change color.