In the modern world there are more than two hundred cat breeds, but not all purebred cats can boast that the history of their origin is reliably known. But Toyger was lucky, perhaps this is the rare case when everything is known about the origin of the breed in detail. First of all, this is due to the fact that toygers are one of the youngest breeds (in 2007 it was first registered, and only in one international association of cats). And the second reason is that the Toyger breed was created according to a pre-designed sketch, which has never been before in the history of felinology.
The author was a specific person, an architect by profession, a felinologist and a breeder by vocation, and his name was Judy Sagden. But can it be called an accident that a person of a 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 bred one of the most famous and popular domestic cat breeds in the world - Bengal.
Perhaps the mother was an example or inspirer, or maybe Judy wanted to have no less magnificent laurels, but be that as it may, she took a piece of paper and simply painted the future toyger on it. According to her idea, the toyger should have looked like a soft toy tiger cub, like a plush toy. This is where the name of the future breed came from: toy (toy - toy) + ger (tiger - tiger). Now that the appearance of the beast and its name became clear, the selection work began to boil.
The ancestors of the toygers were a Bengal cat and the most ordinary outbred street cat, which was specially brought by Judy from India, because he had all the necessary signs of a future breed. For further work, a variety of animals were selected, and where the creator of the toygers found them, probably she herself will not remember. And finally, animals were obtained that steadily carried and transmitted pedigree traits that make toygers unique and as similar as possible to the very sketch on a piece of paper. So, in 2006, after thirteen years of hard breeding work, the toyger - “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 toyger?
It's a strange thing, but, according to the official standard, a toyger does not at all look like a toy tiger cub, rather, it looks like a stylized copy of a real tiger. Judge for yourselves: a toyger should have a long, muscular, strong body with a heavy front, a wide neck and shoulders, with a powerful skeleton and a deep chest. The tail is low, long and even, like a rope, with a rounded tip. A wide and long head with clear contours, small eyes, a long wide nose, small rounded ears. And the pattern ... as contrasting as possible, black or brown stripes on a red background, preferably looped and covering also the stomach, legs and tail; black pads, feet and 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 toyger was a stuffed toy.
Toygers appeared in our country in 2008, Judy personally oversaw the breeding program, so at first both the representatives of the breed and the kennels who earned the right to have them were single. Today the number of Russian toyger nurseries has increased, the breed has grown in popularity, but still, mini-tigers remain one of the most expensive and rare feline representatives.
It should be noted that Russian toyger nurseries are not only responsible for the heritage of Judith, but also continue to work on improving the type and color of their graduates, seeking their closest proximity to their wild relative - the tiger. The most difficult part of the task is to achieve the consolidation of signs inherent exclusively to wild cats (a bleached belly and the inner surface of the paws, longer hair on the cheeks, so-called tow-offs, very small round ears, a juicy and bright red body background). Thus, we can say that the breed continues its development and formation, and the Russian nurseries have already achieved impressive results - in 2013, the toyger from the Moscow GreenCity Kennel became the best toyger of the year in the world and closed the highest title “Grand Grand Champion”.
I must say that nurseries practically do not sell kittens for breeding, all graduates are sold as either exhibition animals (show class) or pets (pet class). Toyger kittens leave the nursery at least 3-4 months old already castrated, with paperwork and vaccinations. Depending on the class of the kitten and the purpose of its purchase, prices vary significantly, but are among the highest among all breeds.
However, let us return to the toygers themselves, because they are unique not only in their origin and appearance. These extraordinary creatures possess truly tiger grace - a strong gait, low tail, confident movements, a heavy body - everything reminds of a wild “fellow”. And it doesn’t matter that confident movements sometimes lead to awkward situations, and a dense body becomes the subject of endless squeezing, this does not bother the toyger at all. Moreover, it is difficult to imagine a cat that would be so attractive with its wild appearance and at the same time the funny behavior characteristic of stupid kittens.
Toigers are unusually smart, possess excellent memory, reasonably talkative and moderately active, prefer games rather typical of dogs - bring a toy or wand to your feet, take your thing in a bowl of water, put your child’s teddy bunny in your bowl or just hang out in the bath under running water. All these wonderful abilities were inherited by toygers from their grandparent, a Bengal cat, which, in turn, was bred by obtaining offspring from a wild Asian leopard cat (ALA) and a domestic cat. You see, it turns out that there is a fraction 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 happy owner of a four-year toyger weighing 12 kg, who goes about his business exclusively in the toilet, out loud and long indignant at an empty bowl, every night he meets at the door, loudly making cheers, plays with tree branches and sleeps with the owners in bed. Although ... maybe we are sleeping with him and wears wands for him?