The Tonkinese is a medium-sized, muscular, and athletic cat with thin legs that are proportionate to its body. They have oval-shaped, medium-sized feet and a medium-sized tail with a slightly rounded tip. The head of the Tonkinese forms a triangle from the front with softened contours. Their ears are wide at the base and have rounded tips. The eyes of the Tonkinese are walnut-shaped and slightly slanted, with colors ranging from pale blue to greenish turquoise (bluish-green). Their fur is very soft, and there are both short-haired and semi-long-haired varieties in some countries, known as the 'Tibetan' type.
The typical Tonkinese pattern is 'mink', resulting from a cross between the colorpoint of the Siamese and the sepia of the Burmese. This breed can have three different patterns: colorpoint, sepia, and mink, in various colors and with or without tabby, silver, or smoke markings.
