Here is a compact Toyger infographic. The word ‘Toyger’ can only mean the artificially bred and created ‘toy tiger’ purebred domestic cat from America. The creation of Judy Sugden (the daughter of the founder of the Bengal cat, Jean Mill, incidentally). I think she thought that she could create a perfect miniature copy of the tiger through advanced and canny selective breeding but it probably proved more difficult than she’d imagined. The tiger is incredibly muscular. This affects their gait. You can’t get a domestic cat to walk like a tiger. That confident, lazy swagger of the tiger with the enormous paws flopping down in front as they pad through super-heated forests in India with a ton of tourists with cameras nearby cannot be replicated in miniature.
And the tiger’s super-high contrast coat with sharp-edged stripes cannot be replicated through the selective breeding of tabby cats but she did her best and, as I understand it, the project which commenced in the 1980s in the US is still work in progress.
The Toyger breed has been exported to Australia according to Dr Bruce Fogle and to the United Kingdom. The breed standard describes the cat as muscular as it would to try a give the breed a hint of tiger strength which is nothing short of awesome.
The Toyger’s short coat has a sheen of glitter like the glitter coat of the Bengal which adds a touch of glamour.
The Toyger is a friendly, intelligent cat that likes to be around people. Interestingly, the tiger’s character was described by Jim Corbett, one of the original ‘great white hunters’ of big cats as follows:
“Tigers, except when wounded or when man eaters, are on the whole very good tempered”.
If there is one breed of cat that is more predisposed to looking like a tiger it is the Maine Coon because they have the largest muzzles of all the cat breeds. Tiger muzzle is also square and large. The Toyger looks positively dainty by comparison.
Here is a picture of a Maine Coon with a hint of tiger in the face and demeanour.
Below are some articles on the Toyger:
