The Toyger Stripes
As in wild tigers the Toyger too has different stripe patterns. I want to present to you the differences in Toyger striping patterns so that you can better understand that each Toyger is special and an individual that closely resembles it's big cat cousin the tiger.
The Toyger breed standard says that:
"Body stripes shall generally be vertically alligned with encircling markings on neck, legs and tail. Bold, braided non-uniform stripes including stretched rosettes are preferred. Some stretched spots are acceptable."
OVER
THE
BACK
STRIPING is one of the most difficult striping
patterns
to acheive and is one of our personal interests in which
we are trying
to fix in our cats. There are very very few Toygers
in existence
that demonstrate this unique trait that is found in no
other domestic
cat other than the Toyger. Even amongst Toygers you
will rarely
see this phenomenol pattern.DOMESTIC MACKEREL is the uniform striping that you see on a domestic tabby cat in nearly all domestic breeds. It is rare for a tiger to have such uniform stripes that encircle the body so this IS NOT our desired patterning for the Toyger. We will use a Toyger in our breeding programs that have domestic striping if the contrast is high and has alot to offer.
ZONED MACKEREL is when the striping is maintained within zones. Below in the diagram you can see that the Toyger is divided into 3 horizontal areas or "zones". The Toyger
pattern becomes much more "wild" and "tigery" looking when
the striping
is broken up. The top stripes would extend over the back
in the upper
zone and down 1/3 of
the body to come to a fine point in the middle
zone.
The belly
zone
would have stripes wrapping around underneath the body to
finish in
fine pointed stripes within the middle
zone. The middle zone would also host smaller
stripes as
well. The over look is much more wild and lends itself to
be more
identifiable as tigery stripes.
MACKEREL
STRETCHED
ROSETTES
are arranged in the same way as the zoned mackerel though
instead of
just a solid colored stripe it opens up and resembles what
I like to
think of as a
flame pattern. The
centers of
these "flames" can either have a third color or have the
same color as
the ground color. Here's an example of a toyger with
mackerel stretched
rosettes. You can see that there is clear zoning of the
body pattern
with the "flames" within the stripes. The pattern makes
for a STUNNING
Toyger!
BRAIDED MACKEREL is our last body pattern and is my personal favorit
e.
Braided markings are still abiding by the very crucial
zoning
arrangement though now the stripes are thick, thin,
stretched rosettes,
solid stripes etc all combined. It may have small dots
and dashes
creating branching from one of the flames to create a
very fine stripe
that gracefully comes to a point. It may have huge
chunky stripes with
thin openings. Some stripes may have the appearance of
having a slight
shadow near it with another stripe creating a
breathtaking
unmistakable tigery look!
BRAIDED MACKEREL is our last body pattern and is my personal favorit
e.
Braided markings are still abiding by the very crucial
zoning
arrangement though now the stripes are thick, thin,
stretched rosettes,
solid stripes etc all combined. It may have small dots
and dashes
creating branching from one of the flames to create a
very fine stripe
that gracefully comes to a point. It may have huge
chunky stripes with
thin openings. Some stripes may have the appearance of
having a slight
shadow near it with another stripe creating a
breathtaking
unmistakable tigery look!All of these Toyger
patterns are also
found in the natural wild tigers. Once you start
looking specifically
at tiger stripes you will see there is an amazing
difference between
all the types of stripes they can have. To demonstrate
a bit more
visually here are a few pictures of tigers that have
the same patterns
as above. Enjoy the photos and I do hope
that you
understand more the differences between the toyger
patterns. If you
have any questions or comments please send me an
email!
"STRETCHED ROSETTES"
"BRAIDED"
"OVER
THE BACK STRIPES"
"ZONED"
"ZONED"
"STRETCHED ROSETTES"
"BRAIDED"
(these tiger pictures are
used WITHOUT
permission. If you are the owner of one of the
photographs and would
like that they are removed.... or if you'd like photo
credit given
please let me know.)
ROMAN TOYGERS
We are a TICA registered cattery #18554
