We have been rather busy the last year and a half, and this left no time or opportunity to breed our cats. Well, that all changed around December of 2006 so we decided to go ahead and breed a litter with our newest mother, Ariel (seen at right, just days before delivering, about ready to explode!), who we also raised from an earlier litter. Ariel delivered three babies on February 14th... yep, Valentine's Day! They are all Blue; a boy and girl are solid and the other boy is mink. I want to address the 3 most common questions we get: -We are in Nashville, TN. That is mentioned elsewhere but it is the #1 question we get ("I want a kitten! Where are you?") so I thought it was worth saying again -We breed quite sporadically, so as of today I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA when we will breed again. Remember, this is not a business for us, this is just for fun. We sell kittens when we have them, and we don't work on anyone's schedule but the whims of the breeding adults. -We have shipped kittens via same-day commercial airline service (maximum was a 4 hour flight, 8 hours from my door to a door in Colorado!), and while not cheap (~$200) it sure is effective. Our kittens have also taken 8 hour car trips, should you live as close as say Chicago and wish to pop down here to pick them up.

We found the blue baby a home! Actually, we found her at least four really good homes, but she is just one kitten and we finally made a decision. The extra weeks of attention from Deborah and I and the extra interaction with her mother and sister helped dramatically rehabilitate her and she is not nearly as skittish. Now she craws under the blankets with us, purrs like mad, and only occassionally looks spooked. ;) Here she is at the Nashville airport saying goodbye from within her new cat carrier. Her new owner flew in from Denver at 2PM, got the kitten and the health records, and caught a flight out at 5:30PM... talk about same day service (but Oy, the cost!). I compulsively tracked the flight online until it was down (what can I say? I loved her a lot and the internet is our friend).

We still have ONE kitten left, but this one is special for two reasons; this kitten needs a particular kind of home environment, and when we find a good home for her we will be GIVING HER AWAY FOR FREE. This kitten is unusually skittish for a Tonkinese. She doesn't like sudden movement or loud noises, and if you scare her she will run into the next room for a moment while things calm down. She is VERY healthy, there is not a damn thing wrong with her except her skittishness. She is loving, and will happily climb into your lap and sit for hours or crawl under the blankets with you in bed. She loves little treats like bits of steak or fish or cheese and will take them from your hand. She loooooooooves plastic straws as her primary toy, with plastic milk rings as a close second. She also likes human-powered toys like "Da Bird" or even a piece of string, so it isn't like she fears people. I cannot explain it. She is just... skittish. I want only ONE thing for this kitten; a perfect home. Is that so much to ask? ;) Seriously, kittens from this litter sold for $500 each. This is not remotely about money. This is about finding her the PERFECT home. I believe she needs a quiet, stable home... and by that I generally mean I do not believe she should be around most children. Very few children have the personality or mindset that would keep them calm and composed when in the presence of the kitten, and the first time some kids go running through a room screaming in their banshee pack fashion this poor baby will go shooting under the nearest cupboard, dresser, bed, couch, etc. I believe this kitten deserves a "sedate and measured" home like an elderly person/couple, though I may be overstating it a bit since most adult homes would fit the bill. If you would like to be considered for adopting this kitten FOR FREE please drop us an E-mail (deborah_at_tonkinesekitten_dot_com) and please let me know why you think you would provide a good home for this baby. More pictures are available, but I love this one so I thought I'd post it first. I will add more as soon as I can

All the kittens are born; one litter from Tucket and one litter 3 weeks later by Pyewacket. We had planned to take a great deal of pictures and video, and do massive updates and upgrades to the web site, but harsh realities of life made that very difficult. Until quite recently I was working 14-18 hour days at work preparing for the release of a new product I am in charge of, and Deborah got a nasty cold at least once and a fairly nasty flu, both of which slowed her way down for a while. As of today we are down to only FOUR kittens, and that counts BOTH litters! Response as usual has been frantic, and our waiting list has gotten to the size of a rural phone book. Out of the four remaining kittens there may be as little as ONE actually available, the other three having been partially or entirely spoken for. To know a Tonk is to want one... In what is sure to be an annoying blow to those of you who thought you WERE on our waiting list... well... uh... we may have lost the master list! This may especially upset those of you who thought they would get a kitten eventually (soon, even) and have been patiently waiting for as long as two years for us to have more kittens. To you people, I apologize profoundly! I know how I would feel if it happend to me, and I sure hate being the "bad guy" just because I can't keep track of one slip of paper. Anyone who would like to be put on the list to be contacted when we have kittens is encouraged to drop an E-mail to deborah_at_tonkinesekitten_dot_com and your contact info will be securely stored. While reviewing some recent pictures of the kittens I found this one, which I call "Escher's Kittens" as an ode to MC Escher and the observation that these three kittens each appear to have a different "down".

New kittens born on June 1, 2005. First batch outta the gate! Tucket delivered _FIVE_ healthy babies at 3:00 a.m. They are all in great shape. We did snap a few early photos once Tucket got them all cleaned and dry, and will be posting them soon.

We have two mother cats that we only breed about once a year. In 2003, one litter of kittens was born on April 8, 2003 and the other was born on April 21, 2003. The babies are not actually be ready to leave their mothers until they are 11-12 weeks old; but but starting around 8 weeks they are old enough to be played with and shown to people, who can reserve their favorite and pick them up when they are ready.

In 2003 there were nine kittens total; eight boys and only one girl! That has never happened before; it's always been about half and half males and females.

ALL OUR KITTENS HAVE NEW LOVING HOMES FOR 2003. Thank you for coming by, and let us know if you would like a spot on our waiting list for 2004.

Pyewacket had 5 kittens on April 8, 2003. They were:

1 Blue Mink Female (ADOPTED)
1 Platinum Mink Male (ADOPTED)
1 Champagne Mink Male (ADOPTED)
1 Champagne Point Male (ADOPTED)
1 Natural Point Male (ADOPTED)

Tucket had 4 kittens on April 21, 2003. They were:

1 Platinum Mink Male (ADOPTED)
1 Natural Point Male (ADOPTED)
1 Natural Point Male (ADOPTED)
1 Champagne Point Male (ADOPTED)