Toyger

The history of the Toyger begins in the United States in the early 1980s thanks to Judy Sudgen, whose mother, Jean Mill, is the founder of the Bengal breed. She notices that her cat, Millwood Sharp Shooter, has two tabby mark spots on the temple. She then thinks that this could be the key to developing a cat with the true circular pattern of a tiger's head. The two founding cats of the toyger breed are a short-haired mackerel tabby domestic cat named Scrapmetal and a sturdy Bengal named Millwood Rumpled Spotskin. In 1990, the TICA registers the breed as 'under evaluation'. In 1993, Judy imports Jammu Blu, a street cat, from Kashmir in India. This cat gets closer to what she wants for the breed. The name of the breed comes from the contraction between the English words Toy (toy) and Tiger (tiger). The toyger breed is accepted in TICA championship in 2007 and the breed's creator presents toygers that participate that same year in the TICA exhibition in Gagny in France organized by the Shadow and Light feline club. In 2016, the Official Book of Feline Origins (LOOF) recognizes the toyger as a pedigree cat and issues RIEX pedigrees (Experimental Registration Register). In 2017, the breed club 'Toyger France' is created and is affiliated to the LOOF. Its objective is to participate in the management of the breed standard in consultation with the statutory management bodies of the LOOF and the Scientific Council if health and/or ethical issues are addressed. It also ensures the promotion of the toyger breed and information to the public, potential buyers but also to actors in the feline world. M. Rouver Mickaël is president. The Pawpeds website opened the toyger database. The president of Toyger France, M. Rouver, volunteered to register the pedigrees. The breed is very rare. In 2019, 23 toygers were registered among the 45,549 pedigrees issued by the LOOF. As of January 22, 2020, the Pawpeds database has 469 toygers from around the world registered. The toyger can compete in TICA and WCF competitions. Toyger France has begun the process of recognizing the Toyger breed to allow it to compete in the LOOF championship. In May 2020, the TICA recognizes Toyger Club.

Character traits are not described in the standards, they remain perfectly individual and are a function of each cat's history. The toyger is a cat described as sociable and would enjoy human company. It would get along well with other animals and would be intelligent. Its personality is described as relaxed. It would adapt easily to the home. It would like to interact with its adopter and play all sorts of games, for example fetching a ball thrown to it. It is a cat described as very close to its adopter who would need attention to remain balanced.

The current version of the Toyger is still far from the tiger. Breeders work hard to obtain a wilder head and appearance closer to the tiger. Through computer, breeders have developed a draft of the accomplished Toyger in synthetic image. The standard desired by Judy Sugden was validated in 2007 by the TICA and applies without divergence to the WCF and LOOF feline federations. It will probably evolve further in the coming years.