Tag: tiger

Breed Profiles

Toyger: Tiny Toy Tigers

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Meredith Hemphill

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Toyger is a portmanteau of “toy” and “tiger” [6, 7, 10]. If there were such a thing as a toy tiger like there are toy poodles, this is probably what they would look like. Toygers are a new and very rare designer cat breed meant to have the exotic appearance of a tiger with the disposition of a domestic cat [2, 7-9].

History of the Toyger

Photo by Matteus Silva on Pexels

To be clear, Toygers are not at all related to actual tigers [1, 4, 7-10]. That would be impossible. They are related to Asian Leopard Cats, however, because they are a combination of Bengals, which are hybrid cats, and mackerel tabby Domestic Shorthairs [1, 2, 5-11].

The breed was created in the 1980s in California by Judy Sugden, whose mother, Jean Mill, created Bengals [2, 4, 6-8]. A local exotic animal sanctuary with wild cats among its rescues got her thinking how incredible it would be to have a housecat that looked like one of those [5]. Then, Sugden noticed that one of her Bengals, Milwood Sharp Shooter, had spotted tabby markings on the sides of his head [1, 2, 6-9]. Domestic tabby cats don’t usually have stripes there, but tigers do, and this got Sugden thinking–what if she could breed a housecat that looked like a tiger [1, 2, 7-9]?

Sugden began a breeding program with a hefty Bengal named Milwood Rumpled Spotskin and a tabby Domestic Shorthair named Scrapmetal [2, 6, 7, 9]. She also traveled to India and brought home a stray tabby cat from Kashmir with just the right spotted markings between his ears [2, 4, 6-9]. She named him Jammu Blu and added him to the nascent breeding program [2, 4, 6, 7, 9].

With very careful selective breeding, Sugden and a small number of other breeders have developed a breed with tiger-like traits. Sugden calls the slow process “squinch-by-squinch development” [4]. Over thirty years in, they still aren’t finished perfecting the Toyger [2, 5, 10]. Nonetheless, The International Cat Association (TICA) recognized Toygers as a breed in 1993 and accepted them for championship status in 2007 [1, 2, 6-10]. TICA remains the only registry that fully recognizes Toygers as championship-eligible [4], but the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF), a U.K. registry, gave Toygers preliminary status in 2016 [2].

Breed Characteristics

Appearance

Toygers are medium-to-large cats with long, low, muscular bodies [1, 2, 6-9]. Combined with their long toes, their body shape gives them a rolling gait like a tiger [1, 5, 6, 8]. They carry their long tails low like a big cat, too [2]. Toygers have a broad head with small, rounded ears and small-to-medium eyes [2, 4, 7]. Their signature trait, of course, is their tiger-like pelt.

Toyger fur is dense and plush. All Toygers are tabbies, with bold, vertical stripes that have broken and braided patterns just like tiger stripes [1, 4-8]. TICA and GCCF only recognize the “brown mackerel tabby” Toyger, which is the black-on-orange type that looks like your typical tiger [2, 9]. They also have some white on their undersides and gold “glitter” [1, 4, 6-9]. Glitter is a genetic trait that gives a cat’s coat a, well, glittery appearance. A few breeders do have Toygers in other colors, including silver/white Toygers meant to resemble white tigers [10].

Personality

Photo by danilobiancalana

The Toyger is an active, outgoing, and intelligent cat [1, 2, 5-9]. They need a lot of playtime and cognitive stimulation to make sure they don’t get bored [1, 5-7]. Happily, they are quite sociable and trainable, so there are plenty of ways you can entertain each other [1, 6, 8, 9]. Toygers are even recommended for running agility courses [1]! Toygers often enjoy learning tricks like fetch and going on walks on a leash [1, 6-8]. They can usually make friends with anybody, including children and other pets, so a Toyger can make a good family pet [1, 2, 5-7].

Keeping Company with Tigers

A Toyger’s short coat can pretty much take care of itself, but these kitties do shed quite a bit, so occasional brushing might be good just to keep the free-floating fluff to a minimum [2, 5, 7-9]. These cats need something to do when you’re out of the house, so make sure they have plenty of toys and maybe another pet to play with [8]. These smart kitties particularly enjoy the challenge of puzzle toys [6]. And Toygers are affectionate cats that love to spend time with their families, so make sure that you have that time to spend with them every day [1, 8]!

Special Health Concerns?

Because Toygers are such a new breed, and there are still very few of them, no one knows for sure what sort of breed-specific health problems they might turn out to have [1, 2, 7, 8]. So far, they seem to be generally healthy cats. Some breeders have reported adverse reactions to the feline leukemia vaccine in their cats, but this hasn’t been substantiated [2]. Toygers may have an increased risk for heart murmurs [7-9]. A 2016 study in the Journal of Veterinary Medicine discovered a serious developmental brain disorder in a family of Toygers [3].

Affected Toygers had underdeveloped or absent brain structures as well as enlarged ventricles (the fluid-filled cavities in the brain) and cysts in their brains [3]. They behaved surprisingly normally for all that, only seeming to be “clumsy” [3]. The disorder is a recessive genetic disorder, which means kittens must inherit it from both parents, and it is was tied to the trait of short, round ears that breeders select for in Toygers [3]. The researchers didn’t figure out why the brain problems and the ear shape were connected [3], and other Toygers with similar ears have not been shown to have the same problem. It remains to be seen if this condition was unique to this family of Toygers or if it is a more widespread problem that has not become obvious yet.

Adopting a Toyger

There are very few Toygers in the world because this is such a new breed, and there still are not many breeders. Add to that the fact that the breed is still under development, and you have a recipe for some very expensive cats. $5,000 for one Toyger kitten is pretty typical [4, 10]. The even rarer silver/white Toyger kittens are more expensive than that, up to $10,000 [10].

Because Toygers are descended from Bengals (albeit somewhat distantly) which are hybrids of domestic cats and Asian Leopard Cats, some locations consider Toygers wild animals [4]. Toygers may be banned outright or require a permit in your location, so be sure to check the local laws at all levels before you bring one home [4].

Remember, it’s always better to adopt than shop. Check out breed-specific rescues like Great Lakes Bengal Rescue to see if they have any Toygers that need a home! Also, responsible breeders will adopt out adult cats that don’t quite fit the breed standard or have been retired from breeding.

Fun Facts

  1. Toygers love water! They might sneak into the shower with you. [6]
  2. Every Toyger’s stripes are totally unique. [6, 7]
  3. Some Toyger breeders donate a portion of profits from kitten sales to tiger conservation. [5]
Toyger kittens on Animal Planet’s Too Cute!

Works Cited

  1. El’Sprite Toygers. (n.d.). Toyger information. OzToyger. https://oztoyger.com.au/toyger-info
  2. Governing Council of the Cat Fancy. (n.d.). Toyger. https://www.gccfcats.org/getting-a-cat/choosing/cat-breeds/toyger/
  3. Keating, M. K., Sturges, B. K., Siso, S., Wisner, E. R., et al. (2016). Characterization of an inherited neurological syndrome in Toyger cats with forebrain commissural malformations, ventriculomegaly and interhemispheric cysts. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 30, 617-626. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jvim.13836
  4. Marvar, A. (2020, May 27). You thought your cat was fancy? She wanted a cat that looked like the tiger. Meet the Toyger. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/style/toyger-fever.html
  5. Scherr, A. (Producer). (2011, April 9). Tonkinese, Nebelung, Serengeti, Korat, Cats Gone Wild, RagaMuffin, Toyger (Season 3, Episode 3) [TV series episode]. In Cats 101, Powderhouse Productions.
  6. Sorocco, E. (2020, July 2). Toyger. Catster. https://www.catster.com/cat-breeds/toyger
  7. Syufy, F. (2022, June 30). Toyger cat: Cat breed profile, characteristics & care. The Spruce Pets. https://www.thesprucepets.com/toyger-cat-profile-554213
  8. Taylor, C. and Guthrie, C. (2021, March 24). Toyger. Daily Paws. https://www.dailypaws.com/cats-kittens/cat-breeds/toyger
  9. The International Cat Association. (2020, April 13). Toyger breed. https://tica.org/breeds/browse-all-breeds?view=article&id=1868
  10. Urban Exotic Cats. (n.d.). The Toyger cat. https://urbanexoticcats.com/the-toyger-cat/

Published May 14th, 2023

Culture

Werecats, Part I: The Mystic Weretiger

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Meredith Hemphill

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Encyclopaedia Felidae now has a Patreon! Go to www.patreon.com/EncyclopaediaFelidae if you want to help support this content!

Man with painted tiger stripes
Photo by Charles Crawshaw World Peace in 2020 from Pexels

Werelions, weretigers, werejaguars, oh my! That was my where my brain was at about thirty seconds into my research on ailuranthropy, or the phenomenon of humans transforming into big cats (from the Greek ailouros “cat” and anthropos “human”). I hadn’t intended for this to be a series, but I quickly realized that werecats were a much larger topic than I had expected. This means I get to draw the Halloween blogs out longer, so I can’t complain. We will begin the series with the cat people that stalk human prey in the folktales of Asia: the weretigers.

Weretigers are the most frequently occurring kind of were-creature in the folklore of tropical Asia (1, 2). Tales about these creatures can be found in the mythology of China, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia, just to name a few. Humans have lived alongside tigers in this part of the world forever, really, although the decline of tigers has tragically made that less the case. In Europe, the most fearsome natural predator was the wolf, giving rise to stories of humans becoming wolves. There was no more appropriate metaphor for the animal within. Where the tiger is the king of the jungle, however, humans become cats.

Under Their Skin

The stories about weretigers are almost as different as the people and places where they are told. In only some of them are people bodily transformed into tigers. Often, the transformation takes place once the weretiger puts on a tiger skin with or without an accompanying incantation (3, 4). The European werewolf is frequently made the same way. There are some stories where people became weretigers accidentally after slipping into a tiger skin (4). One story tells of a Chinese monk who put on a tiger skin to play a practical joke, only to become a tiger and remain so for a year (4).

Alternatively, a person may become a weretiger by burning incense, reciting an incantation, and throwing his clothes off (5, 6). By shedding their clothes, they are shedding their personhood, in a sense, and once naked they transform into a tiger (5, 6). If someone steals the clothes, the weretiger will not be able to turn back into a human (6).

White tiger on grass
Photo by Anthony from Pexels

My personal favorite tactic, however, involves circling an anthill seven times clockwise while repeating a secret charm (7). This lacks the obvious symbolism of stripping off one’s humanity but is infinitely more bizarre. To turn back, simply do the opposite: walk around the anthill counterclockwise seven times while repeating the charm (7). Does this mean weretigers can talk? Does it have to be the same anthill? I have no idea, but I love it.

Some transformation rituals require one or more accomplices. In one, a practitioner recites particular spells, or mantras, over a measure of water (1). An assistant then sprinkles the water over the weretiger to effect the transformation (1). To change them back, the assistant sprinkles the water over them again (1). In some versions of the throw-off-the-clothes ritual, the only way to become human again is for someone to hurl the weretiger’s clothes at them while they are in tiger form (1). If a weretiger’s accomplice is unable or unwilling to help for whatever reason, they will be stuck as a tiger, presumably for the rest of their life (5).

Tiger Spirits

In some beliefs, a person becomes a weretiger when they are possessed by a spirit. The Lisu people of Laos believe that weretigers can possess people and may then possess their family members in turn (8). They also believe that those who are thus possessed will put “the essence of the weretiger” into a valuable object and leave it lying on a path (8). Whoever picks the object up will be possessed, too (8). I can only imagine the chain reactions of weretiger possession that ensue from a single Weretiger Zero.

On the other hand, there is a folk belief in Malaysia that certain families are already tigrine by birth (9). After death, they become tigers that somewhat resemble their human selves and remember their human lives (9). These tigers visit their humans relatives during festivals or times of great turmoil and can sometimes be called upon for help (9). When a human member of the family is about to die, at least one of their tiger relatives will come to hold vigil outside the house, waiting (9). A few days after death, their grave will be found opened, and a representative tiger will appear in the nearby forest (9). The journal article describing this belief was written in 1922 (9), so it is possible that the lore has died out by now. Unless, of course, it’s not just a myth.

Dreamtime Weretiger

Tiger in snow
Image by Marcel Langthim from Pixabay

Interestingly, there is a major type of weretiger that does not involve any metamorphosis at all. These weretigers leave their human bodies in their sleep to become tigers. In the lore of certain indigenous peoples of India and south Asia, some individuals naturally have the ability to be this kind of weretiger (1, 2). When these weretigers dream, a part of their soul travels into the jungle and joins with the soul of a live tiger (1, 2). The weretiger then acts out the desires of the sleeping human, which can sometimes result in the property destruction, injury, or death of the weretiger’s enemies (1, 2).

The weretiger and their tiger have a close relationship. They always migrates into the same tiger, night after night, for their entire life (1, 2). If the tiger is wounded or killed while bonded with the weretiger’s soul, the human body suffers the same fate (1, 2).

The Khasis of northeastern India ascribe to a variation of the dreaming weretiger belief. Khasis people believe that humans are divided into the body, the soul, and the rngiew (10, 11). The rngiew is a sort of essential, divine essence integral to each person (10). When the weretigers sleep, their rngiew leave their bodies and transform into tigers in the spirit world (10, 11). However, the spirit world and the physical one are not entirely separate, and the weretigers are able to interact with the material plane as tigers (10, 11). People either inherit the ability to be a weretiger or are chosen to receive the gift by a deity (10).

The Good, the Bad, and the Stripey

I have read a lot of old werewolf stories because that’s the kind of thing I do for fun. I can’t think of a single one where the werewolf was presented as anything other than a force for evil. Modern representations are much more varied, of course, but folklore decidedly depicts werewolves as bad dogs. Weretigers, however, are painted in many different lights.

Tiger in jungle
Image by Capri23auto from Pixabay

Sometimes, weretigers engender terror. They are thought to kill people and livestock (1, 2, 4). But other times they are protectors (9, 10, 11, 12). The Khasis weretigers have a sacred duty to protect their communities from harm, including other weretigers (11). There are Chinese myths about weretigers who are the instruments of heaven, meting out divine fate whether they want to or not (4).

Sumatrans believe that were-tiger homes are made of roofs thatched with human hair, walls made of human skin, and beams of human bones.

Joane le Roux, New Straits Times

Weretigers have a complicated place in the folklore of Asia, both within and between cultures. Should you want to know how to recognize them, just to be safe, there are a few ways. One of the most common signs is that weretigers lack the groove on the upper lip (5, 9). A person caught vomiting chicken feathers is considered a likely suspect for a weretiger (12). I would suggest that that should make them suspect for something regardless. The tracks of the weretiger are distinctive because there are five toes on each paw, whereas normal tigers, like all cats, leave prints with five toes on the front paws and four on the back (10, 11). If you see large cat prints with any number of toes, perhaps the best practice is to depart with haste rather than start counting.

Works Cited

  1. Brighenti, F. (2017). Traditional beliefs about weretigers among the Garos of Meghalaya. eTropic, 16(1), 96-111. PDF
  2. Brighenti, F. (2011). Kradi mliva: The phenomenon of tiger-transformation in the traditional lore of the Kondh tribals of Orissa. Lokaratna, 4, 11-25. PDF
  3. Casal, U.A. (1959). The goblin fox and badger and other witch animals of Japan. Folklore Studies, 18, 1-93. doi: 10.2307/1177429.
  4. Hammond, C.E. (1992). Sacred metamorphosis: The weretiger and the shaman. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 46(2/3), 235-255. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23658449
  5. Wessing, R. (1995). The last tiger in East Java: Symbolic continuity in ecological change. Asian Folklore Studies, 54(2), 191-218. doi: 10.2307/1178941
  6. Wessing, R. (1994). “Bangatowa,” “Patogu” and “Gaddhungan”: Perceptions of the tiger among the Madurese. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 25(2), 368-380. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20071663
  7. Biria, S.G.D. (1947). The Muria and their Ghotul. Oxford University Press.
  8. Worra, B.T. (2012, December 20). Pondering weretigers of Laos. On the Other Side of the Eye. http://thaoworra.blogspot.com/2012/12/pondering-weretigers-of-laos.html
  9. bin Ahmad, Z.A. (1922). The tiger-breed families. Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 85, 36-39. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41561390
  10. Lyngdoh, M. (2016). Tiger transformation among the Khasis of northeastern India: Belief worlds and shifting realities. Anthropos, 111(2), 649-658. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44791292
  11. Kharmawphlang, D. (2000). In search of tigermen: The were-tiger tradition of the Khasis. India International Centre Quaterly, 27(4), 160-176. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23005708
  12. le Roux, J. (2014, November 1). In pursuit of a were-tiger. New Strait Times. https://www.nst.com.my/news/2015/09/pursuit-were-tiger

Published October 26th, 2020

Behavior, Science

Why are cats crazy for catnip?

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Meredith Hemphill

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Encyclopaedia Felidae now has a Patreon! Go to www.patreon.com/EncyclopaediaFelidae if you want to help support this content!

Catnip flowers
Photo by S W Yang from FreeImages

A catnipped cat is a sight to behold. They lick and chew the wondrous herb, rub their faces in it, and roll around on the ground. Sometimes they drool or run screaming through the house. Some cats, on the other hand, don’t seem to care for catnip at all. Cats are truly a never-ending source of entertainment and mystery. Scientists of many stripes have been investigating the relationship between cats and catnip since at least the 1960s, so many questions have been answered, although some still remain.

Catnip, also called catmint or catwort, usually refers to the species Nepeta cataria, but can include any of the 250 or so species in the genus Nepeta. Cats react to quite a few of these species, not only Nepeta cataria, the most well-known catnip. Catnips are members of the mint family. Most of the species are perennials. They have opposite leaves, grey-green foliage, and small flowers in a variety of colors. N. cataria has pink or white flowers. Catnip is aromatic even to humans, smelling minty and perhaps lemony. It is the scent of catnip that attracts felines to the plant so strongly.

Not all cats care for catnip, but it does seem to be the case that all species of cats have the catnip reaction, or at least a lot of them. Wild cats large and small have been observed reacting to catnip in the same way that domestic cats do, although just like housecats, not all of their wild brethren are fond of the stuff, either. The chemical in catnip that causes this more-or-less universal reaction is nepetalactone, a volatile oil produced in glands on the underside of the leaves (1). Nepetalactone repels insects, so it is thought that the plant produces the oil in order to repel herbivorous bugs (2), but the chemical appears to mimic a natural cat pheremone. At least, that’s the theory, given that the behaviors exhibited during the catnip reaction bear a striking resemblance to some of those of a she-cat in heat (3).

Wild cats big and small playing with catnip

When a cat inhales nepetalactone, the volatile oil binds sensory receptors which trigger neurons in the olfactory bulb of the brain (4). These neurons, in turn, relate the message to brain regions that cause an emotional and sexual response to the stimulus (4). Catnip is sometimes called an “euphoriant” for cats, although in truth we can only guess at what they are feeling.

Inhaling the scent of catnip is usually stimulating while eating catnip mellows cats out, although individual cats can react to catnip differently. Some may even become aggressive toward other cats or people, so keep an eye on kitty until you know how they are going to behave under the influence, so to speak. The entire reaction lasts about ten minutes, after which the cat cannot react again for up to two hours. Catnip is considered non-addictive and safe. Too much catnip at once can cause a cat to get sick, like anything else. You might want to store your catnip well out of reach if you buy a large amount. Nepetalactone loses potency over time, so it’s a good idea to keep dried catnip in the freezer to avoid this anyway.

Ginger tabby in catnip plant
Image by CatCrazy from Pixabay

What about cats who are indifferent to catnip? There are two possible reasons. First, kittens, with possibly some rare exceptions, do not react to catnip and may even avoid it (5). Cats begin to experience the excitement of catnip around six months of age, when they reach sexual maturity. Interestingly, this occurs even when cats are spayed or neutered (5). But some cats never do become interested in the herb, and this is due to genetics. There is a dominant allele which confers the catnip reaction on cats who inherit at least one copy of it at that gene (5). Anywhere from 20-50% of cats are estimated not to react to catnip and therefore to have two recessive alleles for that trait. What that means for their biology otherwise is hard to say, as the reason for cats reacting as they do remains a matter of speculation.

If you have a cat that likes catnip, you might consider growing a pot of it yourself. Mint species tend to be sprawling and invasive–catnip has already become weedy and invasive outside its native Eurasia and Africa–so I would recommend confining it to a pot. But then you would always have fresh catnip available for your kitty and, for that matter, yourself. Catnip has been used medicinally for hundreds if not thousands of years. In addition to its repute as a natural bug repellent (albeit only for a few hours at a time), it has a mild sedative effect on the human brain similar to chamomile. Herbal teas of catnip may be good for anxiety or insomnia, or just good for relaxing after a hard day.

Native Americans once used catnip to treat infant colic, and the herb is reputed to be good for migraines, digestive complaints, and as a paste for arthritis (4). I cannot personally vouch for these healing properties, but I can say that I kill every plant I try to grow, and even I managed to grow a nice, healthy catnip plant for several months, which is probably a record for me. The cats loved the fresh catnip, but I did have to move the plant outside to prevent them from just munching the whole thing to the dirt. At least I knew they liked it.

Fun fact: other plants, such as valerian and silver vine, affect cats the same way as catnip!

Catnip bubbles!

Works Cited

  1. John Innes Centre. (2018, December 11). How catnip makes the chemical that causes cats to go crazy. ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181211103125.htm
  2. Eisner, T. (1964). Catnip: Its raison d’être. Science, 146(3649), 1318-1320. DOI: 10.1126/science.146.3649.1318
  3. Palen, G.F. and Goddard, G.V. (1966). Catnip and oestrous behaviour in the cat. Animal Behaviour, 14(2-3), 372-377. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-3472(66)80100-8
  4. Turner, R. (2007, May 29). How does catnip work its magic on cats? Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-how-does-catnip-work-on-cats/
  5. Todd, N.B. (1962). Inheritance of the catnip response in domestic cats. Journal of Heredity, 53(2), 54-56. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a107121

Published April 17, 2020

Updated January 30, 2021