Ragdoll Cats

Ragdoll Cats - Photo of Lestyn a red lynx point: © Dani Rozeboom

Introduction

The beautiful Ragdoll cat (both physically and in temperament) is a testament to how a fine purebred pedigree cat can be created from ordinary "free roaming" non-purebred domestic cats.

This breed was created and developed by Ann Baker in the early 1960s, initially by mating a Persian "type" cat with a Birman "type". Through careful breeding thereafter the breed was developed. In fact the development of this breed to registration was carried out by the Daytons, see below.

The creation of a breed from non-purebred stock is slightly unusual. A similar start to a breed

Thumbnail Photo: © Helmi Flick - click for large image

is the Nebelung. I discuss the terms "purebred" and "pedigree" on the Household Pet page of this site.

There used to be a myth (perhaps no longer widespread) that this cat was immune to pain. This is clearly impossible (see History for the origin of this myth).

This is a highly popular cat because of an attractive combination of appearance, a fine/balanced character and little in the way of genetically associated health issues (see health issues below)

Perhaps their docile, trusting and accepting nature makes them more vulnerable to danger. There is more danger outside the home. No doubt this encourages people to keep them in, which they should find acceptable. Some say she is "strictly" an indoor cat. I talk about indoor and outdoor cats and building cat enclosures.

History

Date	Event
early 1960s	Ann Baker, a Californian cat breeder, starts creating the breed
1960s and 70s?	Ann Baker seems to have created the myth that this breed is immune to pain and have human genes - alienating other breeders
?	Denny Dayton an early breeder of this breed founds the Ragdoll Fanciers Club International (RFCI)
1967	Ragdoll first registered in the USA due to the efforts of Denny Drayton
1971	Ann Baker creates her own cat association, International Ragdoll Cat Association (IRCA)
1975	Ann Baker patented the name "Ragdoll" - breeders who acquired their Ragdolls before the patent was issued, did not feel bound by it
2005	Patent for the the name "Ragdoll" expired
Currently	Ann Baker is deceased and despite her perhaps bitter fight to retain "rights" over her creation she left the legacy of this wonderful breed of cat. 500+ breeders worldwide.

Seal point Ragdoll Photos of Ophelia © Dani Rozeboom Cattey Yeri Shaes

Appearance and Character

The history is interesting thanks to Ann Baker's bahavior. The appearance and character of the Ragdoll cat is perhaps one of the best known, in part, because of the breed's descriptive name.

The first thing to note is that this cat is pointed (darker extremeties) with

Photo of Bicolor Ragdoll: © Helmi Flick

blue eyes. The fur is rabbit like.

One of the four different patterns has no white interfering with the points (see Ophelia above). The other three patterns are (a) mitted, the same as the Snowshoe and Birman. In the mitten pattern there is a limited amount of white fur on the feet and the face, (b) bicolor, an example of a classic bicolor is the Japanese Bobtail, in which there is more white and the white is also on the body and (c) van, see Turkish Van.

These latter three patterns have varying degrees of white spotting on the fur. The most white fur is found on the bicolor, the least on the mitted. See the genetics section for a brief discussion the action of the genes causing these patterns.

The van and bicolor can compete for prizes in CFA shows while the other two patterns can show but not compete for titles.

This breed is large (males 15-20 lbs, perhaps up to 25lbs). They are very similar in size to the Maine Coon for example, which is considered one of the largest domestic cats.

There are six point colors:

Seal (see an example below)
Blue
Chocolate
Lilac (the kittens below are in my opinion lilac - wrong? tell me plse)
Red
Cream

The points can be solid or lynx points (meaning that the point is a tabby point as it is affected by the tabby and Agouti genes). Lynx points can also be tortie-lynx. As a result the above list can be extended to include the following:

SEAL LYNX POINT - the pointed areas are seal (dark brown) brown stripes or bars against a lighter background.

CHOCOLATE LYNX POINT - warm milk chocolate tabby banding against a lighter background.

BLUE LYNX POINT - cold body tone (bluish to platinum grey) and clearly defined blue/gray bars (see Myst below).

LILAC LYNX POINT - glacial white body fur and frosty/pinkish tabby bars

RED LYNX POINT - white body with points of deep red bars (see Lestyn above heading this page).

CREAM LYNX POINT - clear white body with tabby points that are pale buff to light pink bars

SEAL-TORTIE POINT - pale fawn to cream body with points that are mottled red/cream seal point.

CHOCOLATE-TORTIE POINT - milk chocolate points mottles with cream/red on a ivory colored body.

BLUE-CREAM POINT - deep blue/grey points mottled with cream against a bluish/grey body color.

LILAC-CREAM POINT - frosty grey points with a pink tone mottled with pale cream on a glacial white body.

SEAL-TORTIE LYNX POINT - seal brown tabby bars on the points mottled by red/cream tortoiseshell pattern against a cream/pale fawn body color.

CHOCOLATE-TORTIE LYNX POINT - milk chocolate tabby points mottled by the tortoiseshell gene (red/cream) against an ivory body.

BLUE-CREAM LYNX POINT - blue/grey bars (overlayed with cream mottling) on the points against a bluish white/platinum grey body color.

LILAC-CREAM LYNX POINT - grey/pinkish tabby bars at points overlayed with cream against a glacial white body.

Ragdoll kittens - photo © Helmi Flick

Despite being a medium longhaired cat, an advantage with Ragdolls cats is that their coat requires less maintenance than a Persian's coat. This is because there is no undercoat. There is also less shedding (but there is still a lot of it!)

Their character is well known as being gentle and relaxed (provided they are properly socialized as kittens) Their character seems to be similar to the Birman, which is perhaps unsurprising as the Birman was part of the development of this breed. She really does seem to be an all round great cat. Oh, she has a quite voice to match her gentle character.

Ragdoll cat - photo © Helmi Flick

Ragdoll cats behavior
This is a link to a post about this cat's behavior, which, frankly, is not that different to other cat breeds but definitely laid back.

Ragdoll Side Show
This slide show shows all the pictures of Ragdoll cats in the Picasaweb album that feeds this page. There are pictures in it that are not on this page.

Ragdolls, like Siamese are born white as pointing is heat sensitive. It takes about 2 years to have a settled color. Ragdolls are slow to mature (aged 3).

Photo of Jack: © Andreas Solberg

Ragdoll cats may shed less than Persians but you're going to have a bit of fur maintenance (regular grooming) and clearing up to do. They shed a lot it seems too. As for being docile, I think not. Placid maybe but not necessarily lap cats. I think whether a cat is a lap cat or not is a characteristic personal to the cat rather than a cat breed trait. Or it may be in part a result of early kittenhood training.

This has a bearing on whether they are exactly suited to permanent indoor living. It would seem that the word is out that they should be kept in. Bearing in mind their level of inquisitiveness (inline with all domestic cats) this may be a bit of a myth.

Ragdoll cats - A fine Raggie - photo ©Helmi Flick

Ragdolls like human company a lot. But you know all domestic cats do. It is the relationship upon which their existence depends after all. Anyway Ragdoll cats may need human company more than average and this may make them more vulerable outside. Of course cats can catch diseases such as FIV and FeLV outside, but then it is possible that I'll get knocked down by a bus. Life is full of risk and we shouldn't try make life risk free because we spoil life if we do. It is a balancing exercise as for all things. It is our duty to provide as full a life for our cats as possible (and as safe as possible).

Because of their long fur they will produce fur balls. Ragdoll cats are not hypoallergic (no cat is except perhaps the Allerca cats but we aren't sure about that are we?).

Because they like company and are quite vocal they ask you a lot of questions (basically requests, you know what I mean).

They do not dislike water. Some cats actively like it such as Bengal cats and the other wild cat hybrids.

Genetics

As mentioned, all Ragdoll cats are pointed with blue eyes and long hair and are therefore similar to the Himalayan, which is a cross between the Siamese and longhaired cats. The Himalayan is also called a Colorpoint and genetically there is some of the Colorpoint in the Ragdoll.

Overlayed on the colorpoint coloring and points is the effect of the piebald gene that causes the white spotting. This gene has the symbol S.

It is thought that the mitted pattern (white on legs and face) can be expressed genetically as Ss (heterozygous form). Whereas, when there is more white as in the bicolor and van pattern the white spotting gene is homozygous - SS.

In addition to the action of the piebald or white spotting gene the other genes responsible for the coat color and pointing are, in seal point Ragdoll cats, the following: aa (non-agouti or self, solid color), B-(black in recessive or dominant form), cˢcˢ (the Siamese gene in homozygous form) and D- (the dense coloration gene in recessive or dominant form indicated by the hephen after the letter).

Health

A number of cat breeds have, it seems, a predisposition to contracting HCM (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy). Ragdoll cats fall into this group. The others that come to mind are the Maine Coon, British Shorthair and Bengal. I have made some posts on HCM in Bengal cats that would apply equally to Ragdoll cats:

A fair bit of work is being done on this heart disease. The Maine Coon seems thus far to have got the lions share of the research. If and when other inherited diseases come to my attention (if any), I'll mention them here. If you can assist please tell me here.

Ragdoll cat rescue
This link leads to a post on the blogger subdomain about Ragdoll cat rescue with links to purebred cat rescue operations.

Ragdoll cats - Breeders

Top listed Google non-directory Ragdoll cattery websites in descending order (links open in new window).

Ragnarok Cattery
Located in Mira Loma, California, USA. They say that they have been operating since 1977 (remarkable and congratulations are due). Nice informative site.

Stellarhart Ragdolls
Located Southern California, USA. Operating since 1986 (more congrats due). Clean sensibe site.

Austin Farm Ragdoll Cattery
Located Rhode Island, USA. Looks a quality business.

Barbidolz Ragdoll Cattery
Located Lyman Maine, USA (60 miles north of Boston). Website is too busy/flashy (sorry).

Ragmeister
Located California, USA (not clear from site).

KasselDolls
Located Rhode Island, USA.

Mainely Country Ragdoll Cattery
Located Mercer, Maine, USA. Hobbt Cattery in the country.

MistyDoll Ragdolls
Located North Dakota, USA. Cattery for 11 years.

**Photo of Ragdoll, Ophelia © Dani**

1. There are far more exclusively indoor cats in the US (75%) than the UK (10%).

Sources:

http://www.ragdoll-cats.com/history.htm
Wikipedia
CFA
Ragnarok Cattery
Messybeast
http://www.ukrcc.co.uk