About Ragdolls

About

Ragdolls are known for their placid nature, large size, soft non-matting coat, flopping when held, beautiful appearance and excellent temperament, which is gentle, calm, affectionate, relaxed and sociable.

They often love to be petted, brushed, involved in what you're doing, follow you around house, lay on their backs, can be trained and want to see you when you come home! They are often referred to as dog-like in nature.

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Colours and Patterns

The most common Ragdoll colours and patterns are:​

Colours - Seal, Blue, Chocolate, Lilac, Red and Cream

Seal is a deep seal brown.

Blue is a blue-grey.

Chocolate looks like milk chocolate.

Lilac is a light frosty grey.

Red is a reddish gold.

Cream is a pale light red-cream.

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Patterns - Pointed, Mitted, Bi-colour

Pointed means the face, ears, legs and tail have the darkest colouring.

Mitted is the same as pointed, but has white mittens on the front paws, white boots on the back paws up to mid-thigh, a white chin and white from the chest, belly and to the base of the tail.

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On top of this, there are now lynx and tortoiseshell which is then combined with the above colours and patterns.

Lynx - Also known as tabby markings are the distinctive stripes and 'M' shape on the forehead.

Tortoiseshell - Is a mix of two colours creating random colour patterns from either seal, blue, chocolate or lilac combined with red. The colour depth of the red will vary depending on the base colour of your ragdoll. So, a seal tortoiseshell will have darker patches of red than a lilac tortoiseshell.

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Did you know?

Your ragdoll's true eye colour will continue to develop until they are about 3 - 4 years old.

Their body size and coat length will continue to grow until they are about 3 - 4 years old.

Ragdolls do shed, mainly in summer and winter.

They are not hypoallergenic, although it is believed that because Ragdolls do not have an undercoat, they are less likely to trigger allergies caused by dander.

Just like humans, every Ragdoll has their own personality, likes and dislikes and sometimes they may not show every aspect of what they are known for.

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Ragdoll History

It all began in the 1960's, by a lady from Riverside California, by the name of Ann Baker. The exact origins of the ragdoll cat are shrouded in mystery, so we can only try to piece together what has been heard and recorded.

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There are stories saying that the Ragdoll cat was the result of being genetically altered in a lab, or bred from black and white long haired cats, Persians, Birman and Burmese looking cats or even having their laid back, relaxed and floppy nature come as a result of being in a car accident. Some of these may sound far fetched, but these are the rumours that surround the history of the Ragdoll!

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Josephine is believed to be the start of the Ragdoll breed. Some say she was of Persian or Turkish Angora decent and belonged to Ann Baker's neighbour. Josephine was already being used in her Black Persian breeding program and used one of Josephine's sons to also help make the Ragdoll breed. His name was Blackie. Josephine was then bred with Blackie and from this litter came Buckwheat. Ann Baker also used Blackie's brother who had the appearance of the Scared Cat of Burma and it is speculated that his name was Beauty. Ann Baker bred Beauty with Josephine and from that litter produced Daddy Warbucks. Daddy Warbucks was the first ever registered Ragdoll!

Unfortunately there are no known photos of Blackie or Beauty recorded.

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Ann Baker then mated Josephine to Daddy Warbucks. From this litter came Fugianna, a seal bi-colour.

Ann Baker also mated Daddy Warbucks to Buckwheat which produced a litter of four. Their names were Gueber, Mitts, Kyoto and Tiki. Only Kyoto and Tiki were registered as Ragdolls.

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It is from these cats that the Ragdoll breed was created.