The wonderful world of Ragdolls

What is a Ragdoll?. ​

​Mostly known for its famously placid disposition, the Ragdoll is a large and often heavy and well-muscled cat. Its medium-long coat has a soft texture and does not mat as readily as that of the Longhair/Persian. They are an exceptionally affectionate, loving and relaxed cat. Ragdolls are open to training with rewards(our customers report they 'fetch' objects like a dog), don't climb much or wander and often like to travel in cars. No wonder apartment dwellers choose Ragdolls!

Beginnings of breed: The Ragdoll cat of today was developed in the 1960's by Californian breeder, Anne Baker, from an accidental mating between Josephine, a white non-pedigree longhair and Daddy Warbucks, a Birman or Birman-type tom. She noted that their kittens went limp when handled - like a ragdoll!  She formed a breed association and although resisted at first by Cat Breeding Associations, established the Ragdoll breed. They are now an official and popular registered breed.

What we do know is that through Ann’s breeding to different cats she formed basically two breeding lines; the light side and the dark side. It seems the light side of Ragdolls were taken over by “Blossomtime” cattery and these were the ones that were sent to the UK. The dark side Ann kept and from these the American lines of “Villaroyal” and “Catastrophe” were developed. With this understanding it is easier to see why we have two defined looks to the Ragdoll cat today.

The UK lines are smaller, have bluer eyes and a shorter muzzle and have that beautiful ski slope nose. Some of the early UK lines were “Purrfect”, “Pandapaws” and “Catricat”. It was from these lines that Australia were introduced to the Ragdoll with breeders coming into Australia from “Pandapaws”, “Purrfect”, “Catricat”, “Whimseycats” and “Rimminilace”.

We have the early breeders: Dot Graham, Gerda Stapels, Derrelle Wells, The Vagg family and Angela Irvine (Toodyay, WA) to thank for investing into the importation of Ragdolls from the UK to start this breed in Australia.  It was not long after this that other breeders came on board and also later imported  Raggies to expand the gene pool.

The Ragdolls come in different patterns and colours. Some of the colours are Seal, Blue, Lilac, Flame, cream and Chocolate. The Seal and Blue are the more common colours. The patterens come in a range of Point, Mitted, Bi-colour, Lynx.There is also the Solid or non-traditional Ragoll which is  a line I no longer have breeding stock for at Mulberry Mews.

The Ragdoll's success has resulted from the demand for placid, indoor-dwelling cats that are quiet, companionable and easygoing with other animals including dogs. I have not seen any of my Ragdolls kill birds or lizards so their survival depends on their doting humans! 

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I have obtained some of the above information from Cats by Dr Bruce Fogle, The Cat Breed Handbook by Angel Rixon and from 'www.brenda.id.au/wnca - ragdoll seminar, www.cat-world.com.au/AdoptKitten