Rag Doll Kitten

[Guardian Angel]

Recently I saw the cuttest kitten and was told it was a Rag Doll. I was planning on getting a kitten this spring and now this breed has me very interested.

The breed apparently loves to cuddle and get consant affection and is very friendly to people and other animals I have read.

Can anyone on here tell me what they know about this type of breed and if you have one what your thoughts are.

And save the Pussy jokes please, lol.

Thanks
G.A.

 

[TheGuy]

Recently I saw the cuttest kitten and was told it was a Rag Doll. I was planning on getting a kitten this spring and now this breed has me very interested.

The breed apparently loves to cuddle and get consant affection and is very friendly to people and other animals I have read.

Can anyone on here tell me what they know about this type of breed and if you have one what your thoughts are.

And save the Pussy jokes please, lol.

Thanks
G.A.

This breed is a lovely breed of cat. I know someone who owns one and it is friendly and can be picked up by anyone. An important note about this breed is not that they are necessarily friendly or social but their breeding allows them to be picked up and held - they will never scratch or claw to get away. They are great around children for this reason. Now, many cats may be more affectionate then this breed and enjoy being close to humans but very few cats will allow you just to pick them up and hold them. I have picked up my friend's cat, cradling it in my hands and held it above my head for minutes without it trying to move - hence it acts like a rag-doll.

Lovely cats to own.

 

[Holly Taylor]

I know someone who had a ragdoll cat.

It was extremely well-tempered.

These cats are bred to go limp when you pick them up. Personally, this was a really weird feeling for me. I didn't like holding the cat. It just lay there, almost like it was dead. It didn't try to hold its body against you, or find a comfortable position. It just went limp in whatever way you held it.

If you like this type of cat, you should get one. They are known to be very friendly and they won't bite or use their claws. It is very, very important that this cat is never let outside. The way they have been bred- they are almost defenseless.

Good luck! And let us know how it goes

 

[Stoo]

These cats are bred to go limp when you pick them up.

Or you could just get a regular old cat from the pound (because there's like 14 gazillion of them that are on the verge of being euthanized) and feed it GHB. Then it would be paralized and this could be considered affectionate...

I find breeding an animal to "go limp" a little disturbing for some reason...

 

[Holly Taylor]

I like American Shorthairs the best

Sadly, I'm allergic to cats.

 

[Thatotherguy]

I second the "get your cat from a shelter" notion. From the time I was a kid, I've had a total of 8 different cats (well, most of them were family cats), and all of them were either strays, rescued from animal shelters, or came from families who for one reason or another couldn't keep them. There are so many cats in need of homes that to me it seems almost obscene to go out and buy one. If I were you, and I really wanted that specific breed, I'd search the shelters to try to find one, but if I couldn't find one, then I'd adopt a different cat instead of going and buying a cat of that specific breed.

 

[Raina Mist]

I two say get a cat from a shelter..
shelters are great in helping find the right cat to love..

I do have to say that rag doll cats are cute...

 

[Miss*Bijou]

My cat passed away a little over a year ago and I'm starting to feel ok about getting another one.. I know for sure it will be a rescue, there are so many out there.


www.petfinder.com




Ragdoll Personality

Docile, mild-mannered, and congenial, Rag-dolls make ideal indoor companions. One of the nicest features of these cats is their laid-back, sweet personality. They are playful but are not overactive. Known to adapt easily to their environment, Ragdolls get along well with children and adults, as well as cats and dogs. They are easily trained to stay off the counter and are affectionate without being overly demanding. They have soft, polite voices, even at dinnertime, even though they are renowned for their enthusiasm for food.


Ragdoll Breed Traits

The Ragdoll comes in the four traditional pointed colors: seal, chocolate, blue and lilac; and three divisions: solid or colorpoint, particolor mitted, and particolor bicolor. Solid division Ragdolls have darker, well-defined points. Body color is a shade lighter than point color, and soft shadings of color are allowed on the body. No white patches are allowed. Mitted Ragdolls possess well-defined points, except on the feet where they have a matched set of white mittens. Hind legs are entirely white, but the white extends no higher than mid-thigh. A white blaze can decorate the nose. Bicolors boast a white mask like an inverted 'V', plus white on all four legs, feet, stomach, chest, and ruff. Other white patches and markings can appear, except on the points, which are darker and well-defined.


Ragdoll History

The Ragdoll is a breed whose origins are surrounded by controversy and tall tales. According to various stories, the foundation cat, Josephine, produced unremarkable kittens until she was struck by a car in the early 1960s. After her recovery, all of her subsequent litters produced kittens that displayed Ragdoll characteristics: large size, non-matting fur, the tendency to relax in a person's arms like a child's rag doll (hence the name), and serene dispositions. Also rumored was the kittens' insensitivity to pain (which, according to breeders, is not true). Another story holds that Josephine was taken to a laboratory after her car accident, where she was genetically altered as part of a secret government experiment, resulting in genetic changes. While these are amusing stories, no scientific evidence exists to support any of these claims, and, in fact, geneticists say that this type of genetic alteration did not exist in the 1960s.

Other breeders claim that Josephine was bred to a seal Birman male who in turn was bred to a sable Burmese female. There doesn't seem to be any evidence of this, either. The Ragdoll's white spotting gene is definitely not the same as in the Birman breed, according to TICA's genetics committee chairperson, Dr. Solveig Pflueger, M.D., Ph.D.

The Ragdolls of America Group (a group formed to gain acceptance for the Ragdoll in the Cat Fanciers' Association) says that Josephine was a feral white Turkish Angora-type cat that resided on the property of a Mrs. Pennels in Riverside, California. After her car accident, Josephine mated with a feral black and white mitted long haired tom and produced a solid black male kitten named Daddy Warbucks and a seal pointed bicolor female named Fugianna. Another litter followed, sired by a solid brown long haired tom. This tryst produced a seal point female named Tiki and a black- and white-mitted male named Buckwheat. The breed's founder, the late Ann Baker, came into possession of these cats, and all subsequent generations can be traced back to them. After years of selective breeding, the Ragdoll developed into the breed we know today. This seems to be the most credible story for the breed's creation; however, this lineage cannot be confirmed with certainty, since the trysts between these feral cats were not documented.

http://www.petfinder.com/cat-breeds/Ragdoll

 

[dagashi]

Rescue cats

If you're looking for rescued cats in the Lower Mainland area, the Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association is a great option:
http://www.orphankittenrescue.com/

They do a lot of work to make sure that the cats go to a good home – a questionnaire, then a phone interview, and an in person interview when you meet the cats. A lot of work, but it's worth it to make sure that the cats + owners are compatible, and to ensure that the cats don't need to be rescued again.

 

[Guardian Angel]

My cat passed away a little over a year ago and I'm starting to feel ok about getting another one.. I know for sure it will be a rescue, there are so many out there.


QUOTE]

Good to hear from you and thank you for the info on the Rag Doll.

Take Care
G.A.

 

[Krustee]

It was extremely well-tempered.

These cats are bred to go limp when you pick them up.
... It just lay there, almost like it was dead.
It didn't try to hold its body against you, or find a comfortable position.
It just went limp in whatever way you held it.

From reading your description...
I take it there are quite a few 'Ragdoll' escorts out there as well?