Ragdoll Cat Breed Information

Personality

• Ragdolls are famous for their amiable personality and intelligence. Laid-back, affectionate and human-oriented, they often greet owners at the door, follow them around and sleep in their beds. Gentle by nature, they rarely use their claws during play and have been known to fetch and come when called.

Overall Appearance

• Ragdolls are large, slow-growing cats that reach maturity around four years old. Males weigh between 15 and 30 pounds, while females weigh between 10 and 15 pounds at adulthood. They have bright blue eyes and semi-long, plush and silky hair.

Coloring and Patterning

• A wide range of coloring and patterning is considered acceptable by the Cat Fanciers' Assocation (CFA)for purebred Ragdolls. Four patterns are accepted by CFA: Mitted (with some white), Bi-Color (with more white than Mitted), Van (almost all white) and Colorpoint (no white). Six colors are accepted by CFA: seal, blue, chocolate, lilac, red and cream. Four point patterns are accepted by CFA: solid, lynx, tortie and torbie (tortie plus lynx characteristics).

  Any combination of these patterns and colors is accepted, so a wide variety of appearances in purebred Ragdolls are possible.

Explanation of Patterning

• The Ragdoll is considered a pointed breed, meaning the body is lighter in color than the points. Points are areas around the face, legs, tail and ears.

  Colorpoint Ragdolls do not have any white on their coats, but display one or more of the six CFA accepted colors with darker areas on the points.

  Mitted Ragdolls have a white chin, a white belly stripe, white front paws, and white boots that extend around the back hock onto the back. Mitteds may also have a star, hourglass or blaze-shaped patch of white on the forehead and nose.

  Bi-Color Ragdolls have more white than the Mitteds, with four white paws, white underbellies, white chests, and white upside-down V-shaped patches on their faces. They may also have some white on their backs. Only their tails, ears and the outer points of their masks display the darker colorings.

  Van Ragdolls are almost all white, with only the top of their masks, tails, and a few spots on their bodies exhibiting darker markings.

Grooming

• Ragdolls have luxurious, semi-long hair but require minimal grooming, compared with other breeds with similar length and texture. They need to be groomed regularly with a steel comb to extract loose hair, debris and stave off mats, but the lack of a thick, insulating undercoat reduces shedding and the risk of matting.