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Ragdoll Mix? - Tree - 10-10-2020
Hi, everyone. I believe I have a ragdoll mix in my possession, and she has had me wondering what she is for months until the last few days.
I live in rural Alaska on multiple acres. I have not had a cat BFF for about twenty years, and was quite rusty on my cat awareness. I have had dogs that entire time, including a standard poodle and a wolf-dog.
It's a long story about chickens and mice and neighborhood cats that I see in my yard all the time. No biggie unless they go after the bantams, which they usually don't. Late last winter, when the days grew longer and light started coming back, I noticed two cats in my yard more often than the others. I began to realize that they might not be neighborhood cats, but starving strays.
I started leaving food out for them. They came to the food every day. I thought they were feral. Very soon after leaving food out, one of the cats disappeared. After three weeks of feeding her, the remaining cat came up to me and began rubbing on my legs. Another several days and I had her in the house. She was skin and bones and spent the next seven days doing nothing but eating and sleeping.
This cat has mystified me ever since she came in the house. She is BIG. I was shocked when I realized exactly how big. She is long. She is larger than a male tabby I have that is at least a large-average male cat.
She is soft! Her fur feels like nothing else, like silk. And she has a huge ruff on her neck and chest.
Her markings are weird. She looks like she wants to be a tabby, but she's missing almost all the stripes, and instead has strangely blended markings.
She wants to live on my lap. She is the most loving, affectionate cat I've ever known. She wants her face on me and against me, standing up to press her face against mine repeatedly. I can hug her tight and she loves it! She "hugs" me with her little cat arms, wrapping herself around me. She licks me all the time, everywhere on my face, my eyelids, my nose, my cheek, especially in the morning.
She goes everywhere I go, is interested in everything I do. She helps herself to all my food and drinks. She checks out all bathroom happenings and waits there when I shower. She sleeps with me all the time, even for naps. Once I took a nap and shut her and the dog out of the room. When I woke up, she was waiting outside the door.
While this cat looks more like a typical dark tabby, the cat that was with her had more classic ragdoll coloring and markings, but not exactly. She was a beautiful medium blue cat with darker blue stripes on her face only.
I didn't know anything about ragdolls when I found this cat. I was aware there was such a breed, but did not know any of their characteristics. I felt so certain this cat was not a regular cat that I kept reading about large breeds, especially NFCs, which first came to my mind with her. But her affection and dog-like behavior was so off the charts that I couldn't settle on NFC as a likely explanation for her.
When I read descriptions of ragdolls, it was like reading a list of this cat's behaviors and characteristics, like her amazing, soft fur. Oh, and she sleeps on her back a lot, with her legs splayed.
Please let me know what you think.
RE: Ragdoll Mix? - Smudge's Mom - 10-10-2020
Quite honestly, your very beautiful girl does not look Ragdollish to me. She more closely resembles a Maine Coon, also a very affectionate, interactive cat. Of course there is the possibility of RagaMuffin genes, too. Muffins can be of any color, pattern or eye color, but have so many Doll personality qualities. All that being said, it really doesn't matter. She is gorgeous and sound fantastic. Treasure her and keep the photos and stories coming.
Welcome to you, both.
RE: Ragdoll Mix? - Tree - 10-10-2020
Oh, that is good feedback, Smudge's mom. Thank you. Possibly a ragamuffin or mix thereof.
She is not Maine Coon. She doesn't have the ear tufts or the face, especially the muzzle, or the coat. That's why I leaned toward Norwegian Forest Cat initially and for months thereafter. I never considered ragdolls, because of her eye and coat color, and because that was all I knew about them, was their appearance. I was unaware they are such a large breed or of their #1 in affection personality.
I also looked at Siberian Forest Cats.
Nothing quite fit, not the coat, the ears, and especially not with her super loving personality that has caused me to fall in love, myself. She does not have a double coat, only a single one.
She is adorable.
This has been my year of the cat. I did not have a cat, like I wrote, for two decades. Just before this princess showed up, around Christmas an older tabby Tom showed up and asked if he could stay a while. He was meowing at the door at 2:00 in the morning when temps were -10F. I opened the door and said, "You came to the right place. I have a special fondness for tabbies."
So, now I have two cats, and they are both great, but this little girl is special.
(10-10-2020, 06:29 PM)Smudge's Mom Wrote: Quite honestly, your very beautiful girl does not look Ragdollish to me. She more closely resembles a Maine Coon, also a very affectionate, interactive cat. Of course there is the possibility of RagaMuffin genes, too. Muffins can be of any color, pattern or eye color, but have so many Doll personality qualities. All that being said, it really doesn't matter. She is gorgeous and sound fantastic. Treasure her and keep the photos and stories coming.
Welcome to you, both.
In fact, I think you are onto something. My girl is not floppy. She has many strong ragdoll behaviors, but she doesn't go ragdoll floppy. She might very well be a ragamuffin.
(10-10-2020, 06:29 PM)Smudge's Mom Wrote: Quite honestly, your very beautiful girl does not look Ragdollish to me. She more closely resembles a Maine Coon, also a very affectionate, interactive cat. Of course there is the possibility of RagaMuffin genes, too. Muffins can be of any color, pattern or eye color, but have so many Doll personality qualities. All that being said, it really doesn't matter. She is gorgeous and sound fantastic. Treasure her and keep the photos and stories coming.
Welcome to you, both.
RE: Ragdoll Mix? - Tree - 10-10-2020
(10-10-2020, 06:29 PM)Smudge's Mom Wrote: Quite honestly, your very beautiful girl does not look Ragdollish to me. She more closely resembles a Maine Coon, also a very affectionate, interactive cat. Of course there is the possibility of RagaMuffin genes, too. Muffins can be of any color, pattern or eye color, but have so many Doll personality qualities. All that being said, it really doesn't matter. She is gorgeous and sound fantastic. Treasure her and keep the photos and stories coming.
Welcome to you, both.
RE: Ragdoll Mix? - Tree - 10-10-2020
Hmmm. I shall try one more time. I keep writing replies to you, and all that shows up is a quotation of your reply to me, and I have inadvertently deleted one message!
Oh, dear.
I believe you are onto something, Smudge's mom! I think she may be a ragamuffin, and maybe a purebred, at that.
She is not a Maine Coon. She lacks the larger, more pronounced ear tufts, and her face and head shape are wrong. MCs have square muzzles that are quite distinctive. My beauty has a triangular face and ears that are set much more like a NFC, which is why I suspected that for several months. But I couldn't make that work. I kept reading and reading, and nothing sounded right.
Maine Coons, NFCs, and Siberian Forest Cats all have a double coat, with a shorter insulating layer and longer guard hairs. My girl has the single coat of a ragdoll or ragamuffin.
I think I'm much closer to the truth now, and I really appreciate your feedback and time. Thank you, very much.
I adore this cat. I agree that it doesn't matter what her breed, if any, is, in so far as how much I love her.
RE: Ragdoll Mix? - Tree - 10-11-2020
I actually wrote a rather chatty post that I accidentally deleted.
This has been my year of the cat. I've never had cats in my neighborhood before now, and I've been here thirty years, but recently everyone around me has cats. There are three and four respectively in the two houses closest to me.
This young lady showed up in late winter. I had seen her the fall before, but only once. I believe she was living off the mice in my barn all winter, when she could get them, and trash. A couple of neighbors complained about her getting into their trash.
A little more than two months before I noticed her again, right at Christmas, a good sized male tabby showed up at my door, meowing at 2:00 in the morning. I just happened to be up. I opened the door and said, "You've come to the right place. I have a special fondness for tabbies."
He came in and hasn't left. He is an older cat. He is nice, but he can be a bit grumpy if he doesn't want to be bothered. He holds a grudge. If anyone is mean to him even once, he does not forget!
That is why I was so shocked once I got the female in the house and saw her next to the male, and realized she was so big! He is not small, certainly a 12-lb cat, at least. A solid, thick, shorthair that is a silver tabby. She is heavier.
So, while I hadn't had a cat for two decades, shortly before she moved in I had acquired another cat. Now, I have two. They are both wonderful, but I've never had or seen a cat like this female. She is quite different. I wish I could have saved the other one. I would like to think someone took her in, but they were both so shy that I believed they were feral. They ran away as soon as they saw me in the yard. Given where I live, I fear she may have been killed by anything from a dog to an owl or an eagle.
Now, I'm going to be all about learning about ragdolls and ragamuffins.
Thank you, again. If it's okay, I would love to talk about my girl more. Maybe in the forum for everything.
RE: Ragdoll Mix? - MUM_of_FLUFFY - 10-11-2020
These cats chose you and I think that's so special!!!
RE: Ragdoll Mix? - JanH - 10-11-2020
You are very lucky to have such wonderful cat and her heritage makes no difference at this stage. She is what she is.
You can assume she has no Ragdoll or Ragamuffin in her background. From the foundation cats in both breeds (moggies by the way), very close control of breeding cats has been in place and speuter of pets avoids them being bred. So, for any to be in the ancestry of your girl, a breeding cat will have to have escaped, bred, etc. Unlikely enough to not be worth considering.
Also, California, the breed origin location and with multiple breeders, does not find feral part Ragdoll or Ragamuffin cats. Alaska, with few breeders is even less likely.
Many folks who have cats like yours and want another with the same characteristics, will ultimately get a Ragdoll from a responsible breeder. So, she may have converted you - and someday even to a crazy cat person like many of us here.
These cats are called Wannabes and we love to have owners share about their wannabe (and other breed and moggy) darlings. So, welcome and post comments and questions -- and pictures.
RE: Ragdoll Mix? - admin - 10-11-2020
She's a lovely cat! Enjoy her.
As for the deleted posts I can see one which I could restore if you like. You must have inadvertently deleted it.
Nice to have you here!
RE: Ragdoll Mix? - Tree - 10-11-2020
Hi, Jan. She is wonderful. She has completely captured my heart and converted me. Now, I would want another just like her, and would look at the rag-breeds to secure one.
I would like to assume she isn't an expensive purebred cat. A wannabe is fine with me.
I have always loved cats and dogs and other animals. My previous favorite feline of all time was a shorthaired mackerel tabby named Tuna. We call her Saint Tuna, for she could do no wrong. What joy that kitty brought me. I sobbed my heart out when I lost her. Her photo remains on the fridge three decades later. She is the reason I have a special fondness for tabbies.
How exciting to have a place to talk about her. Thank you, so much.
Hi, mum of fluffy! She may have chosen me, which is a fun thing to think. A neighbor noticed her long before I did, and said that she tried hard to get this cat to go to her, even leaving food out for her, but the cat was too shy and ran away each time she caught a glimpse of humans.
She had been on her own the entire winter, apparently, and it got down to -20F for long periods. It was the coldest winter we've seen in several years.
She amazed me when she came inside the first time and proceeded to sleep for an entire week. Then, she didn't want to go outside again for another two to three weeks. She'd had enough of that, I guess.
Hi, Admin person. Thank you so much for your offer, but not necessary to restore those posts.
Thanks for the warm welcome.
Jan, I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I would like to say that there is a private, statewide craigslist-type site, Alaska's List, that has a section for pets. At this time there are 6 separate ads on it for something in connection with purebred or mixed ragdoll cats/kittens, selling anywhere from $25 to $500. One local breeder does ask for $1600 per kitten. Where you are, they would probably cost half that.
I'm certain they are not the best ragdolls available, but . . . they do indicate that there may be more ragdoll cats and ragdoll mixes up here than one might think. Certainly, the photos of the kittens look like the ragdolls the sellers claim they are.
Just so I don't look like I'm trying too hard to make something out of nothing, here.
