This review is about a breed of cat I first came across just under 3 years ago and I fell in love with the breed ever since. This is about the ragdoll pedigree cat.
History
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This is hard to explain but I have heard one story from the lady who bred my Ragdoll cat and another from a book on the breed. The story which to me sounds most truthful is about a lady named Anne Baker and she had a cat named Josephine in the 1960's.
Her cat was treated at the local University and one day when her cat Josephine was involved in this car incident she seemed to have no pain in her body at all. She was limp and acted very much like a ragdoll would do which you buy in the shops. Her theory was that this was due to someone manipulating her cat at the university and was later to be found untrue and this breed like any other can experience pain like normal cats.
The rumour is the mother was a Persian cat and the father a Birman.
So the name ragdoll was given to them and kept as a reference to the breed. My Cat
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I have two Ragdoll cats one called Sennelager Jama Diego and he is 3 years old in October and another named Meadowpurrs Solitaire Carlos who is just gone 9 months old.
This is going to be about Diego because he is the oldest and I can give a good summary of how he is and his traits.
Diego is a red point ragdoll cat with semi long hair. He has red fur around his nose, ears and the base of his tail with some more going throughout the back of him which is this shade of red. The rest of him is pure luxury white and just glows with the silky natured look. I brought Diego for £400 and it was a big move for me to pay such a huge sum of money out but he is a pedigree cat and his family have won over 100 awards so he has a rich line of pedigree cats in his family.
Diego was named Diego purely because he looks like the character of Ice Age the movie named Diego with his looks.
Diego has these stunning blue eyes which when you look into them you feel you're on a hot day at the beach in the Bahamas and staring into that fresh clear blue water, his eyes are this colour.
His attitude is that he rules the world. He simple since the day I got him aged 8 weeks old to this day has craved to have affection given to him at all costs. If you're asleep at night time and he is bored he will wake you up by licking your nose, and trust me the smell sometimes is dreadful. You get up to see him walking over you crying and you want to find out why and he demands you to hug him. You pick him up and begin to hug him and he gives you this overwhelming hug filled with love and a vibrant purr.
I will not sit here and say this is always the best time to do this but he does it quite often throughout the day usually when he wakes up from his cat nap. I love it when he does this because you get a sense of good feeling inside as well and if you're feeling down in your own health or just generally and you have someone to hug you whether a cat or not the pride after you feel is always a pleasure.
He does eat quite a bit because he weighs 8kg and he is a very long cat and he eats a tin of food a day to himself which is a lot compared to the other cats I have in my home.
He does have an attitude that nothing matters either. You can tell him off in a stern voice and he acts like you have not even raised your voice at him. He is very laid back and seems at times like a ragdoll bear and I can see why they get the name they do in the first place.
Diego sadly when he was 6 months old I wanted him to not be shown because I had one cat I had shown before but I felt in my heart it was too much for him to go throw time and time again so I decided he had to be neutered and I took him to go and be neutered and they found he had a serious problem. His problem was he had just one testicle and the other was actually growing inside of him and they had to fight to save his life because it could cause him to die and thankfully they did.
Since that day he has become very shy of going out of the home and when he does he just ventures into the garden and lays down in the sun and then returns. Not very athletic and seems out of sorts when he is alone in the garden and unsure of what he is meant to be doing.
One other thing is he likes to have a bath. This is no lie and when he was just 9 months old he jumped into a bath I had put on and he seemed to be upset he had jumped inside and ran off like cats do. He returned and this time he was jumping into the bath and rolling over, so now I run him a bath and it is a quarter the way up and he will jump inside and roll over and get completely wet and I dry him. Very weird to be fair but something he does.
Very loving and without a doubt his hugs make me love him very much. He is definitely a one person cat but will also be affectionate with guests as well with a few minutes to show he is not timid of them.
Types
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There are a few different types of this breed around in terms of their look.
You have 3 patterns to them and they are.
Pointed and this is where you have the paws, nose, ears and tail all one colour. This is what Diego looks like.
Mitted and this is the same as the pointed pattern but with more colour on the abdomen and they have white paws.
Bicolor and this is when they have white legs, white inverted 'V' on their faces and a white abdomen as well.
Appetites
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Well they are bad when it comes to food. They do moan at you and hang around when they want fed and this is what happens all the time. The problem you have is that they are not well known for running around and having fun all the time so they tend to put weight on quite rapidly if you over feed them. I feed mine one tin of food a day and sometimes he never even eats that much so that is a problem. They can get really big if they over eat.
Fur
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The fur is very easy to maintain and is short but can occasionally be long depending on obviously which sort of cat you breed them with. I find that with the breed the fur is always shining and seems very soft to run your hands through.
You ever felt a teddy bear which is brand new and soft it is like that and so nice to glide your hand through. I love their tails specially as they are very bushy and you never find any knots in their fur at all.
There is also no undercoat to this breed which means they do not shed as much fur during the malting season they have.
Personality
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They are docile and very limp when they are picked up. You can at times hold them in very awkward positions and they do not seem to bother at all. They react as if they are fine and capable of remaining there.
They love to be cuddled and they love spending time with people, I find if they are alone you tend to find them get up and cry to be attended to instantly.
The behaviour is very laid back and they let nothing bother them and are extremely playful and enjoy being with other animals at the same time. They like to be able to express themselves vocally with letting people hear them through loud purrs and cries. They can be heard from a big distance without any problems at all.
They sleep very funny they have this way of going into a big round circle and they get their tails under their heads and if you are to even go near them when asleep they let the tail go and begin to flap it around as if to warn you off them.
When they are upset they let you know. They can have a really silent meow and due to this they let you know if they are upset by how they act around you. This might be by them just walking around, pacing up and down and trying to show you something. I would say it is a very silent cat and likes to be centre of attention at all times.
They are mainly indoor cats and do not like to be outside and if another cat offers them a challenge they do not fight they back away or accept their fate. They do not think on their feet at all.
They are great with children and are fantastic for children to play with because children can be rough handed sometimes and this breed will take this and be ok with it for a short while due to their docile nature. They are also extremely good with other animals as well and can be just as loving to them as they can with other cats.
They usually find one person and dedicate themselves to that person solely.
Ragdolls do not mature until at least 3-4 years old and act like children until this point.
Body Shape
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The head of this breed is very broad and the ears are wide apart on top. The ears are usually of a medium size and tilted slightly and rounded at the tip.
The muzzle of the cat is rounded and they have very plump cheeks. They cheeks can be the cutest thing about them because of how plump they are. They have fantastic long length Whiskas.
Their eyes are large in shape and very rounded and always it seems in a very clear blue. The eyes are usually set wide apart from one another. They have long bodies and a broad chest and very powerful with their muscles.
The legs and medium in length and the paws are like lion paws with nice padding and plenty of fur to give them this feline look.
The tail is always long and bushy.
Breeding
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This breed of cat has not had any problems as far as I am aware when it comes to breeding. Obviously you are best off breeding this cat with another Ragdoll but I have known people to breed them with normal cats and they have turned out fine and looking the same.
They do lose some of the characteristics though like the docile behaviour and loving nature so this is a huge difference but overall they are not too bad when it comes to breeding. They on average a Ragdoll will have 5 kittens in a litter.
Health Issues
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One of the big health concerns with this breed is Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. This is when the muscles of the heart get thicker and closes one of the two chambers without any reason and result in a heart attack. There is no way to tell if this is going to happen as the symptoms come and just end the cats life very quickly. It is not a common problem but has been known in the breed before.
One of the reasons this happens is due to high blood pressure and sometimes it is unknown what might cause the problem.
This is the only health issue I am aware of in this breed. Insurance
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Well I pay just £8 a month to insure my cat and this is with Tesco pet insurance so the price of them is very low per month. Obviously this is going to go up or down throughout the years so it might be different now from when I got my insurance.
Summary
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If you want a cat which can be beneficial to your children because you want an animal which will love them and be with them as a friend more than a pet then this is a perfect breed.
I love my cats and I treat them like they are my best friends and I feel so safe with them and I know they are docile and act very dumb when it comes to some things they face but with a pet you want something which is loving, you want that love you give to them back in return and it makes you feel special inside. To me I always feel special after speaking to my cat and I will always suggest this breed to anyone.
They have unique colour, very much a laid back attitude and love to be groomed. They are big cats which need plenty of love but can at times get over weight. Obviously this is a case of you keeping an eye out for them eating and not over feeding them. I think that the bad problem is how timid they are outside.
I do not like cats or any other animal fighting but if they go out and you did not know and they got scared would they run away and hide or get beaten up by another cat? This is a bad point to the breed and perhaps if they had more courage about them it would mean they had a stronger case of being the perfect cat.
To me they are without doubt the best loving cat breed ever and I cannot see any other breed matching them for this and I know many others feel exactly the same way about this like I do.
Overall perfect companion to live with and enjoy and that morning hug you get is enough encouragement to buy one. They can be around £300-£400 but non pedigree ones can be as low as £200.
You Aint nothing but a Ragdoll 
