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The Origin Of The Breed
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Ragdoll Seal Bicolour 8 years + 8 weeks |
The Ragdoll originates from a
breeding programme of a Californian breeder named Ann Baker.
Late Mrs Baker
combined the colourpoint gene (causing the blue eyes) with semilong hair and
the spotting factor.
The Colourpoint
Ragdoll carries no white;
the Mitted Ragdoll displays some white
on chin, front paws, hind legs and on the belly;
the Bicolour Ragdoll
displays the typical inverted "V" in the mask, white legs and a white
belly).
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Mrs Baker started her
efforts with a white Persian called Josephine (photo below with offspring - she very
much looked like nowadays Turkish Angoras), a Birman male or a male who
looked like a Birman called Daddy Warbucks, and a Burmese female
called Buckwheat.
Daddy Warbucks
(photo right) already looked like a Seal Mitted (with a tiny blaze).
His father was the famous Birman or the male that looked like a Birman.
Mrs Baker has always favoured the Mitted variety.
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The photo (left)
shows Josephine with her litter in summer 1965.
Two of her kittens were
pointed (and registered as Ragdolls), whereas the other two were
solid.Breeders of Solid Ragdolls (Non-Pointed version of the Ragdoll refer to these two kittens as the origin of their breeding stock). Josephine was not owned
by Mrs Baker, she was a stray cat living in the area and was said to have
belonged to Mrs Baker´s neighbour. It is common knowledge that Josephine had
kittens before she had an accident with a car or vehicle. Mrs Baker is said
to have taken her to a vet and finally she decided to mate her to some males.
Miraculously the kittens from the "post-accidental" litters were bigger,
more beautiful and affectionate.
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| Buckwheat (left) looked like a
Burmese, her coat rather short and either darkest brown or black.
She was a
daughter of Josephine from an earlier litter. Daddy Warbucks was mated to
Josephine.
Raggedy Ann Fugianna (right) was their daughter -
badly marked, but the first Bicolour Ragdoll!!
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It seems that Mrs Baker did not always stick to the truth, therefore her
information about the cats she used in her breeding programme cannot be
ascertained with 100 %. Her breeding methods were - to say the least -
"unorthodox".
Mrs Baker then integrated Josephine into her
breeding programme. The "myth" around the creation of the Ragdoll tells us
about Josephine, Daddy Warbucks, Burmese and their first offspring like
Fugianna who was the first Bicolour Ragdoll ever. Whether this story is the
truth or not will be forever the late Mrs Baker´s secret. But people
easily remembered the story about Josephine and the accident and contributed
to the promotion of the breed. Never change a winning ..........?
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More About The Ragdoll
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Ann Baker continued to
work as a founder of new breeds. She created the "Honeybears" (solid cats in
a great variety of colours - many of them looking like Persians),
"Cherubims" (pointed cats with an angel-like character), "Ragdolls II"
etc.
According to my knowledge nobody has ever tried to import these breeds
to Europe. She always knew exactly
what she did not want people to do with "her" cats. So in course of her
breeding career she put quite a lot of people to court.
Ann Baker lost and
won lawsuits, but she never seemed to grow tired of sueing. Mrs Baker wanted to
keep control over the breeding cats she had already sold. So she established
a franchising system. This did not give the buyers of her breeders plenty of
rope to follow their own breeding goals.
Denny and Laura Dayton
(cattery name Blossom Time) were among the first to buy breeding cats
from Ann Baker. After some time of co-operation the Daytons did not support
Ann Baker´s breeding methods any more. Lengthy legal proceedings followed
and finally the Daytons were released from the contractual obligations. They
continued to breed Ragdolls with TLC and expertise. They very much
contributed to the popularity of the breed.
A group of breeders
disagreed with Ann Baker. They were sued by her and lost the lawsuit.
Subsequently they were not allowed to breed their cats under the name
"Ragdoll" any more, so they decided to call their cats
RAGAMUFFINS.
In the meantime the Ragamuffins have developed into a new
breed with a standard of their own (although the differences between the
Ragdoll and the Ragamuffin remain small). Ragamuffins are bred in all kinds
of colours. They are pointed, Solid, there are Tabbypoints, Red-, Cream- and
Tortiepoints, and Minks.
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In the early 80s the
Daytons exported the first Ragdoll breeders to Great Britain. Two breeders -
Lulu Rowley (Petil-Lu) and Pat Brownsell (Patriarca) established and
promoted the breed in Great Britain.
In 1985 the first
Ragdolls were imported to Germany by Mr and Mrs Herdegen, who bought two
breeding females and one male from Pat Brownsell (see photo right). The Blue
Mitted male (right on photo) called Patriarca RagSinclaire was the father
of my first litter (1994) of my first Ragdoll Queenie.
At about the same time
Mrs Hughes-Dentler bought two Ragdolls from Pat Brownsell. They were
Patriarca Raganelson (Seal Colourpoint; below left) and Patriarca Ragakevin
(Seal Bicolour; below right). In 1993 at a show I saw the two males - and it
was absolutely clear that I JUST HAD TO HAVE A BICOLOUR RAGDOLL!!!
In the
same year I imported my Seal Bicolour female Queenie de
Cyanara from
a breeder in Geneva, Switzerland.
Kevin and Nelson have
already gone to cat heaven. They were excellent ambassadors for their breed.
I am convinced that I was not the only person to become a Ragdoll addict
after meeting them.........
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It was said that the first Ragdolls in
Austria were bred in the early 90s. Mrs Kikinger (Lalabi´s Ragdolls) bought
her first male, the Blue Bicolour Pussy Willow´s Adonis from a young
Austrian breeder who had only two litters. I bought my first Ragdoll Queenie
in July 93 and she had her first litter in July 94.
Since 1995 Ragdolls are bred under the
prefix "Snowcastle´s"
by Mr and Mrs Bilek,
since 1996 under the prefix
"Ragalone´s" by Ms Freudenthaler,
since 2002 by Mrs Frank under the prefix
"Samaria´s",
since 2003 Mr and Mrs Zenker ("Hogwarts´ Pride") and
Ms M.
Hörzer and Mr G. Seinitzer ("Aragorn"),
since 2004 Mrs Bianca Weisl
("Sunrisedolls").
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