What makes the Ragdoll such an interesting proposition is its ability to breed true because of a series of genetic factors accidentally coming together in the original female Josephine and the two male cats she mated with to produce Blackie and Raggedy Ann Daddy Warbucks.
Josephine was a White cat with a semi-longhair coat. As one of her parents was a cat with a coloured coat - whatever it might have been - the White cat Josephine inherited from her other parent acted as a kind of overcoat masking colour underneath. On most White kittens there will be a flash of colour on the top of the head. This fades by the time they are about nine months old but it gives an indication of what the colour is under the 'overcoat'.
Genetically, Josephine was a Bi-colour cat and in her mating with the male which produced Daddy Warbucks, what is now believed to be a newly identified gene for dominant mitting occurred. This makes the Mitted Ragdoll completely separate from the Birman to which it passes a passing resemblance. It could have been that the sire of Daddy Warbucks also showed the Siamese pattern of coat. It is certain that he carried the gene recessively - like Blackie the sire of Buckwheat did - and this gene, together with colour genes for Chocolate and dilute Blue, he passed on to Buckwheat. In this way, Buckwheat mated to Daddy Warbucks produced the Colourpoint Ragdoll Ann Tiki.
And so the ingredients of the Ragdoll recipe were in place for, along with the Siamese pattern, Blue eye colour is also inherited. Blue and Chocolate colour genes present in both parents will produce Lilac kittens and, in addition, the semi-longhair coat is inherited as a recessive to short coat so that when two semi-longhairs are mated together, as happens with all recessive genes, true breeding is the result.
Three patterns have now been mentioned; Colourpoint, Mitted and Bi-Colour. Given appropriate matings the amount of white can be increased on both Mitted and Bi-Colour cats. This gives the High Mitted, the Mid High White Bi-Colour and the High White Bi-Colour. For show purposes the last three are not recognised, but are incredibly useful for breeding.
The one major characteristic identified by Ann Baker as setting the Ragdoll apart from any other breed was its astonishingly equable character and gentility. I think you can dismiss the floppiness which gave them their name as pure hype, and the assertion that they have a low pain threshold is positively dangerous. Clinical tests have proved absolutely conclusively that the Ragdoll is no different in its physical responses and attributes to any other breed of cat.
What is certain, however, is that the way any kitten of any breed is reared contributes enormously to the socialisation of that kitten. Its human family is every bit as important as the mother cat in this respect. Frequent loving handling encourages trust; playing games with the kitten encourages him to regard you as something much more than the provider of food and litter trays.
Gentility, playfulness, an almost canine fidelity and a sort of absentminded sense of humour are some of the fascinating traits of this sweet-natured feline. They also happen to be alarmingly beautiful.
This Prada and Levi. Prada is a blue Bicolour and Levi is a Blue mitted colourpoint. I aso 3 tabbies Dior(seal tabby), Cocoa,(blue tabby) and Liberty (seal tabby).and through my website you will see Channel my lovely blue tortie.