Original Ragdoll (eBook)

The story of the authentic Ragdoll (Original Ragdoll)

Ann Baker realized in 1964 the potential of a free-roaming cat that came to her for food, but she did not own it. After a car accident Ann Baker realized that this one was still alive and so this cat was taken in and cared for by Ann Baker, her name was Josephine and she was a white Angora. (The origin of Josephine was mainly black cats (Persians), although Josephine was white).

When Ann Baker found the cat, Ann Baker saw in the cat's eyes that she was a phenomenon. She knew that it would not be easy to make a breed out of this cat. She saw that it would be a great challenge. With all her knowledge and determination she wanted to develop a breed and she wanted to develop the original/authentic Ragdoll. A phenomenon of God and then the Honey Bears.

Officially, the authentic Ragdoll was founded in 1965 and looked almost like a Sacred Birman.

Ann Baker bought a property in Riverside, California. There she founded the breed authentic Ragdoll and raised it on there as well. This was reviewed and approved by the planning department. In the first few months she was spending over $1000 per month on vet bills, so she realized it was important that she does her own research on remedies. It turned out that Josephine was pregnant. She got her litter and her kittens were very big, different in disposition and coat quality. That was a phenomenon!

They were very compatible with dogs and other animals, not like their mother Josephine. When Ann Baker noticed this, she wanted to create a breed out of it. She contacted many universities to find out how best to make a good cat breed out of this litter. But they said that this was not possible for scientific reasons, because it needs a good breeding instinct to create a cat breed. Ann Baker explained to the unis what she intended to do and what was important to her. To this they answered that there would be only one possibility for this, that might work. They explained to her that it would need a strict breeding program which would have to be followed and that you could not just randomly mate two cats.

As the Ragdoll was founded, it underwent the following tests: chromosomes, skull x-ray, spine x-ray and various autopsies, EED, EMG and ECAC (which should be an EKG). The Ragdoll's musculature appeared to be normal with no abnormal relations. The nervous system was also normal. These tests were done to get government approval so that it could be patented, i.e. trademarked.

Ann Baker registered the Original Ragdoll with the NCFA as an experimental Persian. She had worked on this breeding program for six years, thinking that the authentic Ragdoll would always be an endangered species. So it was important that the breeding program was maintained, because otherwise they would have been just mixed breeds, with a disposition of the authentic Ragdoll. It was also important to make sure that there were no inbreeding damages, like shortened life or deformities.

So she took the kittens based on the base color black and from a male that looked like a Sacred Birman and registered them in the NCFA. These cats became the ancestors of all Original Ragdolls.

At the beginning of her breeding she sold her kittens only as pets. Never was anyone given the right to sell pairs. For each kitten she drew up a contract. By the way, I do this the same way. Ann Baker was supposed to be the only breeder allowed to keep and sell studs. Every male that was sold had to be sold as a pet, so that the inbreeding coefficient could be kept under control.

The first breeder who bought a breeding pair from Ann Baker (I assume it was Jensen, Dayton or Chambers) registered his Ragdolls with another cat club, as Ragdolls. This in turn was done by other breeders as well.

The appearance/type

is similar to a Himalayan and a Sacred Birman and if you do not know the difference, you will almost not be able to see it. Differences can be seen in the head, gait, size and coat. The growth of their coat is much denser and straighter. It is so nice and dense, silky, not dull and has almost no undercoat. So it grows more outwards than backwards. Because of this you can stroke them in all directions, even massage them. The harder you massage, the more they loves it. This is not possible with other cat breeds. They relax so much that they then let everything down and thus live up to their name Ragdoll. Also the coat length depends on the climate. The warmer the Ragdoll lives, the shorter is its coat. Twice a year they lose their hair and then you should give peanut oil once a week.

There are five points where the Ragdoll differs from other cats. 1. non-felting coat; 2. the size; 3. the looseness when lifting; 4. the peaceful character and 5. the high pain tolerance. Here at this point I have to say that point five is complete nonsense. The Ragdoll feels pain just like any other cat. Of these five points, three could be reproduced - two could not.

The Ragdoll is long and lanky like the original mother Josephine.

Buckwheat had a bit more fur like Josephine and her body was heavier. I can confirm that. I had a cat, he was tall, lanky and very heavy. You couldn't tell his weight by looking at him. The ear stance was wide set on Buckwheat. The nose was rather short to medium.

If you have a Ragdoll that is not very different from other cats, then you do not own a Ragdoll.

There are three different versions of the authentic Ragdoll: The Bi-Color, the Colorpoint and the third one is the Mitted. I wrote it with today's terms. They still formulated it with white legs, dark legs and mitted paws.

The Mitted, with a slight white stripe on the nose and with the white tail tip is the most valuable. They look like the original Daddy Warbucks. And that's how they should look, if they were bred properly.

Many Ragdolls bred in the seventh generation look like the original sire. Ann Baker was of the opinion that the Colorpoint and Bi-Color would die out in time. After that, there would only be Mitted. At that time not much was known about inheritance of the White Spotting gene, as it is known today, or she assumed it was the Glove gene.

The Ragdoll is an endangered species.

The authentic Ragdoll breeders had to be licensed and registered with the IRCA and they had to breed according to prescribed methods if the breeders did not want their license to be revoked. Breeders who use their own stud, or mate Ragdolls with other breeds, are not recognized as authentic Ragdoll breeders. Because only if you breed in the specified way, the resulting kittens are authentic Ragdolls.

Authentic Ragdolls have all papers. Females can be used for breeding. Males are all pets. There are only three breeders worldwide that are allowed to keep stud males. Was that A. Baker, Purple Heather and Blue-Mountain?

These two breeders have been trained in breeding the authentic Ragdoll and have been working on perfecting the lines for about three years.

Ann Baker divided the authentic Ragdoll into two categories. The light line - Lightline and the dark line, the Darkline. No matter with which line one bred, because this was bred separately, the breeding principle had to be kept. It had to

be bred seven times to the same original sire. So if Daddy Warbucks was the original sire, then you had to cross back to him seven times.

Inbreeding to the highest degree. The only problem with this was that it was precisely the dark line that showed inbreeding damage such as infertility.

Ann Baker's Breeding Principle:

Ann Baker presented the mating for the authentic Ragdoll as follows: X is for a female -O is for a male.

Mating authentic Ragdoll - Original Ragdolls.

XO

XXX

XXXX

XXXXX

XXXXXX

XXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

All females from the first mating were exclusively mated with this one male. If this male died, he had to be replaced by a male of the same line.

This was the record of Ragdolls from other cat associations that violated her guidelines and she was absolutely against it. Although these Ragdolls were also authentic Ragdolls, they were excluded by Ann Baker because the breeding was simply not what she wanted.

Mating mutations - also original Ragdolls.

XO

XOXO

XXXXO

XXXXXO

XXOXXXX

XXOXXXOX

XXOXXOXXO

And then in the 1986 book there was the outcrossing to other breeds:

OCV means Other Cat Varieties (not related) Other cat breeds (not...