~ Ragdoll Cats ~

So what is a Ragdoll cat?

Ragdolls are large, laid-back, semi longhaired cats with beautiful blue eyes. The Ragdoll loves people and quickly becomes your companion. They have a sweet temperament and are called "the gentle giants". The Ragdoll cat is carefully bred to produce large affectionate animals. Altered males will usually top the scale at 15-20 pounds; females are proportionately smaller and usually weigh between 10-15 pounds at maturity. Ragdolls are slow-maturing, reaching full coat color at two years, and full size and weight at four. 

Ragdoll cats tend to be more interested in humans than some breeds of cats. They are known to run to greet you at the door, follow you from room to room, flop on you, sleep with you, and generally choose to be where you are. Many Ragdolls have been taught to come when called and play fetch. They are gentle cats, and usually play without extending their claws.

History
The cats were first developed by breeder Ann Baker in Riverside, California, in the 1960s. Baker’s foundation stock consisted of Josephine, a domestic longhair whose white coat concealed the genes for either a seal mitted or black tuxedo pattern, and various other long-haired cats of unknown ancestry that she owned or found in her neighborhood.

Baker selected cats with gentle, placid personalities, large size, and beautiful long coats characterized by a Himalayan pattern, the name for the “points” seen on Siamese-type cats. The result was a cat she called the Ragdoll, for its propensity to flop happily into the arms of anyone who picked it up. Later, Persians, Birmans and Burmese may also have contributed to the Ragdoll’s development.

I have had two Ragdolls. Merlin came first and then Arthur five years later.
I lost Merlin to cancer a couple of years ago, but Arthur is still with me.
It broke my heart to lose Merlin.

So here are my boys...

"The Ragdolls"

This is Merlin sitting on the newspapers
(Clicking on pictures will open the large versions)

 

Merlin sleeping on the windowsill

 

Merlin taking a snooze on the bed

  

This is Merlin all grown up with his colors all set in.  

This is his buddy holding him.

 

And then Arthur comes along

 

Merlin and Arthur on the scratch post

 

Sharing the window, I think

 

Arthur takes the back window

 

Arthur chilled out on the desk

Arthur thinks he is so handsome

 

The Boys on a Saturday night

 

Ahhh, fresh air.  The orange cat is Tinkerbelle.  
She was a stray I adopted

 

Merlin my big boy

 

Both of them all grown up