written by Silvia Klaus,  of Lucill's Doll',  ©2009 

The beginning

 

1.   How everything began 

45 years ago, in 1965, Ann Baker introduced a new cat breed; the Ragdoll.

With this new race, Ann achieved something unique. Never before was there in any other race a choice between three different species. These three versions are: Colorpoint, Mitted, and Bicolor. Our Ragdoll is a semi-long haired cat and has natural deep blue eyes and a truly, loving, caring nature. 

The first of these three breed variations is the Self-Point, which implies that her darker coloured particles on her tail, legs, ears and face, as well as her lighter coloured back are plain. The Self-Point is never found with a tabby colouring.

 

The Colorpoint Version is marked like the short-haired Siamese.

 

The Mitted version is similar in looks to the semi-long haired Birma.
To avoid confusion a judge has to be able to keep apart the two breeds.

 

Also the breeders themselves insisted on clear distinctions between the two race standards.

The two most important are: The Mitted-Ragdoll has a natural white chin and that of the Birma is tinted. On the rear legs the proportion of white is smaller with the Birma while the Mitted-Ragdoll is white booted.

 

At that time, a Self-Point cat in the version of Bicolor has not existed in any other race

 

 

2.   Name protection of the Ragdoll 

Unfortunately American Breeders started early with crossbreeding as they wanted to extend the Colourings.

As a result of this Colour Breeding, Ann Baker decided in 1975 to have the name of her race legally protected. This protection included the name Ragdoll, as well as the three described versions and the four primary colourings: Seal, Mutation: Chocolate, and the dilution: Blue and Lilac.

 

Until Ann Baker decided to present her race to the public, she kept an exact record of all matings. This made it possible to trace the development of the breed and bloodline back to the tribe founders Josephine and Burman. 

Denny Dayton, one of the first American Breeders of the Ragdoll, with the Cattery Name Blossom-Time, has made it in 1971 his life-task to update the Genetic Database, which registers all Ragdolls since the time of Josephine. To this day Ragdolls all over the world can be registered in this database.

 

Today, the Swiss VdOR (Swiss Association of the Original Ragdoll) is keeping a database like D. Dayton’s, which exclusively supports the preservation of the original Ragdoll. 

Since spring 2010, the database of VdOR is protected by:

Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property

 

D. Dayton was an enthusiastic breeder who consciously accepted only Ragdolls in his genetic database who were bred in the original three versions and colours. His regulation was: All ancestors of such cats must be registered within this database. This rule ensured that only registered animals were allowed for breeding and the right match could be chosen carefully within this database.

 

 

3.  Something about Cattery-Names: Purple Heather and Blue Mountain 

6 years after Ann Baker decided to legally protect the Name of the Ragdoll, Denny Dayton decided to accept into his genetic database some Ragdolls of two cattery, of which no complete data record was available. That meant that their origin could not be traced back to the tribe founder Josephine. This concerned the cattery of “Purple Heather” and “Blue Mountain” and happened in 1982, approximately ten years after the foundation of the genetic database.

 

During that period D. Dayton and A. Baker were disunited. Their falling out had different reasons. For example A. Baker was asking her breeders for a licence fee for every new litter, as D. Dayton had no such clause in his purchase contracts. This caused breeders to divide into two groups. Although they bred the Ragdoll purebred, essential genealogical pedigrees data was withheld.

There were two groups of breeders who breed pure bred. Not all pedigrees were sent to D. Dayton.
Even today some breeders ask themselves: Should one accept such Ragdolls as original or not? D. Dayton of course had his reasons why he accepted some of these animals into his database. He knew that you could trace their bloodlines back to the tribe founders, even though he did not have all the documents in writing. 

 

Our association (Swiss Association of the Original Ragdoll) accepts all Ragdolls who get registered in D. Dayton’s original genetic database. We breed with and without Purple Heather and blue Mountain in the VdOR.

 

Although this practice becomes increasingly rare, there are breeders (in England) who exclude the Cattery of Purple Heather and Blue Mountain from their breeding programs. This is also correct. But you should look ahead into the future. In 10 to 15 year such Ragdolls would be so closely related to each other, that crossing in of new blood from the outside would become a necessity. 

What then?

 

 

4.   The first Ragdolls in Europe and the genetic database

The first Ragdolls came to England in 1981. These cats originated from D. Dayton’s Cattery “Blossom Time”; which meant that the first new Ragdoll breeders had knowledge of the genetic database. The Ragdoll was bred purebred and along the lines of the original founders.

With the Cattery Name “The New World Cats” of Mrs. Klöters, the Original-Ragdoll arrived in Germany in 1983. All German and English Pedigrees were sent to D. Dayton, so the European Ragdolls could be included in his database.

During that time breeders in the US started slowly more and more to colour breed the Ragdoll so as to get more extravagant colourings. That meant the Ragdoll was not anymore only thoroughbred.

 

A quick summary of the Dayton Genetic Database:
The Dayton Genetic Database is unique in the World of Cats and therefore an original pure breed Ragdoll is something rare and special. The only existing equivalent to this is in the horse breeding world the database of the Thoroughbred Arabians! In this database every horse can be traced back to the 5 mares of Mohammed, back to 650 A.D.

 

The first Ragdoll Breeders in Europe were enthusiastic about the genetic-card and D. Dayton maintained the database for the first 25 years manually. What an achievement!  

For 10 years only Ragdolls whose ancestors were registered in the genetic database were used for breeding in Europe.

 

 

5.   The recognition of the Ragdoll in Europe

The Ragdoll got recognised as an official race in the governing body FIFé in three steps:

 

The Bicolor-Version                in 1992

The Colorpoint -Version          in 1997

The Mitted- Version                 in 1999

Only after the official recognition through the governing body (e.g FIFé) is it possible to participate in shows and receive marks. Without this recognition is it also not possible to reach a champion title.

 

 

6. The conflict between the original Ragdoll breeders and the Ragdoll Colour breeders 

In 1994 the first peak in colour breeding was reached in the US.

The breeders were long since divided. Some proclaimed that cats with new colourings and patterns are no longer thoroughbred and therefore should not be allowed to use the protected name of the Ragdoll.

As a consequence, a small group of American breeders started to name their coloured Ragdolls differently. A new breeding name came into the field: The Ragamuffin.

The other Colour Breeders maintained the name Ragdoll; and like this the problem remained.

 

Ragamuffins were officially allowed to be mated with 5-6 different other species, including normal domestic cats, Main Coons and Persians. These breeds added, in the eye of the colour breeders, the extra touch. The breed was young and the colour most important. Those Ragamuffins were again cross-bred with today’s coloured Ragdolls! So much for keeping the breed pure-bred!

 

In the nineties, these new colourings arrived in Europe and found followers. This was before the third version of the original Mitted-Ragdoll was officially recognised by the FIFé in 1999. Therefore we can conclude that after 15 short years of Breeding in Europe, the breeders started to concentrate more and more on the colour, rather than on the purity of the race. In short they were doing exactly the same thing as the Ragamuffin breeders; just without a Breeding Plan.
 

And in early spring 2004 it was decided by the FIFé to officially accept all these new variations and colourings of the Ragdoll. Instead of protecting what was once original they brought about the downfall of a breed that was special and unique. This is why we are committed to preserve the original tribe of our Ragdoll. With founding our association (Swiss Association of the Original Ragdoll) on May 17, 2008 we want to ensure that this wonderful breed will continue to exist with its unique database.

 

 

7.   The handing over of the database to the RFCI 

In 1994, after 25 years, it was time for D. Dayton to hand over his carefully handwritten and treasured database. The genetic card was to be transferred into a computer program. Today this database is managed by the RFCI in the United States. Unfortunately the RFCI made radical changes to the purity of the breed and the database; they allowed registry of all animals that carried the name “Ragdoll”. It mattered no longer if you could trace the origin back to the two tribe founders mother cats, everything was to be included in one big database, regardless of their origin, tribe or colour. Nobody spent much thought on whether the breed was still pure. For the breeders any cat like this was now an original Ragdoll. So the ancestors of these Coloured-Ragdolls have their origin in the RFCI database as follows: 

Unknown  x  Unknown  =  Ragdoll      or         Ragdoll  x  Unknown  =  Ragdoll

(or the crossed-in foreign race is registered)

 

Today the breeders want their Ragdolls to be as colourful as possible. The problematic of this cross-breeding was never anywhere officially discussed, so the problem remains. The original Ragdoll is crossbred with all the existing colour/versions and the litter has their origin then not anymore in the original D. Dayton database --- but in the RFCI database.
Slowly the original standard of the Ragdoll disappears and her colourings start to match those of the common domestic cats. Nothing is special now.

What Ann Baker once created as standard and original has now validity anymore. The coloured Ragdoll and the Ragamuffin: who can keep those races now apart and tell the difference? It is hard to tell as both races more and more for exotic and wider ranged versions.

 

 

8.   And today, the TICA is rewriting pedigrees out of the following reasons 

Up to 2004 Ragamuffin Breeders were allowed to cross-in other species; to get a better colour and more variations. This rule changed in 2009 and today only cats with the name Ragdoll are allowed to be crossed-into the breed. The Ragamuffin Studbook was closed in early 2010. As a consequence only Ragamuffin x Ragamuffin mating was now possible 

 

But the Ragamuffin has also two desired and exclusive colour versions (Mink and Sepia). The Ragdoll Breeders envied those colours. Some tried to secretly cross-in the desired colour. Hoping it would remain unnoticed. Unfortunately it was always possible to detect the crossing in of the Ragamuffin within the pedigree. These special Mink-Ragdolls pedigrees were rewritten and enclosed in the Ragamuffin Studbook.

 

 

9.   The Standard of the Ragamuffin and the Coloured-Ragdoll 

By the way, the breeding standard of the Ragamuffin and the Coloured-Ragdoll are the same!

Both races are look identic in the version and colour. With the small distinction that the Ragamuffin standard allows for more, accepted coloured and versions.

 

This is strange, as the Coloured-Ragdoll and the Ragamuffin are virtually identical.

What to the clubs, when the Ragamuffin breeders want to take their race for recognition???

The standard of the Coloured-Ragdoll and the Ragamuffin is the same now. What a chaos!

 

This argument will probably only cease when breeders understand the true meaning of purebred breeding.

 

Which Ragdolls, from which Cattery’s, have been exported to England and Germany?

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