Ragamuffin Cat Breed: A Gentle Giant's Guide

The history of the Ragamuffin cat is very special. It is a very recent breed and closely resembles the Ragdoll cat. The Ragdoll breed was selected by an American breeder Ann Baker and the story begins in the 1960s when a white long-haired cat named Josephine had an accident and was injured. She was taken to a laboratory at the University of California where she was treated. She later recovered and sired several litters of cats, all of which were very beautiful and exceptionally sociable.

The breeder Ann Baker bought some of these kittens and after much selection, the Ragdoll breed was finally born. Ann Baker exercised real dominance over the Ragdoll breed for a long time, imposing particularly drastic standards.

Then some breeders wanted to create a variant to the Ragdoll with the difference that the coat could be any colour and these breeders with the intention of improving the genetic health, personality and temperament of the breed, made crosses with Persians, Himalayans and long-haired domestic cats, thus creating the Ragamuffin breed. They also made crosses with the original Ragdolls. However, only cats with at least one Ragamuffin parent can be called that.

Character of the Ragamuffin cat

The Ragamuffin cat is a very sweet, affectionate and cuddle-loving animal. Rather lazy, he prefers naps on his human's lap to games, with whom he bonds very strongly. He is therefore also suitable for the elderly, to whom he will provide lots of company by his side practically all the time. He also gets on well with children because of his peaceful nature, but he does not like confusion, he plays but not a lot, his aspiration is to be caressed and cuddled for as long as possible.

He gets on well with both cats and dogs, as long as he has his own place to take refuge when he is tired or there is too much confusion. It is not a cat that likes to be outdoors, and even if you have a garden, you must prevent it from going outside because, due to its peaceful nature, it would not know how to defend itself outside on its own.

With this cat you must have some time to try to get it to move a little, urging it to play, precisely to keep it in top form, left to itself, it will spend much of its time sleeping and lounging.

It is not a cat to be taken if you are away from home a lot, it cannot stand loneliness and although it is not at all intrusive and hardly demands anything, it needs human contact much more than any other cat. With strangers it needs its time to accept them, although usually being curious it is very quick.

Appearance of the Ragamuffin Cat

The Ragamuffin cat is a medium to large cat, the male can weigh up to 9/10 kilograms, but there are reports of male cats weighing up to 14 kilograms. There is a considerable difference between males and females, in fact usually a female does not weigh more than 5 kilograms. Although it is quite large in size and has massive musculature, it is by no means stocky; on the contrary, its body is elongated and agile.

Unlike its Ragdoll ancestor, the Ragamuffin has a shorter nose, slightly forward-pointing ears and almond-shaped eyes, whereas in the Ragdoll they are round. The colouring of the eyes can vary, but is always very intense.

The legs are of medium length with the hind legs slightly longer than the front ones, the tail is long and wide at the beginning, with very thick hair.

The coat is medium long and very thick, soft, dense and adherent to the body. The length of the coat is not uniform, on the neck for example it is longer, forming a kind of gag. All colours are permitted in this cat, even with spots, patterns with or without white.

Care and health of the Ragamuffin cat

Although it has a long coat, this cat has a particularity, it does not ruffle or knot easily, so it is sufficient to brush it once a week to always have a soft and shiny coat.

As far as the life expectancy of this breed is concerned, it is around 15 to 16 years and they are very resistant to disease. However, being a very young breed, it is difficult to say whether they may actually suffer from some genetic or hereditary disease.

As far as nutrition is concerned, care must be taken. Ragamuffin cats are imposing cats, and can easily gain too much weight if they are overfed, as they tend to be lazy.