In addition to their thoroughly special nature and endearing personalities, Ragdoll Cats come in a number of undeniably beautiful patterns and colours.

Ragdolls are termed "Pointed Cats" which means that their legs, tail, face and ears are darker than their bodies, and they all have blue eyes. The kittens are all born white and their colour does not start showing until they are a week to 10 days old.

The colour of the Ragdoll will continue to develop over the first year of their life. The Ragdoll has a soft, medium length coat that tends to be fluffier around their neck, called the Ruff, and on their back legs, which is commonly referred to as their britches. These also may not fully develop for the first year. The Ragdoll is a slow maturing cat and will keep on growing until they are about three or four years of age.

The Patterns of the Ragdoll

The Colour Point
These cats have darker colours on all their points and have no white, although the body is a creamy white and can occasionally look white on some cats.

The Mitted
The mitted pattern is the same as the Colour Point, except they have white mittens on their front legs, socks on their back legs, and they have a white chin. This pattern is also allowed to have a white blaze on the nose and between the eyes.

The Bi-Colour (True)
The Bicolour also has dark points, but the face mask has an inverted "v" extending from above the middle of the eyes to the bottom of the eyes. The body colour will have a saddle on it which is a lighter shade of the points' colour. The white on the front legs goes up much higher like socks, or, they are all white.

The Bicolour Pattern is also divided into several more patterns, depending on the amount of white shown.

The Hi-Mitted
The Hi-Mitted is nearly the same in appearance as the true Bicolour, except patches of white may appear in the saddle on the back. With this pattern, if a cat fits the description of the Bicolour, it can be shown as a Bicolour It is also common for a breakthrough of point colour to be seen on the legs. This pattern is characteristic of two Mitted genes.

The Mid-Hi-White Bicolour
This pattern has usually a wider "v" on the mask and visibly more white in the form of patches through the points and saddle, The Mid-Hi-White can sometimes be recognised by the white on the ears.

The Hi-White Bicolour
This cat is very easily to identified, as the pattern expresses itself as the Turkish Van pattern, they normally have no saddle on the back and colour only expressed on the top of the head and tail.

The Bicolour, the Mitted, and the Colour Point are the only three patterns in New Zealand that can be shown at the New Zealand Cat Fancy shows. Sometimes the Hi Mitted will also fit the correct standard as the Bicolour The other patterns, which are not accepted as show quality, by no means suggests these are a less quality Ragdoll. Each pattern has its own merits and beauty to the eye of the beholder. All Ragdolls make superb pets and any pattern is just as endearing as the next.

The Colours of the Ragdoll

Originally it was thought that the Ragdoll came in four colours. Seal, blue, chocolate and lilac. However, there has been so much controversy over the last two colours due to the many variants in the shades of the Seal and Blue.

It is the opinion of a lot of breeders that these lighter shades of colour are what some have mistaken for Chocolate and Lilac. Many Ragdoll clubs around the world will tell you it is now believed there was no Chocolate or Lilac in the foundation Cats.

Today, you can see a lot of the colours in the Ragdoll as are also seen in other breeds. The colour range now includes the red, the cream, seal and blue Torties, and the lovely Tabby. Through an approved Australian outcross program, we will also be able to have Chocolate and Lilac colours to compare in quality as with other breeds.

The Tabby, or, referred to by some as the Lynx, is regarded by many as the most affectionate and beautiful of the Ragdolls. The Tabby pattern has been recognised in all breeds of cats for many years. The striping in the Ragdolls is an addition to the already traditional patterns, which means we can now have the Tabby Point, the Tabby Mitted and the Tabby Bi-Colour in all of the above colours.