The History of the Ragdoll

Originally a Persian cat breeder, Ann Baker, the pioneer of the Ragdoll breed had many feral cats roaming her property. One, a Turkish Angora-like female named Josephine, became a familiar face in the neighborhood, often producing wild kittens with the toms in the area. Neighbors came across an injured but alive Josephine who had been laying curbside. They brought her to the local university where they worked. She had suffered head injuries and lost one eye, but they were able to nurse her back to health.

When Josephine had recovered, she went to live with the Pennel family. She never lived with Ann Baker, but it was Ann who noticed that she began to produce kittens who seemed different than those born to Josephine prior to the accident. Instead of being wild, they were playful, affectionate, relaxed and seemed to crave human interaction and affection. Ann became intrigued by the new behavior and began to acquire some of these new kittens. Ann had gone to borrow one of Josephine’s older male offspring, a black persian she named Blackie, to sire her black persian breeding program. During a visit to borrow Blackie, she noticed Blackie’s brother, who had the appearance of a Birman. Ann was permitted to borrow the brother to mate with Josephine. The resulting offspring was Daddy Warbucks, who would become the famed foundational male of Ann Baker’s Raggedy Ann Cattery.

Ann states that Blackie and Daddy Warbucks are both sons of Josephine, but with different sires. In the IRCA booklet it would appear to indicate that Blackie’s father was a black cat from the east, that appeared more Persian than Burmese. Whereas Daddy Warbucks’ father was said to look more like a Birman, but neither cat is believed to have been a purebred cat.

Ann later acquired Josephine’s daughter, Buckwheat, from the Pennels. It is not clear which male was bred to Josephine to sire Buckwheat, but it is believed to be a different feral cat than the one who sired Daddy Warbucks. Buckwheat was a black and white mitted female, and became the foundational female for the dark side of the breed.

In the summer of 1965, Daddy Warbucks and Buckwheat produced a litter of four kittens. Two of the kittens were pointed. A seal mitted male named Kyoto, and a seal colorpoint female named Tiki, both registered as ragdolls. The other two were solid colored kittens, and were never registered as ragdolls.

Of the breed Description, Ann Baker wrote the following:

– ragdoll, firstly: character,
– secondly: size,
– thirdly: color and color distribution.

The head is wide between the eyes and ears, tapering to a rounded chin, with a profile like that of a Burmese cat. The space between the ears at the top of the head should be flat. The head of a male cat should be wider than that of a female cat. The nose should be of medium length and the nostrils set low. The jaws should be strong. The underside of the chin, depending on the coat, should be white or light gray, light brown, the color should extend to the ruff. She wrote about the eyes as follows: eyes: blue. The more blue the, better. The eyelid has a slight upward tilt at the ends. 

In addition to her traditional pointed ragdolls, Ann Baker also bred minks, sepias and solids. She created the IRCA (International Ragdoll Cat Association) and trademarked both “Ragdoll” and “Cherubim.” People unhappy with Ann’s control over who could breed and register the cats broke from IRCA and started breeding their own mink, sepia, and solid cats. Until recently, only traditional pointed ragdolls could be shown in the championship class.

Now, TICA will recognize the Ragdoll Breed Group (RD/CB), which includes the traditional blue eyed, pointed ragdolls (RD) and the minks, sepias, and solids, (CB) which will now be removed from the “new traits” category and instead will be recognized as Cherubims starting in May, 2025.

Josephine, the mother of ragdolls is thought to have been a Turkish Angora.

Daddy Warbucks, son of Josephine and foundational male ragdoll. The picture below shows two of his kittens with Buckwheat, a seal mitted male named Kyoto and a seal colorpoint female named Tiki.