In the late 1970's I was involved with breeding the Maine Coon cat and showed this breed in the local CFA shows.  Then there were some CFF and ACFA shows that were hosted  in the area and I went with a fellow Maine Coon breeder to a couple of these shows.  It was at one of these shows that I saw my first Ragdoll cat and fell in love with the breed.  After speaking with a few Ragdoll breeders I knew I wanted one (or two, or three, you know how they grow on you) but  I was disappointed with the fact that they were recognized in only the seal and blue colors because I love color variety and it is one reason that I bought the Maine Coon. Then I saw an ad in a famous magazine  that had breeders listed under the originator of the Ragdoll breed.  It was after a series of  phone calls  that I found out that the Ragdoll existed in all kind of colors besides what was recognized for show in ACFA and CFF.

 

It was shortly after contacting Ann Baker and some IRCA breeders that I started to make arrangements about purchasing some of the pointed colors  as well as  a few of the different colors to begin breeding them.  It did not matter to me that they were not recognized for championship or that at that time I could not register them because of the split that occurred with Ann Baker and her original breeders (Blossom Time and the others that promoted the Ragdolls in the cat fancy in the 1970's) and NCFA. I do know that the split between Ann Baker and NCFA occurred sometime in 1978 or 1979 after a petition was sent to be able to register their Ragdolls in NCFA by those that split from Ann Baker.

 

After several years I looked into getting my Ragdoll cats foundation registered as Ragdolls in TICA after speaking with two members of the genetics committee about how to go about it.  Both pointed and non-pointed representative cats were taken to shows in the Household pet kitten class so that the judges could at least be able to see and handle the cats and give me their opinions. I was instructed that I had to foundation register the cats for at least 3 generations before the pointed ones could be showable in the  championship division.  I also had to show at least part of the pedigree coming from the original Ragdoll cats even though on the certificates it would be shown the foundation from unknown background.   Part of the problem with registration stems from the fact that while Ann Baker did register her cats with NCFA,  there was a "parting of ways" between the registry and Ann Baker due to the fact that people who had bought cats from her had approached NCFA asking to have their cats registered there, too.  It is also my understanding that pedigree information was withheld from even the early breeders on what Ann Baker called the male portion of her "male" breeding lines.

 

It was during this time period that Ann Baker said to me that she started using her Ragdoll TUs again in her breedings.  Now, Ann said that these cats were decendents of the non pointed side of the original three foundation cats.  The non pointed cats that were sent to me had most of the same characteristics of the pointed except for the eye and coat coloring; as size, head shape, body shape, coat texture, fatty abdominal pad, etc. and also great personality. Bear in mind, too, those of you getting pictures, that the Ragdoll type (look) has changed over the years (at least IMO) and that now more and more the look is pretty "standard" overall  compared to the look(s) of the past.

 

 

Pedigree Information:

 

Once after the split between Ann Baker and the original breeders of her cats Ann would not give out the pedigree information on the cats freely.  It took me several years of talking with her for her to turn some of it over to me and some came from sharing information with other IRCA breeders of that time. 

 

I bought a total of 4 cats from Ann Baker:

 

Jabber Jaws, registered as foundation in TICA, born Aug 22 1982, seal point color point. sire was John Wayne, a seal point born in 1974.  His sire was Raggedy Ann Little Abner registered in NCFA.  John Wayne's dam was Raggedy Ann Merry Weather, reg. NCFA, born 1965.  Jabbers dam was Melody  born June 1975.  Her sire and dam was Little Abner and Tiki also registered in NCFA, I believe, born 1965.

 

Chanissa, registered foundation in TICA, born July-10-1982.  I thought I was buying a seal point mitted.  After I got her it turned out she was a seal lynx point mitted.  Her sire was John Wayne II, born Aug., 1979, seal point mitted.  His sire and dam: John Wayne and Acola.  The only information I have on Acola is that her sire and dam are Gary Giles, a mitted, and Margo.  Chanissa's dam is Orphan Annie, a lynx point (altho on paper it was written seal point, Ann sent me a picture and I sent it back with the correct color notation written on the back ) , born 1975.  Annie's sire and dam were Ben Casey, born 1971, and Gin Mill, born 1974 and listed as a lilac. Casey's sire and dam was given as Pecos Bill and Toy Ling while Gin's sire and dam were Bumble and Dorothy of OZ.  I do not know which Dorothy of OZ this is because Ann gave me papers listing the birthdates and names of cats in her early breedings and there are two listed. 

 

Pooky. not registered in any association. Brown tabby (non pointed) one of her Honey Bears. I wanted to see the type difference between her Honey Bear cats and the Ragdoll cats.  I used him in just a couple of breedings to my Ragdolls. I did not use any kittens of his in any breeding program of mine , however,one offspring, a silver female , was sent to another IRCA breeder that used the female in an IRCA  Ragdoll breeding program.  Offspring of these cats may or may not still be around today.  The original breeder that I sold the female to is no longer breeding and the breeder that she sold offspring to I haven't seen or heard anything about her for years. I do know that this breeder did use the cat in breedings programs and did have silver cats registered as Ragdolls out of this line.   Pooky's sire was a cat named Henry, referred to as just "tabby" by Ann Baker and his dam was Ice Cream, a solid white. One note I found interesting is that Pooky had dew claws on his back feet. None of his kittens showed this trait, tho.

 

Snuggles,


Tuftytoes Snuggles

registered foundation in TICA, seal point mitted (with a blaze and white tail tip). Born Aug 31, 1984.  Sire was Ebony, black. (on some pedigrees today you see seal point listed as the color but this is incorrect.  Ann said black and I have a kitten picture of Snuggles and his brother (a black) that was sent to me from Ann before I purchased him).  Dam was Crazy II,  a seal point mitted.  Sire to Crazy II was Ebony.  Dam was Crazy.  Crazy I was told was a lilac point but the pictures sent to me the cat's coloring looks mottled a bit on the face....so? lilac tortie pt? bluecream pt?  who knows.  I don't remember and never written down any information on Crazy's parentage.