Hi gang, I'm rather upset tonight.
You might think it silly, but he we are all entitled to our own feelings.
My son and I went to the mall this afternoon.
We went into the pet store to pick up chemicals for the fish tank.
In the store there was a very large cage with kittens.
Four kittens were of a short haired breed (calico, tuxedo, etc.) and four were Ragdolls.
At least that's what the label on the cage said.
They were unbelievably cute, and my heart went out to them.
Cute as they were, I don't think they were real Ragdolls.
I cannot believe that a real breeder would give up his kittens to a store.
This whole thing puzzles me.
Generally when you buy a Ragdoll, the kitten is already spayed/neutered when he goes to live with his new parents.
But obviously this mama Ragdoll wasn't because she had kittens.
I felt so sorry for those four little darlings.
They were so, so cute.
I would have liked to rescue them, but at $999 each they were out of my budget.
I was thinking of asking the store for the breeder's name, but what could I do? Breeders Ragdolls is not against the law.
This is so upsetting.
This happens a lot over here, and it frustrates me to no end. It is against the code of ethics here for registered breeders to sell kittens to pet stores so these 'Ragdolls' are from BYBs. Meaning they are just kittens from over bred moggies. Kittens that will be sold for double the price of what a Ragdoll kitten from a registered breeder would cost. Kittens that come with no vet work and have left there Mum's at 6 weeks of age. And people will spend thousands of dollars on these kittens they think are Ragdolls and go and breed from them to gain more money.
This has been discussed before (not sure if it was on this forum though) and if good knowledgable people resuce these kittens and desex them and then rehome them, it is only making the problem worse. Because the kittens will be sold quickly and the BYBs will go 'Hey, they sold quickly, lets breed these cats more and more so we can get more money'. Rescuing them will be supporting BYBs but leaving them will make more BYBs. Its a never ending circle. I don't know how this will ever stop, but I hope it does soon.
The other day I saw 3 kittens at a pet store, marked as British Shorthairs and available for over a thousand dollars with no vet work done. They looked like nothing more then DSH's, they did not have big boofy heads and they were not chubby at all. Of course these kittens were BYBs kittens but even so they looked nothing like the breed they were marked as anyway. All three were sold in a few hours.
I know what you mean Cloe. We damned if we do, and damned if we don't.
I don't know enough about Ragdolls to know if they were the real thing or not.
All I can say is, they were very cute.
By the way, when I look at your signature and see the images of Jasper and Jake ... they are so very different.
Jake wears the mask of Zorro and Jasper looks like an all white.
I think I see a faint inverted V on his face, but I can't be sure.
Why aren't all Ragdolls the same?
Why do some wear the mask and some wear the V?
Do you know about that?
Yes, they are very different. Jake is a pointed Ragdoll so he has the mask on his face, coloured feet and legs, coloured tail and shading on his back. Jasper is a bicolour, so yes there is a faint inverted V on his face and he has four white legs. Jasper is also a different colour to Jake, Jaz is a lilac so that explains why he is very light and Jake is a blue so he is darker. The genetics part is harder to explain but Jake doesnt have the white spotting gene in him as he is a point, so he cannot be mismarked. While Jasper, has the white spotting gene and that determins where his V will go and if he is show marked as he is. If Jasper did not have the white spotting gene he would be a pointed like Jake. Mitteds have the white spotting gene too, but just not as much as the Bicolours. And the Vans (Or high white bicolours) have a lot of white so when mated to a Point (who is without the white spotting gene) will produce all true bicolours (like Jasper) because the extreme amount of white from the Van parent along with no white from the Point parent will even into a true bicolour. I like to look at this website to figure out the patterns and colours that can be made genetically.
http://www.tbrcc.co.uk/pattern_colour_prediction.htm
Is Zorro the Ragdoll in your signature? If so, he would be a Seal Bicolour. So is the same pattern as Jasper, Not Jake. Zorro is a Seal though meaning he is the darkest colour, and Jasper is the lightest. Thats what makes them look so different. Also Zorro has a seal chin so the white spotting gene in Jasper has given Jasper a white chin but Zorro's white spotting gene hasnt given him one.
Hope this isnt too confusing
I'm shaking my head to clear my mind here Cloe. That was VERY confusing.
My goodness, I had no idea there were so many technicalities in breeding.
But okay, I think I got it.
Both Jasper and Jake are very beautiful, although I must say that Jake looks a far more serious cat than Jasper.
Jasper seems playful, while Jake looks distinguished.
I've also noticed that Jasper has a pink nose and Jake has a black nose.
Also, Jake's coat looks thicker than Jasper's.
You asked if Zorro is that cat in my signature.
No no, not at all. The cat in the cover of Kitten Diaries is Gabriel.
I just called the cat Zorro because a) he looks like he wears a mask; and b) I have a friend who has such a cat and she did call him Zorro.
Conny, it's not silly to be upset. My own 'upset' button is Ragdolls being rehomed. I know how attached to me Sam is so I hate to think what adult Ragdolls being rehomed away from their 'own people' are going through.
Miserable thought. I shall go and give Sam another cuddle.
When I was much younger I bought two pet store animals. I didn't know any better and the heart ache I had endured and the all of the animals illnesses they had were so horrible. The pekingese and persian I bought both had major health issues and both had died before the age of 7. As tempting as they may be they come with a lot of vet bills and a ton of heart break. It really makes me mad and I hope that someday the pet stores will be out of business.
Thank you both for your support.
I just hope the kitties find good homes and that someone has the sense to spay/neuter them.
I cannot emphasize the importance of that enough.
Wherever I go I climb on my soap box on that subject.
Conny I completely understand your distress, I would have been absolutely the same.Cloe is so right about the never ending cycle, I guess we can all only hope that our respective countries introduce (& enforce) appropriate legislation, one day soon, but I am not hopeful.
The problem seems to be everywhere. I adopted my 2 ragdolls from an English rehoming charity and the little I know of their background, tells me they were bought, from what is probably the most famous "department store" in the UK. The store is in an exclusive area of London and I am ashamed to say is a tourist attraction here, yet they are allowed to sell pets in store. I have never visited and now never will now, until they change their policy. My understanding is, that they sell, "top" breeeds of both cats and dogs, at sometimes, double the going rate for the breed. The breeder cannot possibly know where those animals will end up. In the case of my 2, their vaccination booklets show that everything in terms of checks and vaccinations was done when it should have been (presumably prior to their being handed over to the store), but the booklet shows no details of the ownership at the time ie the identity of the breeder. We have no knowledge of when they were neutered/spayed but with some issues we face now, my vet suggests it may have been late on.
So I piece together, that my two must have been bought by people with money, but as for their knowledge of cats......we can only presume. We do not have pots of money, but do have an absolute committment to these cats that we have made a lifetime committment to and are trying to use the experience we have, combined with many other resources (including this forum) to unravel the mystery and undo the damage of what went before. I am forced, I am afraid to conclude that two "chocolate box kittens" were bought by people with the resource to afford them, with little foresight of what, 2 grown cats, not least of all a 16lb highly strung Ragdoll, would create in terms of needs, committment and at times destruction, I presume, to what likely would have been a very smart home...............just writing this makes me sad.....they are safe with us now, we adore them and will ride any ups and downs that come along, regardless, but what did they endure for 2 years before they "came home", at very least perhaps we could excuse these people as inexperienced.
Whilst knowing that I am "spitting into the wind", I have done the small amount that I felt I could to not just turn my back on what has happened to my 2. I have signed many online petitions about the practice of selling animals from this store, I telephoned the vets that their vaccine cards originated from as presumably the breeder is still a customer of theirs and most bizarrely of all, in a bored half hour at work whilst awaiting a call, I logged into the website of the store and the only "live" contact I came across at that moment was an online personal shopper, apart from thinking that he must have had a complete nutcase on the line, I told him about B & T and expressed disgust at the practice. He initially defended the store and said the cats/dogs were kept in good clean conditions in their pens......I set about explaining to him, that there is so much more to it than that and by the end of a 20 minute dialogue (by which time he was convinved he had a nutter on the line!!) he showed signs of questioning the practice. I felt that if he only went and discussed this with one/two of his colleagues, it might just sow a seed of doubt. Ridiculous I know, but I believe this is the practice that is the other end of the scale to the BYB that you refer to. I believe that they are healthy well bred cats, given that they are charging top money for them, (that would be rocky ground for the store otherwise), but thereafter they are sold onwards to anyone, and presumably the breeder never gets to screen for suitable homes/indoor homes etc etc.
Like you guys I wonder when this will ever end, whilst there are "breeders" out there who clearly do not love their animals, I for one cannot conceive the idea of breeding an animal and sending it out into the blue yonder, pocketing the proceeds with no regard or interest in what becomes of that poor creature and where it ends up, this to me is the lowest of the low in a human being...............anyway off of my soap box now, time to go hug my two and be thankful that I have had the opportunity to at least make it right now for them, sadly I believe we will all still be having this same discussion in twenty years time.
conny, i was amazed when my cousin, who lives in ontario, had bought a blue colourpoint himalayan from a pet store some years ago. i just thought it was the norm over there