Hi there, hoping someone can help me with this! Am a new breeder and having trouble understanding what a 100% traditional ragdoll is... I assumed it was one with absolutely no outcrossing and only in seal/blue colours with point, mitted & bi-colour patterns. But I have been seeing breeding cats claiming to be 100% traditional and having tabby babies? Or having tabby/cream somewhere back in their pedigree. Are chocolate and lilac colours traditional or have they also been introduced?
Any input appreciated!
Jo
Hi Jo, Welcome to the forum. I don't have any answers but someone surely will as soon as they've seen your thread.
It's good to have you here.
Kat
Folks use "traditional" and mean different things. If one means ancestry, it is nonsense with respect to a cat whose relatives include red and lynx cats. These were brought in by fairly recent outcrosses.
The original Ragdoll standards were for seal, blue, chocolate and lilac in the three patterns, with Ann's core "breed vision" being Daddy Warbucks - a seal mitted.
Unfortunately, many of the early cats thought to be chocolate and lilac turned out to be seal and blue. Therefore, there were outcross programs to assure those were in the breed. I do not know that anyone has confirmed a current day chocolate or lilac that got that color from early Ragdolls. The good news is that today there are DNA tests to confirm or refute that a cat IS chocolate or lilac.
To the true traditional colors were added red and lynx confirmed in amended breed standards starting in the mid 90s.
Thanks Kat and Jan!
Thats helped clear things up in my mind. Definitely want to start a breeding programme knowing exactly where my foundation cats stand.
Keep in mind that the breeding decisions in the most recent generations will be much more important for the quality of your breeding cats than the breeding decisions many generations earlier in the pedigrees. One can start with excellence and breed down to garbage or start with garbage and breed up to excellence. (And of course, one can go from garbage to garbage and excellence to excellence. ; ) )
Start small, move slowly and learn. It is very tempting to start too big and move too fast. You will learn much and can put it into effect more easily if you have not gone too big or too fast.