Hello fellow Raggie lovers,
My name is Vivienne and I have been a proud pet lover my entire life. I cared for my first litter of kittens when I was six years old. For years I read about a breed of cat that sounded so perfect to me. Then, as a wedding present in February of this year, my Mother bought my husband and I a beautiful little girl named Sophie. I am completely in love with this breed and am very interested in becoming a breeder eventually. I'm looking for a mentor, an established breeder who would be willing to talk to me about their experiences, offer adive etc.
Looking forward to meeting you all!
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Welcome to you and Sophie! Where are you from? That might help locate a breeder near you. The lovely people here are always willing to offer advice too
Thanks CandyKiss, what beautiful Raggies you have! I live in Australia, and will be emailing some local breeders, but I'm sure anecdotes from people on here would help give me a good idea of what it's like to breed Ragdolls.
Hello again Viviene. Good luck with finding a breeding mentor, I think you've come to the right place you will learn so much!! You sound as if you would make a fantastic breeder. I am also working towards becoming a breeder and have found a wonderful mentor on this forum. I look forward to sharing experiences with you.
(08-31-2010 05:08 AM)Peachnose1709 Wrote: [ -> ]Hello again Viviene. Good luck with finding a breeding mentor, I think you've come to the right place you will learn so much!! You sound as if you would make a fantastic breeder. I am also working towards becoming a breeder and have found a wonderful mentor on this forum. I look forward to sharing experiences with you.
Thank you! It will be a very exciting journey.
Ideally your mentor will be the breeder who sells you your first breeding girl. Find out as much as you can before you take the next step, there can be much heartbreak in being a breeder. When you buy your first breeding girl make sure she comes from a good breeder and that she HCM normal. Look for a good bone structure and size and check the standard as presented by a breed association in your country, making sure your girl meets as many of the breed standards as possible. Don't worry about minor weaknesses such as not fantastic eye colour as this can be corrected in her kittens by a good mating.
When you find the right girl you will have your mentor, and the breeder should also be able to help you when it's time to find a stud. Make sure that she will before you hand over the money for a breeding girl because that's how I was caught when I first started out. I was lucky and was introduced to a lovely lady who became my mentor and friend.
I wish you luck in happiness in becoming a breeder and finding a mentor who will becoome a friend for life.
Normally when you buy a breeder you pay more for that cat, and if you had bought it just for show. Many breeders say that this is because they see it natural that mentoring is a part of what you are paying for as a new breeder when you get your first girl.
I would also recomment that you go to catshows, there you can come in contact with others who have ragdolls (or other breeds), and maby you find someone you establish a natural connection with who can help you.
The part metioned above is pretty important. I havent had my first litter yet, and i experience that finding a stud is very hard. I bought my girl from a very small "noname" cattery in a place far away. She is a good typed cat, and i have no doubt in using her as my first breeder! But because of this i have experienced that finding a stud is easy, but as a new person in the game its hard to find someone willing to lend you their stud. So if the breeder you buy from can help you with stud later that is worth alot. The lady i bought from have a stud i could use, but she lives too far away, and i dont want to "trade down" since i consider my girl better typed than that stud....
Tranquil that's an interesting comment (in a good way!) We paid a lot for our first breeding girl - more than our stud in fact - and you are absolutely right, we got more than just a cat
No question she is a great representation of the breed, but her breeder/mentor has just been invaluable and has given us so much advice. Jane you are spot on, it's important to find a mentor who will be your friend through everything. We've learned that generally what you pay for is what you get, there's no point scrimping at the start because it will pay off in the future in the way of happy, healthy and well socialized kittens
Thanks so much everyone, plenty of good advice to get me started.