Ok so here is where the story really gets interesting, confusing but hang in there. I NEVER thought I would fall for a Mink or Solid Ragdoll but my love of variety in color and patterns just couldn't be quenched.
While I so very much HIGHLY RESPECT the show breeders out there promoting the Traditional Ragdolls,
I cant resist the vision of the Ragdoll attitude and temperment in other colors and patterns. The first time I saw a mink it was only in a picture (it came from an old photo found from one of Ann's breeders under her that she had placed this cat with) I fell instanly in love with the deep rich seal color. Mind you this was many years ago and no one here in GA had or bred Minks thus leading me on a virtual quest to find one. After many false leads and contact wtih as many people still alive and having known Ann, I came across a mink line. These lines came from Canada down to Texas and I brought them to GA.
I'm sure people thought I was crazy but now we have many breeders in Ga and across the US breeding old lines thus making them more popular and saving that branch of the bloodline. Minks are NOT a seperate breed, they differ in only a few aspects of looks, the temperment is the same.
Mink Ragdolls have been around since the beginning of the Ragdoll breed. YES, minks are purebred, SBT and TICA registered Ragdolls. A look at early pedigrees from the Ann Baker cattery, called Raggedy Ann, you will see the names of such Ragdoll cats like Josephine (a solid white persian or angora), and Buckwheat (a black Burmese type) which confirm this statement.
The Burmese gene is cb which creates a brownish coat for a genetically black cat. The points (face mask, ears, legs and tail) are very dark and the rest of the body is richly warm. The mink gene, isn't a separate gene but rather a combination of the pointed gene and the Burmese gene represented by (cbcs). (see Ragdoll history)
When you breed two mink cats together you'll get the following results: half of the litter will be mink colored, quarter will be "sepia" colored (actually this is Burmese color, but they are called "sepia") and quarter will be pointed Traditional Ragdolls. This is possible because some kittens will receive the cb gene from both parents which will make them a sepia color, some will get the cs gene from both parents, which will make them pointed, and some will get cb from one parent and cs from the other, and so they are mink colored
Mink is not a new breed of Ragdoll, not even a new pattern, but rather it is a bloodline which can be traced back to the very first Ragdolls by Ann Baker and other IRCA Ragdoll breeders. Most breeders today choose to solely continue with the pointed colors. Only a handful are devoted to continuing with these old lines and breed with Minks and Solids.
So why is this Ragdoll named mink? They are called "Mink" because the fur of this type of Ragdoll is still smoother than that of the pointed traditional Ragdoll, which is hardly possible, but they truly feel like a ladies mink stole or a cashmere rabbit.
Mink Ragdoll kittens are born with color (yes full color, not white). The point color of the mink is much stronger, richer and darker than that of the traditional Ragdoll. Now I hear you asking, "What colors and patterns are available in this type of Ragdoll?" Mink Ragdolls come in all the traditional colors of seal, blue, chocolate, lilac, flame, cream, tortie and blue/cream. They are also available in the traditional patterns of a Ragdoll. That is colorpoint (having no white), mitted (white mitts on front paws and boots on back legs with white chin and bib), and bicolor (an inverted "V" on its face, white on all legs, chin and bib). Any of these patterns and colors can also be marked with the lynx in point (tabby markings). (visit our Photo Gallery)
Eye color, however, between the traditional pointed variety, the Mink Ragdoll and the Solid Ragdoll are also a distinguishing feature of each. In the traditional Ragdoll kitten, the eye color is always blue. The Mink Ragdoll has a gorgeous blue or aqua (blue-green) eye coloring, resembling those pictures of the Caribbean Sea. Whereas, the Solid Ragdoll kitten has eyes of a lovely green, copper, blue, blue-green, or even odd colored eyes.
Do the Minks and Solids still have the same characteristics as the traditional variety of Ragdolls? Most Most definitely!! They are a large, docile, floppy, people-friendly cat. The Ragdoll cat or kitten does not wish to be left alone, it is a very social creature. Other than having different markings, an SBT purebred TICA registered mink or solid Ragdoll is exactly that, a True Ragdoll !!
Ann Bakers - Buckwheat and Josephine
MY SOLIDS
many breeders do not carry the Solid Ragdoll as it is considered to be "controversial". However, having said this, the number of Ragdoll breeders opening their hearts and minds to accepting Solids and Minks into their breeding programs is rapidly increasing.
A special feature found in the non-pointed Solid and Mink Ragdolls is that they can give birth to both pointed and non-pointed Ragdoll kittens in the same litter! This is due to the fact that the Solid and Mink Ragdoll carry the gene for the pointed traditional variety of Ragdoll. So as a breeder, one is always anticipating the birth of such a litter. The traditional Ragdoll kittens are born completely white (color on these kittens starts to come in after several days) while the non-traditional Ragdoll kittens of the same litter are born with full color.
So, what color does a Solid Ragdoll come in, you ask? Solids can be seen in black, blue, chocolate, lilac, white, red, cream, blue/cream and calico/tortie. Solid Ragdolls also have the same patterns as the "traditional" Ragdoll. That is colorpoint (having no white), mitted (white mitts on front paws and boots on back legs with white chin and bib), and bicolor (an inverted "V" on its face, white on all legs, chin and bib). Any of these patterns and colors can also be marked with the lynx in point (tabby markings), smoke, shaded or silver.
Eye color between the traditional pointed variety, the Solid Ragdoll and the Mink Ragdoll are also a distinguishing feature of each. In the traditional Ragdoll kitten, the eye color is always blue. Whereas, the Solid Ragdoll kitten has eyes of green, copper, blue, blue-green, or even odd color eyes. The Mink Ragdoll has a blue or lovely aqua (blue-green) eye coloring.
MY JOURNEY TO THE SOLID SIDE: My Solid Program
Purebred- Of or belonging to a recognized strain established by breeding individuals of unmixed lineage over many generations denoting a pure strain obtained through many generations of controlled breeding for desirable traits
It takes 3 generations of same cat breed to be bred together to be considered Purebred.
Crossbred- bred from parents of different varieties
Pedigreed- recorded lines of ancestry
After years now of thinking outside of the box and not really admiring Solids along came a situation that has changed my thinking, feelings and philosophy on Ragdolls. I have met a wonderful lady who has been working on producing Silver Ragdolls for years, she started out getting cats directly from Ann Baker. I have used her advice and knowledge in an outcross I have done and have been working on for a couple of years now to produce my own line of solid ragdolls, here's my story
After many years of gathering everything I could on Ann Baker and her granddaughter Annabelle, I have learned alot..
One of those being that solids and outcrosses are vital to any breed at some point. I have never seen a fullbred pedigree solid Ragdoll whose pedigree could trace back to the beginning, maybe I'm just not looking hard enough, I kept finding breeders trying to sell me solids with pedigrees that trace back 3 generations or more and then they start listing parents as unknown (apparently not unheard of in early cat breeds)
Well now I thought if I'm going to ever breed a solid I will do my own lines so I KNOW what cats for sure were used in this program from the beginning. Since I know from Fact that Ann was a Persian breeder,and that persians were in fact used in her early Ragdoll program,(Pleae remember that in the 60 and 70 most long haired cats were considered persian today we have a very different standard of this breed) I by odd chance saw this beauty come along, I guess the dreamer in me took over. In strolls D'lyla , nothing special at first to the eye except for her little smirk and her very cute doll face for she is a Solid White Doll faced Persian with the cutest little tush and knickers I've seen in a Persian (which are not my thing) but flight of fancy got ahold and I dared to dream of creating my own solid lines with an outcross to this beautiful creature when I saw her eyes the best was yet to come, I received close up pics of her face and I noticed immediately in particular her eyes (which I must say just BLEW ME AWAY) ME, cat lover and self proclaimed expert, lover and caretaker of cats for my entire 40 yrs of life, I had NEVER seen anything like it.
D'Lyla's eyes were not photo opted or enhanced in any way, here was a beauty of nature with each of her eyes being a combination of blues and copper seemingly starting and stopping at definite points, not odd eyed a most cats but each eye is like this. I sent pictures to CFA and they could not even group her or know what to call her eye color so they simply listed her as odd eyed (indeed, we now call her a marble eyed doll faced persian which is the name her breeder came up with) I HAD to have this cat and quite by accident did eventually end up with her from help of her breeder. Now D'lyla has such a pedigreed and championed lineage that in itself was flooring but she could not compete in shows due to disqualification of her eyes. A waste indeed, all I could think of was finding a geneologist that could tell me if she would pass this trait of her eyes along to her offspring, did it run in families of cats the way it does humans ( I remember in JR high school seeing a girl that rode our bus with this sort of eye pattern although hers were green and brown in each eye) Truthfully I was dreaming of little ragdolls with kaleidoscope eyes. BIG DREAMS for such a mortal HAHA.
After consulting the couple of friends and aquaintances of Ann's I decided to just go for it, I knew she had been a Persian breeder and I knew that pedigrees and info varied greatly depending of wether you were her friend , foe or another breeder (even ones she sold to and mentored never found out the complete pedigrees of their cats, this I think was so that truly Ann was the only one whom knew exactly what she used to get those cats, I guess kind of like withholding the "secret ingredient" anyway so I hope she would forgive me for thinking again outside of the box.
I did it, I've set the paperwork up with TICA who will record and register D'lyla and her kittens with the intention of being bred back to my own registered Ragdolls and eventually after 3-5 generations of selective breeding they will be considered full solid Ragdolls. It's funny what fate will throw your way and that her first litter went so well is testament to the beauty and vitality of kittens she has produced. We have not produced kittens in this first litter with her marbled eye color, which may be attributed to melanin not settling in the right places during D's creation but eventually it might happen by chance and a whole lotta luck, until then I'm content to work on this program.
If your interested in a future kitten or updates of this let me know. I will only keep a VERY VERY select few for this adventure so I will have a variety for pets. I will not be using other persians in this endeavor. D'Lyla and all off spring will be only bred back to SBT registered Ragdolls with an outstanding pedigree, I'm more or less doing this line for me. I am in NO WAY trying to create a seperate breed in anyway which is why this line will remain extremly small and more for personal satisfaction.
D' LYLA- CFA White Solid Persian masking Tortie Minky Mouse- Seal Mitted Mink SBT Ragdoll
FOUNDATION PARENTS TO MY SOLID LINES REGISTERED WITH TICA
First breeding produced, 3 males and 1 female, a solid black, a solid white, a lilac mitted mink and a blue solid
3 were ragdoll faced , 1 dollfaced. The mitted and the dollfaced kittens were petted out, Ive kept the solid white and the solid black- Yin and Yang kept the ragdoll fur while the other 2 kept the double coat of the persian, 2 have green eyes and 2 have copper eyes so far. Yin and Yang will be bred back to SBT Ragdolls and registered as foundation stock.
Other breeders claim that Josephine was bred to a seal Birman male who in turn was bred to a sable Burmese female. There doesn't seem to be any evidence of this, either. The Ragdoll's white spotting gene is definitely not the same as in the Birman breed, according to TICA's genetics committee chairperson, Dr. Solveig Pflueger, M.D., Ph.D.
The Ragdolls of America Group (a group formed to gain acceptance for the Ragdoll in the Cat Fanciers' Association) says that Josephine was a feral white Turkish Angora-type cat that resided on the property of a Mrs. Pennels in Riverside, California. After her car accident, Josephine mated with a feral black and white mitted long haired tom and produced a solid black male kitten named Daddy Warbucks and a seal pointed bicolor female named Fugianna. Another litter followed, sired by a solid brown long haired tom. This tryst produced a seal point female named Tiki and a black- and white-mitted male named Buckwheat. The breed's founder, the late Ann Baker, came into possession of these cats, and all subsequent generations can be traced back to them. After years of selective breeding, the Ragdoll developed into the breed we know today. This seems to be the most credible story for the breed's creation; however, this lineage cannot be confirmed with certainty, since the trysts between these feral cats were not documented.
