Introduction

Ragdolls are cats that love to be with humans and can attach strongly to their owners. They have lovable, easy-going personalities. As Ragdolls are happy to be indoors, they are ideal companion cats.  Ragdolls can easily be trained to do simple tricks like retrieving toys and begging, and can be taught to walk on a leash.
                                                                                  
The Ragdoll is a large cat mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Records. They mature slowly to reach full maturity between 3-4 years of age. Their fur is medium-long and is generally matt-resistant. 

History

It is generally accepted that the man made breed of cat known as "Ragdoll" was founded in Riverside, California, in the 1960's, by a woman named Ann Baker, and the foundation cat was her neighbour's non-pedigree, white, longhaired female cat named Josephine.

At one time Josephine was mated to a black/brown Persian-type tom called Beauty and the resulting offspring was a tom Ann Baker called Daddy Warbucks. From another mating with a self coloured black tom called Blackie Josephine produced a self coloured black female who Ann Baker called Buckwheat.

Buckwheat and Daddy Warbucks produced a litter of four kittens born on 3rd July, 1965. In this litter were two self coloured and two pointed kittens. The self coloured kittens, also known as solids or non-pointeds, were Gueber, a Black male and Mitts, a Black Mitted male and the pointed kittens were Tiki, also known as Toni, a Chocolatepoint female and Kyoto, a Seal Mitted male.

Raggedy Ann Tiki and Raggedy Ann Kyoto were registered as Ragdolls with NCFA by Ann Baker and Gueber and Mitts were registered with the same body as experimental Persians.

When Gueber was mated with Raggedy Ann Toy Ling, the offspring of Tiki and Kyoto, the resulting kitten was Raggedy Ann Adam, born 11th June, 1967 and he was also registered with NCFA as an experimental Persian.

For some years the pointed Ragdolls were the favoured ones and the self coloureds were ignored. Ann Baker did not bother with them either and gave them to a friend to care for but by the early 1970's, when she had formed her own registry, IRCA, she decided to reintroduce the self coloureds, or solids, because she then believed they were important to help maintain the size and eye colour of the pointed Ragdolls and she called them Ragdolls Tu. Since IRCA was not a recognised body the pedigrees of many cats, including self coloureds, registered with this registry were never recognised and tend to be 'controversial'. They are often seen listed on pedigrees from other registries as "Foundation".

Self Coloured or Solid Ragdolls

Self Coloured Ragdolls, Solids, Selfs or Non-pointeds as we know them today, are now more widely accepted and many breeders recognise their valuable genetic contribution to the breed.  A self coloured parent with a pointed parent will produce a mixed litter of pointed and self coloured kittens because the self coloureds all carry the pointing gene, whereas two pointed parents will only produce pointeds. A self coloured cat is never bred to another self coloured cat because the pointing gene may then be lost from that gene pool.

Colours and Patterns

Ragdolls come in a wonderful range of colours and markings.  We are able to breed the full range of colours, seal, blue, lilac, chocolate, red and cream, including tortoiseshell and tabby, with the addition of silver and smoke also possible. Any of these colours may be available in bicolour, mitted, high white or colourpoint markings.

In a self coloured Ragdoll the body and the points (nose and ears, legs and tail) are the same colour, in contrast to pointed Ragdolls, which have points which are darker than the body colour. Self coloured Ragdolls are available in all of the same colours and patterns as the pointed Ragdolls except that black replaces seal.

The pointed kittens are born with white fur and begin to develop their colour points from 4 days old, finally completing their adult colour by around 3 years of age, whereas the self coloured kittens, or solids, are born  with full body colour. The pointeds retain their blue eyes, whereas the self coloureds' eye colour begins to change at around 7 weeks of age and continues to develop to shades of green, blue-green, copper or gold as they mature.

Sepia and Mink Ragdolls

Another genetic colour variation present in many Ragdolls throughout the World creates the Sepias and Minks.   This gene, originally from the Burmese breed, alters the basic colour of pointed Ragdolls.  In a Sepia the body colour is a slightly lighter colour than the points and in a Mink the body coat colour has a lighter shade than the points but not as light as in a normal pointed cat of the same basic colour.  This gene affects all of the colours available in Ragdolls.  Cats with two copies of the sepia  gene are sepia in colour whilst cats with a single copy of the sepia gene paired with a single copy of the sepia pointing gene are Minks. 

Self coloured Ragdolls may also carry a single copy of the sepia gene coupled with the dominant gene for self colour.  Thus they will produce self coloured and mink pointed kittens when mated to a normal colour pointed Ragdoll. 

There are no sepia or mink Ragdolls in New Zealand at present but we hope that this variation will be imported in the near future.

Aurorapetz Ragdolls

We are able to trace the pedigree of many of our pointed cats directly back to the original cat, Josephine and to  the first registered Ragdoll, Raggedy Ann Tiki. This line we can trace is 'pure' without the introduction of any outcross programmes and other breeds of cats. We state these cats are 100% TR and trace directly back to the original 4 foundation cats Ann Baker used to begin the Ragdoll breed. For kittens from this stock we have added "Tiki" to their pedigree names. We can also trace our self coloured stud's pedigree back to the first non-pointeds, Raggedy Ann Adam and Raggedy Ann Tiki's sibling, Gueber.

Our passions are the lilac and chocolate colours in particular.  We are now able to confirm these colours through DNA testing. All chocolates, lilacs and chocolate carriers, sold as breeding stock, are DNA verified prior to sale. We are also captivated by the self coloureds, or solids, and are excited about this new venture allowing us the opportunity to be one of the growing number of Ragdoll breeders throughout the World who do not want this line to be lost but want to promote the Self coloured, Sepia and Mink Ragdolls We now have our first litters of self coloured Ragdolls. For our self coloured Ragdolls we have added "Tu" to their pedigree names.

Our aim is to be able to produce lilac and chocolate Ragdolls from the 100% TR Foundation Bloodlines which we can trace back to the foundation cat, Josephine and her daughter Raggedy Ann Tiki, the first registered Chocolate Colourpoint Ragdoll. We now have bred our first 100% TR Original Bloodline Lilacpoint and Chocolate Mitted females backed by DNA test results.

Although not commonly found in Ragdolls within New Zealand we have completed a DNA testing programme for PKD and HCM in our breeding cats.  We have also begun to blood type our breeding cats.

We are registered with the New Zealand Cat Fancy Registry, NZCF.

We are the Winners of TWELVE Breeder's Awards of Excellence. 
This award is given when a Judge recognises that a breeder is making a significant contribution to the improvement of the breed.

We are now the Winners of an Owner's Award of Merit.
This is a new award given in conjunction with a Breeder's Award when the Judge acknowledges the effort  an owner has put in in order to have their cat on the bench for a judge to see.