Ragdoll Cat Colors/Patterns Explained

Someone a while ago asked me what colors and patterns Ragdoll cats can come in, now mind you, I am completely aware of all of the patterns and colors, so  let the true expert on Ragdoll cats guide you to your desirably colors and patterns, shall we begin? 

The PATTERNS: 

Ragdoll cats come in 3 main patterns, and they are Bicolor, Mitted, and Colorpoint. Bicolors can come in  4 varieties; Van, True, Mid High White, and High Mitted.

This is a Van Bicolor. ( Van Bluepoint Bicolor). Van Bicolors are less popular than the True Bicolors, and are not accepted in all of the cat fanciers associations for showing, but are always welcomed to get a pedigree on them and be able to be registered. A Van Bicolor means that the cat has coloring on it's mask (face interrupted by an inverted white "v" on it's muzzle), ears and tail, never are they allowed to have any coloring where there is white and absolutely no white where there is coloring. Confusing? No, once you get the hang of it and become an expert like me.

This is a True Bicolor. (A Bluepoint True Bicolor). Nico (pictured above) was a True Bicolor. True Bicolors are the original Bicolor; hence the name,( "True Bicolor" does not mean a real Bicolor or a show quality one). True Bicolors are accepted in all of the cat fanciers associations, but it wasn't until 2008 that CFA accepted the Bicolor Ragdolls, this is one of the major reasons why I hate CFA and will never support them, to me that is like switching from Florida to Florida State, eww to both. I am with the TICA and will always be. True Bicolors have coloring on their mask (face interrupted by an inverted "v" of white on the mask), ears, tail, and a saddle, a saddle is on every True Bicolor and they may have white spots on their saddle (these spots of white are only accepted on the saddle and never the tail, mask, or ears, nor are the ears, mask, or tail to have any coloring other than their true coloring; you will not understand what I am saying until we get to the colors. If I counted that correctly, Bicolor Ragdolls have fought 36 years to be accepted in CFA (1972-2008). 

I struggled beyond measure to find a photo of a Mid High White Bicolor. I succeeded by only one photo. This is a Mid High White Bicolor, (Bluepoint Mid High White Bicolor). Spelling out "Mid High White Bicolor" is quite a mouth full, so I will say MHWB (Mid High White Bicolor) for they're description, MHWB is not an actual nick name, but how about it. MHWB(s) have coloring on their mask (face interrupted by an inverted "v" of white on their face), ears, tail, and a broken saddle, a broken saddle is a saddle that maybe made up in patches rather than one whole thing, e.g; a True Bicolor has a whole saddle. MHWB(s) saddle is broken up by their main white on their back, or MHWB(s) may have huge white patches on their back, or just in general a small saddle. MHWB(s) may have colored elbows, but this is undesirable in the show ring and is classified as a mismark. All Bicolors should have white elbows; unless it is a High Mitted, I will get to them later. High Mitted Bicolors, Mid High White Bicolors, and Van Bicolors are general not accepted in shows; they leave that to the True Bicolors. ;-)

This is a High Mitted Bicolor. (Sealpoint High Mitted Bicolor). High Mitted Bicolors are more than often referred to a Bicolor (of any variety) that has Mitted parents, so Nico was classified as one, but only genetically! Nico was genetically "High Mitted" but a True Bicolor over all. High Mitted Bicolors do not fit the breed standard and are not accepted in shows. High Mitted Bicolors have coloring on their ears, mask (face interrupted by an inverted "v" of white on the mask, however their mask is larger with a smaller inverted "v", and does not fit the Bicolor standard at all), a colored tail and a saddle on the back, High Mitteds have coloring on their front legs up until mid front leg or they may have coloring on all of their front legs until going to their paws, hence the name; High Mitted. 

This is a Colorpoint. (Sealpoint Colorpoint). Colorpoint Ragdolls have coloring on their mask (face), ears, legs, paws, and tail. No white is allowed anywhere on their coat. Colorpoints have lighter bodies where there are no points. Tadpole was a Colorpoint (Sealpoint Colorpoint, like the one pictured above).

This is a Mitted. (Sealpoint Mitted). Mitted Ragdolls have coloring on their mask (face) with a white chin, colored ears, a colored tail, and colored front legs up until their evenly matched white mittens or "mitts" as some people and breeders call them, Mitted Ragdolls have a white stomach stripe from their white chin up until their crotch, and white boots (hind legs), some Mitted Ragdolls may have the traditional colored mark a crossed their boot ankle ( I call this their boot length lol, but it is actually called a honk), breeders are working hard to breed out this old and traditional mark, judges in the show ring generally find the honks undesirable and are now counting it as a mismark. If I ever get into breeding Ragdolls, I will most definitely work with the honks, some breeders continue with the honks and I'm glad, as I find them very historical and attractive. Anya has one honk and it is perfectly marked, but due to the matter that she only has one is classified as a mismark, Renato has one honk like Anya too, but his goes down way too far and is just a mismark. But I love both my babies for who they are. Mitted Ragdolls may have a blaze on their foreheads, there are 4 types of blazes; Hourglass (my all time favorite, and I will totally own one one day!!) Star, Diamond, and Broken. I will show pictures of each blaze later in this post. 

The COLORS: 

Ragdoll cats come in 6 different colors, 2 of them being incredibly rare. The colors are Flame point (now called Red point) Sealpoint, Bluepoint, Cream point, Chocolate point, and last but certainly not least, Lilac point.

This is a Bluepoint Ragdoll (Bluepoint Colorpoint), and it is mismarked being a Colorpoint with a white chin which is unacceptable. I often get a lot of comments over the internet or in person, asking if Anya is a Lilac point. No, she is not, Anya is a Bluepoint. First, Bluepoint is the most popular color and Lilac point is the rarest lol. Bluepoint is a cold blue-ish-gray tone to a slate color. Bluepoint is striking in the sunlight!! Another word for this color is Blue, so you can say Blue or the true meaning of the color, which is Bluepoint, I prefer saying Bluepoint. Bluepoint is the dilute of Sealpoint.

This is a Sealpoint Ragdoll. (Sealpoint Colorpoint). Another word for Sealpoint is just Seal, I prefer saying Sealpoint. Sealpoint is a dark brown to almost black color, it is super stunning. Sealpoint is the dilute of Bluepoint. 

This is a Chocolate point Ragdoll. (Chocolate point Bicolor). Chocolate is the second rarest color, second only to the Lilac point. Chocolate Point has another name to it too, and that is just saying Chocolate, I (of course) prefer Chocolate point. Chocolate point is beautiful and incredibly rare and very elagent. Chocolate point is the dilute of Bluepoint. 

Behold, the rarest color of them all. This is a Lilac point Ragdoll (Lilac point Colorpoint). Lilac point is a pink-ish beige color, and is the dilute of Chocolate point. There are 2 ways to say "Lilac", Lilac point or Lilac either or, I prefer saying Lilac point. 

This is a Flame point Ragdoll. (Some call it Red point now, but that is incorrect.) (Flame point Bicolor Ragdoll). Flame is the dilute of I-can't-remember, lol. I truly cannot, wish I could, but it is very complicated. 

This is a Cream point Ragdoll. (Cream point Colorpoint? Or Mitted? I cannot tell exactly). You can say Cream point or Cream, I prefer Cream point. Cream point is the dilute of Flame point. 

I will do Ragdoll blazes Friday.

Ragdoll Mommy~