Let's Play a Game: What's That Color and Pattern?

Buyer Beware!
Please beware of cats being listed as "rare", "special" or "genuine", GRs (Genuine Ragdolls), have a pointed  coat and blue eyes. Breeders across the United States are calling variants "rare", these are listed as Mink Ragdolls, Sepia Ragdolls, or Solid Ragdolls, these are genetically impossible in a blue eyed and pointed breed, like Ragdolls, Birmans, Snowshoes, or Siamese. The gene for Sepia is not "carried", the gene for Mink is also not carried in Ragdolls, any mating from a blue eyed and pointed cats will only result in blue eyed and pointed cats. The gene for Solid is dominate, but the pointed blue eyed gene is recessive, so in order to produce a pointed blue eyed cat, at least one parent would need to be pointed and blue eyed, to produce a solid cat, you would need to mate a solid x pointed or solid x solid, but blue eyed pointed cats, like Ragdolls (because of the genotype, they are recessive), so a pointed x pointed mating will only result in pointed cats, a  pointed x solid mating can produce both. Some breeders are also working on Cinnamons, Fawns, Whites (including BEW, blue-eyed-whites), Blacks, Tabbies, and various other unaccepted and unrecognized colors. Ragdolls only come in 6 colors: Sealpoint, Bluepoint, Lilac point, Chocolate point, Flame point, and Cream point, and in 9 patterns: True Bicolor, Mid-High-White, Mitted, Colorpoint, Tortie, Torbie, Lynx, High Mitted, and Van.






The Colors:

Seal Colorpoint. Credits to whomever took this photo back in the 90's.



The Seal Color Description:


Seal Ragdolls, neither a dilute or recessive, but both Tadpole and Renato were Seal colored. Seals hold a special place in my heart, like Blues, my Ragdolls were Seal and were Blue and are Blue. Seal is the very first Ragdoll color, the first was a Seal Mitted. Seals range from a light chocolate color to a deep, almost black color, the darker the Seal, the prettier in my opinion. Seal is a very common color, and is not more or less popular than Blue. Seals have black noses (unless Bicolor, then they are pink), black paw pads (only if Colorpoint, generally pink if Bicolor or Mitted), their striking blue eyes pop against their deep brown points. Males tend to be darker (with any color generally), females are a tad lighter but not always. 

Lilac Colorpoint. Credits to whomever took this photo.




The Lilac Color Description:

Lilac Ragdolls, traditional colored and formerly called Frost (still is in some associations), Lilacs are both a dilute color and recessive, a rare color indeed. Any mating done between two Lilacs (doesn't matter what pattern) will only produce Lilac kittens. Lilac Ragdolls look a lot like Blue Ragdolls, only lighter and more rare, they are the dilute of Chocolate. Lilacs are rare, like Chocolates, and generally come at a higher price range than Seals and Blues, Lilacs (and Chocolates) are also harder to breed, especially if you breed Seals and Blues, as they are very hard to tell apart until 10-14 weeks of age, even the most experienced breeder can have some trouble deciding if the cat is Blue or Lilac, a DNA color test is often done to rule out the true color of the cat in question. Lilacs are beautiful to look at and do look softer than Seals and Blues, I plan on breeding both Chocolates and Lilacs when I get enough experience as a breeder. 

Flame Bicolor. Credits to whomever took this photo.


The Flame Color Description: 

Flame Ragdolls, their striking classy blue eyes really "pop" in photos, don't they? Flames were created by outcrossing in the 90's via a Ragdoll and a Persian (just like with the color Cream). Flames are accepted and recognized as Ragdolls in most associations. Flames aren't my favorite color either, but I like them better than Creams, but again, they look like Birmans to me. They are called Red in TICA, but Flame in CFA. Flames are a non-tradtional color and are not a dilute, nor are they recessive, their dilute is Cream. Flames are red in color, and have more red in their noses and paw pads.

Blue Colorpoint; mismarked by white chin. Credits to whomever took this photo. 

The Blue Color Description:

Blue Ragdolls, one of my all time favorite colors, both Nico and Anya were and are Blue Ragdolls. Blue Ragdolls are cold toned, and stunning, ranging from a silvery gray to a cold metallic blue. Blue Ragdolls are one of the most beautiful sights I've seen in daylight. Blues are hard to tell from Lilacs and Seals until 3 weeks of age. The first ever Lilac Ragdoll was actually a Blue Ragdoll. Blue is a very popular color, and is not more or less popular than Seal. Blues have deep black colored noses, unless they are Bicolor, then they have pink noses. Blues are a traditional color and were the second color. Blue is the dilute of Seal. Blue is a dilute color. Blue is not recessive. 

Cream Mitted. Credits to whomever took this photo.


The Cream Color Description:

Cream Ragdolls, are the dilute of Flame (or Red in TICA),  Cream Ragdolls are not recessive. Cream is a non traditional color (but accepted in most associations), Cream was developed in the 90's. I was never a big fan of Cream Ragdolls. To me, they look like Birmans, and while I don't totally hate Birmans, but I prefer Ragdolls. And, nope, Cream Ragdolls originally did not come from Birmans, but rather red or flame Persians. Cream Ragdolls look like lighter Flames, they are not rare, but are a pretty recent color and are no way as popular as Blues and Seals. Creams are one of the lighter colors, like Lilac and Chocolate, Creams have well, cream colored paw pads and fur.

Chocolate Bicolor. Credits to KastleDolls Ragdoll cat cattery.


The Chocolate Color Description:

Chocolate, my second favorite color after Seal. Chocolate Ragdolls are very rare, and tend to be higher priced than the more popular colors like Seal, Blue, Cream, and Flame (or Red in TICA). And, as any Ragdoll fanatic can tell you, Tiki was the first born registered female Ragdoll born on 7-3-1965, she was a Chocolate Colorpoint. Chocolate Ragdolls are a traditional color like Seal, Blue, and Lilac (formerly known as Frost), Chocolates look a lot like Seals, only a lot lighter, more rare, and take much longer than Blues and Seals to get that good Chocolate look like the one pictured above. Chocolate Ragdolls have light coloring and look a lot like lighter Seals, but unlike Seals, Chocolates have "rosey" colored paw pads, noses, and inner ears. Chocolates are very hard to tell from Seals until at least 14 weeks of age. I have always wanted a Chocolate Bicolor female Ragdoll, I searched for one for 2-3 years before I found Nico and Anya. Chocolate is not a dilute. Chocolate's dilute is Lilac. Chocolate is recessive.

The Patterns:

Tadpole was a Seal (the color) Colorpoint (the pattern). So he was a Seal Colorpoint.



The Colorpoint Pattern Description:

Colorpoint Ragdolls, the second pattern. Colorpoint Ragdolls will always have a special place in my heart, because my very first Ragdoll was a Colorpoint (Tadpole, pictured above). Colorpoint Ragdolls have no white anywhere on the body (if so it is a mismark and you cannot show them), take notice that Colorpoints may have light colored chests that look white, but are indeed whatever color the cat is (like Tadpole was Seal), Colorpoints have the most color of the 9 patterns, and are the darkest, they have coloring on the tail, mask (face), ears, legs, paws, and no white markings.

Nico was a Blue (the color) Bicolor (the pattern). So he was a Blue Bicolor.


The Bicolor Pattern Description:

Bicolor Ragdolls, the youngest stand-alone pattern (a stand-alone pattern is a single pattern, like Colorpoint, Mitted, and of course Bicolor. Lynx, Tortie, and Torbie (Tortie x Lynx), are double patterns, these three are called over-laying patterns, they are newer patterns and are non-traditional). There are actually four Bicolor patterns, they are: True Bicolor (formerly just "Bicolor", note: True Bicolor does not mean a show quality Bicolor! It is just the original Bicolor, and the pattern variety), High Mitted (which is what Nico was genetically, any mating between a Mitted x Mitted will result in Bicolors being only High Mitted, True Bicolors can only be obtained by a True Bicolor x True Bicolor mating, Nico was genetically a High Mitted, because both of his parents were Mitted, he was physically a True Bicolor, because of the way his markings were created, but over all, he was a High Mitted), there is also Mid High White, and Van (formally High White). Bicolors have coloring on the ears, mask (face) interrupted by an inverted "v" of white, coloring on the tail, and coloring on the saddle (back. Unless it is a Van Bicolor, they do not have saddles), Bicolors have a white inverted "v" on the mask, white legs, paws, and stomach, and chest. High Mitted Bicolors do indeed tend to have colored legs like Mitteds with white paws, Bicolors like this do not tend to be shown nor allowed to be. 

Anya is a Blue (the color) Mitted (the pattern). So she is a Blue Mitted.

Renato was a Seal (the color) Mitted (the pattern). So he was a Seal Mitted.





The Mitted Pattern Description:

Mitted Ragdolls, the very first pattern. Mitteds have coloring on the ears, mask (face), a white chin, white "mittens" (hence the name "Mitted), a colored tail, and colored front legs that turn to white on the paws, creating little white mittens, white boots on the back legs, that extend no more than up to the honk (coloring around the ankle), a white stomach stripe, and some Mitteds sport a blaze, which is a white stripe or spot on the mask, it can be either a diamond, an hourglass, or a star, sometimes the blaze is "broken", which means that it is incorrectly put, there can also be a double diamond, which is sorta a hourglass that doesn't touch or is broken into two blazes. Neither Renato or Anya has a blaze, non-blazed Mitteds are a little more common than Mitteds with blazes, only the Mitted pattern is allowed a blaze.