Might my sister's kitty be a Ragdoll?

[lonelocust]

My sister rescued her cat Duma from an irresponsible owner (who was the ex-girlfriend of her brother in law or something like that,and they're no longer in touch) because she'd decided to get a puppy and lost interest in having a cat. I thought she was a DLH tuxedo, but my sister was wondering if she was a ragdoll. She said she was under the impression Duma was purebred but didn't know what breed. I thought ragdolls had to have that more whispy, ombre-like pointing, but I looked up the standards and saw that bicolor is also possible. I don't see any true black/white pattern bicolor ragdoll pictures on a google image search for "bicolor ragdoll", though they look essentially the same but with a less intense darker color. She seems to have the personality and is in the size range for ragdolls. 

She's not worried about the lack of papers and doesn't intend to show the cat but is just curious.

duma1.jpg

• lonelocust
• Dec 14, 2015

duma2.jpg

• lonelocust
• Dec 14, 2015

duma3.jpg

• lonelocust
• Dec 14, 2015

And last my favorite cat picture of my sister's cats, along with her second cat.

duma and zephyr.jpg

• lonelocust
• Dec 14, 2015

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Alas, with the differences between so many cat breeds being so subtle, and what with the lack of papers, there is just no way to be certain.  She may well be, although like you, I searched for bi-color Ragdolls for something like her without success.  Just dunno.  Maybe someone with more knowledge than I will chime in here and give you an answer.

This was the easiest to understand of the breed standards that I found, and black was not in there:

.ragdollscfa.org/ragdoll_breed_standard.shtml

 

[nbrazil]

Look alikes are not uncommon in random populations. Genetic tests exist for around $100 bux b/c ragdolls share 40% of their genes. So without papers or a test, just a look alike.

 

[lonelocust]

So for clarification, that is in fact a possible ragdoll color scheme, or not? That was the question I was attempting to ask. I infer from the answer that she is [just] a lookalike that there are indeed ragdolls of that color scheme, but it was not 100% clear.

What do you mean by 40% of their genes? All domestic cats share well more than 40% of their coding genes with lions, or humans for that matter. Is there a certain set of genes that are looked at in domestic cat genetic tests? (This is completely a separate question so maybe belongs in another thread.)

 

[paiger8]

It's not a Ragdoll. It's always possible that there's a little Ragdoll blood in there, but certainly not a purebred. Black and white is not one of the breed patterns of Ragdolls. Bi-color is, but it's a Bi-color version of Chocolate Points, Seal Points, Lynx Points, Lilac Points, etc. Also, all Ragdolls have Blue eyes. It's a gene mutation that comes with the color pointing. More info here. http://www.ragdoll-cats.com/descrip.htm

Beautiful cat though!

 

[lonelocust]

Thank you paiger8.

 

[lonelocust]

We found her breeder, and she is a ragamuffin rather than a ragdoll. Great cat detective, awaaaayyyyy. Neither of us had ever previously heard of the breed. Since they're apparently not prone to any more genetic diseases than moggies are, there's not much to worry about, but the case is solved. 

 

[paiger8]

Very interesting. I've never seen a Ragamuffin in person, but I've read that they're a very sweet docile breed. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Now I feel like a total idiot.  My neighbor (I live in an apartment complex, lots of those) has a Ragamuffin, and he's a dead ringer for your girl, but dilute (gray to her black).  He's a wonderful cat, friendly, good with people, loves kids, gets along with the other neighbor's dog...all around wonderful pussycat.