Is a Ragdoll Cat the Right Pet for You?

What it's really like to own a Ragdoll cat

You may have been thinking to yourself...I want a companion, but a dog is too much work, a cat is too independent, and you can't play with a goldfish. Isn't there a perfect pet for me? At some point during all of your pet research, you may have stumbled upon the Ragdoll breed. You may have thought this is perfect. Ragdolls are the perfect mix of affectionate, loving, cuddly, purry, playful, puppy-like, docile, passive, smart, relaxed, animal but at the same time low-maintenance. If you thought this, you'd be right, you may be asking the question like: ​

• How do I get a Ragdoll kitten?

• How to find a reputable Ragdoll breeder?

• How to avoid Ragdoll scammers?

• How do I make sure I get a purebred Ragdoll, with all of the wonderful Ragdoll personality traits that I hear about?

• Which Ragdoll color or pattern is for me?

Ragdoll Princess can help you with all these questions, but before we do that, we’d like to share with you what it's like to actually own a Ragdoll cat. You can determine for yourself if a Ragdoll kitten is right for you. ​ Ragdoll cats have no sense of privacy. When you adopt a Ragdoll cat, say goodbye to any and all privacy. Unless you plan on closing all the doors in your house, your Ragdoll will relentlessly follow you from room to room. Pet gates cannot contain them...the only thing that will stop a Ragdoll from trying to be with you is probably a door. Even then you may not be safe as some of our Ragdolls are cat geniuses. They've figured out doorhandles and have the ability to open them. But, we’ve got a little trick up my sleeve as well; Ragdolls aren’t polydactyl, so they don’t have opposable thumbs. This makes it very difficult for them to grab round doorknobs. So, if we actually want some privacy, we are going to need to switch out all the doorknobs. Otherwise, doors are really pointless as Ragdolls have no boundaries. ​ Ragdoll cats have no boundaries. This goes back to the Ragdoll’s lack of respect for your privacy, but I feel it needs to be hit on twice. Ragdoll cats have no boundaries when it comes to achieving their goal, which is this: receiving constant love and affection from their human. Nothing is sacred. Some Ragdolls prefer to sit on your lap all the time, no matter where you're sitting, or what may already be in your lap: on the couch, at the table during dinner, in the office during work hours, when your laptop is already on your lap, or if another cat is on your lap. Our Ragdolls seem to have no spatial reasoning as well. If a little bit of lap isn’t fully covered by the other cat, they believe it’s plenty of room for them. This leads to two Ragdolls squishing onto a lap at once or sitting on each other. Some Ragdoll cats are not scared of water. Back to the privacy thing, you’d think you could enjoy a nice bath or even a shower without being invaded. One would think, cats are not a fan of water or baths, so they’ll leave you alone in there. Nope. Most of our Ragdolls don’t even mind us giving them baths. So come bath time, they hang around the rim of the tub and are in it for the long haul relaxing right alongside you. Showers are interesting though, they spend most of their time crying, loudly for you to let them in. And ours will come in if you let them. But even if you don’t–we've had some Ragdolls scale the glass wall of the shower and hang out on the top of the shower wall looking down to make sure everything is okay. It may be kind of weird at first having a Ragdoll check up on you in the shower–but as there is nothing you can do about it short of locking the door–you get used to it. ​ Ragdoll cats have no respect for your time. Whether it’s going to work, date night, or Taco Tuesday–Ragdolls don’t seem to care that you have to places to be and cannot imagine that you might have a life outside of you loving them. The hardest part when you have to leave the room or house is when you take them off your lap or stop petting them. They look at you with eyes that seem to pierce your heart with the idea that what you're doing right now…is destroying their soul. At that point, what’s another five minutes late… ​ All that said, owning a Ragdoll cat, or a few (wink) is definitely worth it all. You get the best of both worlds with a Ragdoll cat. You’ll enjoy the easy care of a cat in terms of physical needs but with the social dependence, emotional attachment to humans, loving affection, and playfulness of a dog.