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:
Where do I get a Ragdoll kitten in Texas?
Where do I find a Ragdoll breeder in Texas?
How do I make sure I get a real Ragdoll, with all of the wonderful Ragdoll personality traits that I hear about?
What Ragdoll color, pattern, or coat do I want?
We at 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 buy 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–Princess Belle from the Our Ragdolls page, is a cat genius. She has already figured out doors and has the ability to open them. But, I’ve got a little trick up my sleeve as well; Ragdolls aren’t polydactyls, 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. King Kailua (also on Our Ragdolls page) likes to sit on you lap all the time, no matter where you are 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, when writing this down right now (thanks Kailua for the inspiration), even if another cat is on your lap. Kailua is our male Ragdoll and biggest cat, but he seems to have no spatial reasoning. If a little bit of lap isn’t fully covered by the other cat, he believes it’s plenty of room for him. I don’t know how many times I’ve told him, my lap isn’t big enough for two cats–it stopped being big enough to fit just you 5 lbs ago. However, he doesn’t listen. This leads to two Ragdolls squishing into my lap at once. Some Ragdoll cats are not even 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, as they can’t see you through the shower, and spend most of their time crying for you to let them in. And ours will come in if you let them. But even if you don’t–Belle, the Ragdoll genius, who is also very athletic will scale the glass wall of the shower and hang out on the top of the shower wall looking down at you during the shower to make sure you are okay. It was 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 just don’t seem to care that you have to go, 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 independence of a cat in terms of physical needs, where if you give them food, water, change their litter, and brush them they are taken care of–with the social dependence, emotional attachment to humans, constant affection, and playfulness of a dog.