Archive for February, 2010
Ragdoll Kätzchen in Hängematte
Originally uploaded by tierfotos
You’ve picked out the perfect kitten. You spent hours on the internet, researching the right breed for you and your family. Then you went from breeder to breeder or humane society to humane society, meeting and greeting kitties until you find just the right match.
Declawing is a major surgery known as onychectomy, performed under general anesthesia, by which the tip of each digit (from the first knuckle out) of the cat’s forepaws is removed.
There is a slight chance of death in the surgery, & a declawed cat may have an increased risk of infection & life-long discomfort in its paws.
This surgery is not recommended for an adult animal & is thought about an act of animal cruelty in some countries.
People generally have felines declawed to prevent them from hunting &damaging furniture. Only in rare cases, vicious felines are declawed. In the USA, some landlords require tenants’ felines to be declawed.
When choosing the right type of food for your Ragdoll cat you must take into consideration your cats age, activity level, and current health.
Your cat’s food should be meet-based; cats (especially this one) needs a lot of good quality proteins.
There are three main food varieties: dry, semi-most, and wet.
Dry cat food is crunchy, kibble and has the side benefit of removing buildup from your cat’s teeth as it is eaten. For this reason most veterinarians recommend feeding dry food on a daily basis.
Semi-most cat food comes in pouches and is more easily digested than dry cat food due to higher water content. Semi-wet cat food can be left out during the day for your Ragdoll cat to snack on.
Wet cat food has the highest water content of the three types and is the most easy to digest. Wet food is the favorite of most cats and comes in a wide variety of flavors from fish to chicken. This type of food does nothing to help clean your cat’s teeth and contributes to plaque and tartar build up.
Ragdoll Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
The deadliest enemy of ragdoll cat isn’t your neighbor’s dog nor its children; a rare cardiac disease affects about 30% of all ragdoll cats being probably the most frequent cause of death and disease.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the most significant cause of heart failure and death in ragdoll cats. This disease is characterized by a marked thickening of the left ventricle (heart muscle mass). This increased muscular thickness determines a decrease in chamber diameters, meaning less blood will pass through the heart.
As a result your cat will have problems breathing, will eat less, will be lethargic and weak, will lose weight, suffer abdominal swelling, vomit more frequently, or will lose the ability to use its hindlegs.
Cardiomyopathy is life-threatening for any cat but especially for ragdolls as usually they are pretty calm, quite beings making the initial symptoms much more difficult to spot.
If a specific cause is identified and can be resolved, many (sometimes all) changes in the heart can be reversed. This only happens though in very rare occasions, usually ragdoll HCM being considered to be of an unknown cause (idiopathic HCM). Even in these cases a good treatment can alleviate the symptoms for a long period of time.
| COLOUR POINT
The colour of the points (ears, mask, legs and tail) to be darker, well defined. Body colour to be sound to the roots. Body colour to be lighter than point colour: chest, bib and chin areas may be somewhat lighter in colour. Soft shadings of colour are allowed on the body. Allowance to be made for uneven shading for a cat under two years of age. Eyes blue, the deeper the better. Withhold Challenge: any white on points. |
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| MITTED
The points (except feet) to be well defined. A broken or evenly matched white blaze of even dimension on nose and/or between eyes to be acceptable. White mittens on front legs to be evenly matched and scalloped. Back legs should be entirely white extending no higher than mid-thigh. White must go around the hock entirely. White stripe varying in width extends from the bib and runs down the underside between the forelegs to the under base of the tail. The body is a shade lighter than the point colour. Eyes blue, the deeper the better.
Withhold Challenge: Any dark spotting on white mittens or underbelly. Lack of white stripe running down the underside to base of tail. Lack of white chin. |
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| BI-COLOUR |
First ragdoll cat was born in the early 60’s from a male sealpoint Birman and a female persian-type white Persan whose progenitor was bred to a Burmese female.
Ragdoll cats were first recognized in 1965 by the NCFA and are accepted nowadays in almost all associations.
The classical description of this race’s birth is:
Ragdoll temperament
Ragdolls are perfect indoor cats; but that is it – they are not the type to chase mice or other stuff a regular cat should do. This doesn’t mean however they don’t like to smell the fresh air from time to time; just be careful not to leave them unsupervised as outside their typical environment are pretty helpless – they can get lost, can be stolen easily (they really love strangers, especially the smelly ones), get hit by a car or worse, scare the crap out of your dog.
They learn very fast what should and shouldn’t do; this doesn’t mean however they are always doing what they should – they know it’s wrong but keep on doing it. Ragdoll cats can easily be accustomed to travel or wear a collar, especially if thought from a young age.
Ragdolls are maybe the most sociable cats. They are very attached to their owner and people in general and usually enjoy the company of other cats. Of course, there are exceptions (my cat being one of them – she really hates all non human species). As true family cats Ragdolls enjoy being with kids, just not the king that tortures them continuously
Young Ragdoll kittens are usually quite active while older ones are rather well-tempered, calm partners. Often Ragdolls like to fetch tossed toys, others prefer a combination of a game of hide and seek and tag with you. They are always happy when you spend some time playing with them your free time with them.
Ragdoll cat characteristics
Ragdoll cats are one of the largest domesticated cat breeds. A fully grown female weighs from 7 to 18 pounds while males are much larger reaching 20 pounds with ease.
Ragdolls have six different color patterns – chocola
te, seal, flame, and the corresponding "dilutes”: blue, lilac and cream. This also includes the tortoiseshell pattern in all colors and the three patterns.
All Ragdoll kittens are born white. They have good color at 8 – 10 weeks and full color and coat at 3 – 4 years.