Choosing a Cat Breeder

[Caty M]

My Old Kitty whom I adopted has a ragdoll personality. He even drools when you hold him and pet him for a long time. He likes to be held like a baby and I've never seen him bring his claws out, even when Tess harrasses him (we're working on it!!)

[RachelsaurusRexU]

My Old Kitty whom I adopted has a ragdoll personality. He even drools when you hold him and pet him for a long time. He likes to be held like a baby and I've never seen him bring his claws out, even when Tess harrasses him (we're working on it!!)

This is how my Ragdoll is. He's the most tolerant cat in the world. He doesn't even mind me holding him like a baby to brush his belly.

[monkeys23]

We see a lot of barn cats at my work. Head tilts are usually due to ear mite infestation for prolonged periods of time. Or that they have fallen from a high perching spot.

It could be either one of those. Its not like they given them any sort of preventative care. Same cat nearly died from upper respritory infection last summer, luckily my stepdad cared enough to give her a few shots of antibiotic. It just disgusts me, but thats another story.

My cat knows how lucky she is. Once she got healthy she went back into kittenhood and has been just a goofball sweetheart ever since.

My grade school friend growing up... her family always had this huge mass of semi-feral cats at their house. They had several incidences of oh geeze I can't remember the actual name, but its where there's basically a hole in the back and the spine is exposed or there is like a pocket that will get infected? It was so gross, but they were born with it. I saw I don't know how many cat births there... more than I ever wanted to see thats for sure!

Thank you! I appreciate your input! Do you know any specifics on health testing? Like, what do they test, how do they do it, and when?

I totally agree with you on pedigree cats. Totally. But she's pretty set on it, so I'd at least like to steer her in the right direction. I did tell her to see if there is a breed specific rescue for Ragdolls. I'm just not sure if breed specific cat rescues are at all common.

I am pretty sure the time frame is kinda like that in dogs for joints, cardiac, and eyes. I know they should test for feline leukemia every year and there is a cat specific genetic disease that you want the parents to be free of, but maybe that is just maine coons.

I like the idea of a rescue purebred cat!

Yeah.. dry food for cats (especially crap stuff) I would say is far more damaging for cats than for dogs. It's ESSENTIAL for cats to have moisture in their diet. I wish my boys would be less picky- they are kibble junkies (adopted at an older age). At least I got them off the Meow Mix!

I hear ya! Missy won't eat anything but kibble, it bugs me to no end! At least she's picky and refuses everything but what she does best on, which is wellness Core.

Is it possible to get titers done on cats nowadays?
I've been told that the 3 year rabies injection is worse for causing sarcoma's than the yearly one, but I'm now thinking maybe I should get a titer done instead.

They can titer cats! The reason the 1 year is better is not the year length, its the type of vaccine. This site has great info: Vaccines for Cats: We Need to Stop Overvaccinating by Lisa A. Pierson, DVM :: Vaccines are very important but do carry risks

[rannmiller]

I found this website with questions for ragdoll breeders Questions for Cat Breeders

Ragdolls aren't super huge cats, I don't know a ton about them but they are some of the sweetest cats ever so it's a good idea to find a breeder who socializes her kittens very well to keep them that way. Also, of course, finding one who doesn't breed too many too often and has a good screening process for potential homes.

Found this on that site too. Pretty great site actually! http://blog.floppycats.com/blog/ragdoll-rehoming

[Ania's Mommy]

That Q&A website is awesome! Thanks Rachel!

[shellbell]

As far as I know, the three year shot is identical to the one year shot, just labelled differently.

fyi, the holistic vet I recently started seeing informed me that studies have been done showing that the three year rabies shot is actually good for five years (just not legally). I don't have any links to studies or anything, I am taking her word for it for the time being. But might be something to look into if concerned.

[Caty M]

Likely the rabies shot lasts for life.. if I ever got vax for the dogs (I likely won't unless I ever have to travel, I live in one of the few areas with no rabies shot laws) I would never do more than one parvo/distemper shot at 16 weeks and a rabies shot at one year.

Even without the laws, rabies is EXTREMELY rare up here. Probably different in a lot of the rural US.