Tabby
- Seal, Blue, Chocolate, Lilac, Red, Cream, Black tortie, Blue tortie, Chocolate tortie, Lilac tortie
- Types: Unspecified
20 breeders are on record here.
Large, gentle cat famous for going limp when picked up. Striking blue eyes and colorpoint semi-long coat.
Developed in California in the 1960s by Ann Baker. Famous for relaxing completely when held. Slow to mature, reaching full size at 4 years. One of the largest domestic cat breeds.
Generally described as affectionate, friendly, gentle, quiet, easygoing, docile and calm.
That is the breed in general, not a promise about one animal. Ask the breeder what their own line is like, and meet the parents before you decide.
Breed reference from The Cat API.
Drawn from sources, not opinion: The Cat API; UC Davis VGL — Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) in Ragdolls; FIFe breed standard. An empty column means we hold nothing for that side, not that there is nothing to say.
The Ragdoll standard is published by the FIFe (Fédération Internationale Féline), the international federation of pedigree-cat clubs, and it is what show judges apply. This section sums up what it says about coat and colour. It does not assess any one animal: use it to know what to ask the breeder.
Feels like cold silk to the touch.
Longest around the neck and framing the outer edge of the face giving the appearance of a bib.
Short on the face increasing in length from the top of the head to the shoulders down the back.
Medium to long on the side, belly and hindquarters.
Shortened from FIFe standard RAG — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source. FIFe lists this standard’s last modification as 2025. Text read on 31 Aug 2026.
A tick means FIFe recognises that colour in at least one variety with that pattern. It does not mean every combination is recognised.
| Colour | Tabby | Pointed | With white |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seal | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Blue | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Chocolate | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Lilac | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Red | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Cream | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Black tortie | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Blue tortie | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Chocolate tortie | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Lilac tortie | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
Read from the table at the end of the FIFe standard. Smoke, silver, golden and corin are FIFe’s own names; the exact EMS codes and the eye colours are in the standard.
The colour varieties FIFe recognises for this breed are listed, with their EMS codes, in the table at the end of its standard. FIFe describes each colour group in the General Part of its standards.
The colours and patterns the standard admits, and what it prefers, discourages or disqualifies in each. An accepted colour says nothing about health. Quotations from the FIFe are in English, as the standard publishes them; the headings are ours.
Known hereditary risks for the Ragdoll breed, and the specific documentation to request from any breeder before paying a deposit. A responsible breeder will have these readily available; deflection is a red flag.
2 conditions documentedThis is breed-level literature, not veterinary advice about an individual animal — your vet knows the animal.
Health checklist (PDF)Found in roughly one in a hundred to one in twenty of the breed's dogs screened.
Breed-level information from The Cat API. It describes the Ragdoll in general; any individual animal can differ.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy thickens the heart's left ventricle wall, raising the risk of heart failure and sudden death. Ragdolls carry their own breed-specific mutation (MYBPC3 R820W, distinct from the Maine Coon's separate HCM mutation): a cat with a single copy usually shows no signs and can live a normal lifespan, but two copies bring a high risk of severe disease and early cardiac death — in a survey of 236 genotyped Ragdolls, cats with two copies had a median survival of 5.65 years, against more than 15 years for cats with one copy or none — so the exact genotype matters more than a simple 'tested' claim. A 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats found 33 of 1,115 Ragdolls carrying it, about one in thirty-four (one of them with two copies).
What to ask for
Ragdoll HCM (MYBPC3 R820W) DNA test result for both parents, stating the genotype (N/N, N/HCMrd or HCMrd/HCMrd), from UC Davis VGL or an equivalent laboratory
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy thickens the heart's left ventricle wall, raising the risk of heart failure and sudden death. Ragdolls carry their own breed-specific mutation (MYBPC3 R820W, distinct from the Maine Coon's separate HCM mutation): a cat with a single copy usually shows no signs and can live a normal lifespan, but two copies bring a high risk of severe disease and early cardiac death — in a survey of 236 genotyped Ragdolls, cats with two copies had a median survival of 5.65 years, against more than 15 years for cats with one copy or none — so the exact genotype matters more than a simple 'tested' claim. A 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats found 33 of 1,115 Ragdolls carrying it, about one in thirty-four (one of them with two copies).
What to ask for
Ragdoll HCM (MYBPC3 R820W) DNA test result for both parents, stating the genotype (N/N, N/HCMrd or HCMrd/HCMrd), from UC Davis VGL or an equivalent laboratory
Described in this breed, but found in few or no dogs in recent screening, or only ever in one dog or one family. They are here so a test result makes sense if a breeder mentions one.
Polycystic kidney disease causes fluid-filled cysts to form in the kidneys from a young age, usually leading to kidney failure later in life. It is the same mutation documented in Persians, and UC Davis's genetics laboratory lists Ragdoll among the breeds it recommends testing, but the mutation is very rare in Ragdolls: a 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats found it in 1 of 1,114 Ragdolls, a Japanese screen found it in none of 3,150, and none of 125 gene-tested Ragdolls in Belgium carried it. It has not been confirmed in a Ragdoll outside the United States.
What to ask for
PKD1 DNA test result for both parents (UC Davis VGL or an equivalent laboratory), or a normal renal ultrasound from a veterinary specialist
Polycystic kidney disease causes fluid-filled cysts to form in the kidneys from a young age, usually leading to kidney failure later in life. It is the same mutation documented in Persians, and UC Davis's genetics laboratory lists Ragdoll among the breeds it recommends testing, but the mutation is very rare in Ragdolls: a 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats found it in 1 of 1,114 Ragdolls, a Japanese screen found it in none of 3,150, and none of 125 gene-tested Ragdolls in Belgium carried it. It has not been confirmed in a Ragdoll outside the United States.
What to ask for
PKD1 DNA test result for both parents (UC Davis VGL or an equivalent laboratory), or a normal renal ultrasound from a veterinary specialist
Median age at death 12.2 years
Middle half of deaths between 4.3 and 15.5 years, from 69 recorded deaths. 17.4% of them were before age two.
Read this with care. Well above the 7.5% seen in non-pedigree cats, which pulls the median down. That can mean higher mortality in young cats, or simply that the breed has become popular recently so most of its cats are still young — these records cannot tell the two apart.
Computed from United Kingdom veterinary records covering 7,936 deaths. This is an age at death, not a life expectancy: half the cats of this breed in the records died younger.
Dataset: O'Neill, D. & Teng, K.T. (2024), Figshare, doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.25006802, CC BY 4.0. Teng, K.T., Brodbelt, D.C., Church, D.B. & O'Neill, D.G. (2024) Life tables of annual life expectancy and risk factors for mortality in cats in the United Kingdom. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 26(5).