Most people often confuse Ragdoll and Ragamuffin cats, and it’s understandable. Both breeds are quite similar in that they are fluffy, large, and docile, making it tough for anyone unfamiliar with them to differentiate them.
These similarities could confuse you if you were to choose between a Ragdoll or a Ragamuffin for a pet. But these are two distinct breeds with different physical attributes such as particular coat color and texture, eye and nose shape, top line, and temperament. So let’s have a look at booth breeds.
A Brief History of Ragdoll and Ragamuffin Cat Breed
The cradle of these two cat breeds is genetic human development by breeders in the last haft of the 20th century. Ragdoll, the original breed, was bred by Ann Baker, a California-based breeder. She aspired to create docile, loving, and affectionate cats as her cat, Josephine, gave rise to the Ragdoll breed. However, Ann wanted one trait in the Ragdoll breed: the cat going limp when picked up.
Later as scientists learned more about genetics and breeding, they separated and added more genes to the breed. However, Ann had licensed her species, which deemed it necessary for other breeders to pay a licensing fee to add additional traits to Ragdolls. Eventually, they ended up developing Ragamuffins to avoid the restrictions. In a nutshell, both Ragdolls and Ragamuffins came from one breeder, which explains their resemblance.
The Ragamuffin Cats
Let’s check the characteristics of Ragamuffin Cats briefly.
What is The Appearance of a Ragamuffin Cat?
This breed of cat has a range of average and large body sizes. They have a strong rectangular body and heavy bones but still retain their compelling appearance. The fat in their lower abdomens, broad chests, short and strong necks make their bodies seem well-muscled.
It is easy to tell a Ragamuffin from a Ragdoll because it has thicker and shorter hair. Also, they come in different colors and patterns, including blue, chocolate, black, cameo, and white. These cats are born white and start to get colors at three months.
Ragamuffins have long and furry tails. Their look is completed by vivid nut-shaped eyes, full cheeks, and a large wedge-shaped head. It is easy to tell this breed apart from others since it has a soft medium-sized coat. In addition, this coat varies in colors.
An Overview of The Ragamuffin Breed
To completely understand about Ragamuffin Breed, here is some in-depth information worth noting.
Training Flexibility
It is commonly assumed that cats cannot be trained, but that is untrue. A cat can be taught how to do different things, and the Ragamuffins make this process easy. This is due to their eagerness to know new ways.
However, these stubborn cats will only learn things that interest them. So, it is better to begin training them in areas that match their current likes. For example, you can teach them games like fetch if they like chasing balls.
Walking on leashes is also something you could train your Ragamuffin cat in. this will enable you to bond with your cat during leisure walks around the neighborhood. However, don’t forget to be cautious with how you secure the harness since finding a lost cat is difficult.
Training should be done slowly and harsh punishments avoided. But, on the other hand, ragamuffins like affection, and probably adding a treat once in a while will encourage their learning process.
Personality
The Ragamuffin cats are calm animals thus make good family pets. They are patient with kids but only if not treated harshly. Unfortunately, their huge body sizes make them prone to causing damages while angered.
These cats are excessively loving and can sometimes be compared to dogs. So when you get home, prepare yourself for greetings from your feline friend and be followed constantly. Also, they like to sit on their owners’ laps.
Since Ragamuffins like attention, it does not do well being left alone for long periods. Therefore, if you cannot spend much time at home, getting another different cat breed is advisable.
Health
Normally, a Ragamuffin is always in perfect health. But there are certain things that you should watch out for. For example, the breed is predisposed to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and polycystic kidney disease. However, you can get ahead of these two infections by visiting a vet regularly for checkups. Other than that, Ragamuffins are rarely affected by any other hereditary or congenital ailments.
But it would be best if you kept an eye out for what your Ragamuffin cat eats because they are often greedy and lazy, leading to obesity. So please define what they eat and what amounts to avoid the health risks of being overweight. You should also set some time to play with your pet to help them stay active and fit. Alternatively, you can select a play area with exciting and engaging toys to keep your cat occupied.
Also, ensure that the cat drinks enough water every day to reduce the chances of contracting feline lower urinary tract diseases or FLUTD and other urinary tract infections.
Generally, Ragamuffins have tangle-resistant coats. Therefore, a simple one a week grooming session is sufficient to maintain their fur in a natural silky state. It will also help reduce shedding. During grooming, take a point of cleaning their ears, trimming their claws, brushing their teeth. Also, wipe their eyes using a clean wet cloth to remove any forms of eye discharge because it exposes Ragamuffins to eye infections.
Finally, ensure that you take your cat for all annual vaccinations against leukemia, influenza, and enteritis. The vaccines come a long way in protecting your pet from all these diseases, especially if they spend time outdoors.
Ragamuffins Personality and Behavior
Like the Ragdoll cat, Ragamuffins will not go far and beyond for attention; thus, their owner should monitor them closely to take proper care. Their personality traits include:
- They are smart and sweet cats.
- These cats enjoy being held by their owners, so you don’t have to worry about being scratched when you pick them up.
- Despite being considered docile animals, Ragamuffins are playful, and they do so even while old.
- Their friendly nature makes them welcoming to new people.
How Do You Care for a Ragamuffin Cat?
Lucky for you, this breed does not require any special treatment from the rest. Just remember to brush their short hair from two to three times within the week using a prolonged metal comb. Their eyes, teeth, and eyes also need cleaning each week.
Make sure you use toothpaste specially made for cats to prevent any oral issues. A moistened cloth should tackle the cleanliness and avoid any eye problems for the eyes. In the case of the ears, employ a homemade mixture of vinegar and temperate water.
Ensure you do not feed your Ragamuffin cat with cow’s milk in terms of milk. This does not sit too well with their stomachs. Instead, pour them clean and fresh water every day to quench their thirst.
The Ragdoll Breed
How Do Ragdoll Cats Look Like?
A Ragdoll cat generally has a large and long body. It is heavily boned, but this is compensated by its plush coat and its lengthy tail. This makes them look bigger than their actual sizes. The amount of fur on their face also increases its size despite having a medium-sized head.
Their medium-sized ears enhance their triangular-shaped face, and they have strong and long legs. For their eyes, this breed has blue ones, and they are oval-shaped. People who like various colors to choose from should consider having a Ragdoll since they have different color patterns.
A Bicolor Ragdoll has dark points marked by an inverted V on their foreheads. However, their legs, ruff, and stomachs have white fur. On the other hand, a Ragdoll with a color point design will show dark colors on their ears and masks. But their overall body color is light.
Ragdoll cats have silky, long, and plush-like coats that differ in length.
An Overview of The Ragdoll Breed
Training Flexibility
As with Ragamuffins, it is possible to train a Ragdoll to perform any tricks. However, the breed is largely independent and prefers to stick to its own free will. Often, they will opt to do whatever works for them without the inclination to make you happy. In a way, they can be termed as stubborn during training. Therefore, if you want to train your Ragdoll cat, you might want to begin with simple pushback tricks to help suppress stubbornness.
As training continues, you should try to identify the tricks they enjoy and then combine them with new ones while rewarding success with treats. However, keep the treats fairly low because the breed tends to become obese. Generally, positive reinforcement is the only way of teaching them new tricks, and any other methods such as punishment will only bring about their stubborn nature.
Personality
Overall, Ragdolls are laidback, docile, and loving. They love attention, and frequently, you’ll notice that they prefer to sit on your lap. The breed also tends to follow the owner around the home. However, you won’t have to worry about having Ragdolls around your children due to their friendly nature. You’ll rarely hear about any scratching or biting incidents with them.
Ragdolls are excellent emotional support animals because they often stick by your side during rough times. Also, since they let you pet them, you’ll often feel better within a few minutes of holding the cat, even during the saddest times.
Health
Like Ragamuffins, Ragdolls are generally healthy and are not prone to hereditary or congenital infections. However, they tend to be susceptible to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and kidney stones. Therefore, you should make a point of taking them to a vet regularly for a checkup.
On the diet part, Ragdolls should be fed meat. Try mixing wet and dry foods for them. When they’re finally mature, be keen about the quantity and quality of foods they take.
Grooming might be more demanding compared to a Ragamuffin due to their coats. If possible, try combing their hair daily to avoid tangling or matted fur. On the bright side, Ragdolls are known to enjoy this.
Trimming their toes and brushing their teeth is also a role that a Ragdoll owner takes seriously. Their ears should also be cleaned using a wet cloth to prevent infections.
How to Care for a Ragdoll Cat
The Ragdoll, just like every other animal, requires a certain degree of maintenance. But owning a Ragdoll simplifies that for you. You only need to properly groom it and keep an eye on it to protect it from danger. Please make a point of brushing its hair daily to remove dead hairs and avoid knots.
Ragdoll’s Personalities and behaviors
Despite their friendly and docile nature, a Ragdoll owner needs to remember that the way you nurture them is equally important as their natural attributes. So, like all other breeds, don’t forget to care and interact with your Ragdoll cat more often. Some of their characteristics include:
- These cat breeds are commonly known for their calm, social, and gentle nature.
- You can forget about being nagged since they show affection without bagging you when you have a Ragdoll cat.
- You can always count on a Ragdoll cat as its devotion to its human owner is often compared to a dog.
- Ragdolls are incredible companions since they can sense a person’s emotional state and act duly.
Differences Between Ragdoll and Ragamuffin Cats
Although these two cat breeds share many characteristics in terms of being docile, temperament, and friendliness, they are quite distinct. Generally speaking, Ragdolls are more playful and have marked points on their coats, while Ragamuffins are calmer and come in various coat colors.
Here is a comparison of the two cat breeds based on different physical and behavioral attributes:
- Body Size
Both breeds tend to be big upon reaching maturity when it comes to their body size. They typically weigh between 10 to 20 pounds, with male cats bigger than females. Due to that large weight limit, both breeds can take up to 4 years to get to their full mature size and weight.
- Coat Texture and Color
Since both Ragdolls and Ragamuffins were developed by crossbreeding domestic long-haired cats, they tend to have long and silky coats. However, the textures differ for Ragdolls, and the skin tends to tangle up, while in Ragamuffins, it doesn’t.
In terms of color, Ragdolls kittens are born fully white. However, that color changes to blue, chocolate, seal, or lilac as they grow up. Their coats also develop markings or ‘points’ that resemble those in Siamese cats in that they often have dark-colored faces, ears, tails, and legs with lighter body parts.
On the other hand, Ragamuffins have a wide coat color variety ranging from black, orange, lilac, and chocolate, which can be in patterns or one solid color.
- Eye Shape and Color
Typically, both breeds have adorable big eyes that add to their exquisite looks—however, the eye shapes and color differences in these two breeds. Ragdolls have oval-shaped blue eyes, while Ragamuffins have round-shaped eyes that come in various colors.
- Limp Behavior
Both Ragdolls and Ragamuffins are friendly and docile, which makes them desirable among people. However, their behaviors differ in that Ragdolls tend to go limp when picked up or hand-held (a trait that Ann loved in her cat, Josephine, and wanted to pass on to other cats, which even inspired the breed’s name), while Ragamuffins generally do not go limp.
- Temperament and Behavior
Temperament is an important factor to consider when adopting any cat, especially when having kids around. The trait helps keep your family safe as they interact or play with the pet.
With Ragdolls and Ragamuffins, you should not be worried since both breeds make great pets due to their adorable temperament behavior. They have a laid-back personality that makes them easy to bond and relate with. However, the trait often makes them less playful than other cat breeds. Therefore, pet owners need to play with them to stay active and healthy constantly.
One great thing about them is that they are loyal and will follow their owners around the home. However, most people deem Ragamuffins to be better pets because of their peaceful and patient attributes compared to Ragdolls.
- Grooming
In a way, these two cat breeds have very similar requirements when it comes to grooming since they both that long, silky coats. Therefore, you should regularly groom and comb their coats to help keep the fluffy fur in a good and attractive shape.
However, Ragdolls tend to be more demanding because their fur grows to tangle and mat than in Ragamuffins. To avoid all that, you should groom them more often than the latter, typically twice a week. When doing so, use a steel comb because it makes it easier to untangle the fur or eliminate debris stuck on the coat.
For Ragamuffins, you can groom them once a week since their fur does not tangle much. It is simple; all you need is to use a steel comb to remove debris or untangle any muffed-up hair to maintain the pristine natural coat condition.
- Shedding
On average, both Ragamuffins and Ragdolls tend to molt regularly. And due to the long, fluffy coats, you should expect to find a lot of fur shedding on your mats, beddings, or furniture, especially if you fail to groom them regularly. Therefore, you should dedicate some time to combing their coat at least once every week because it helps remove loose and stray fur. A steel comb and rubber mitt will help with that. They are also fond of belly rubs and tend to purr with excitement during the session.
On top of minimizing the possibility of having fur on your furniture or beddings, grooming your Ragdoll or Ragamuffin cat is important because it reduces the likelihood of your cat having hairballs in their guts for health reasons. You should also invest in a vacuum cleaner to help clear fur from surfaces around your home.
Which Breed is Best Right for You?
- Lifestyle
Ragdolls are docile and need less maintenance, while Ragamuffins are more playful. Therefore, it is advisable to get a Ragamuffin when you spend more time at home. This is to allow more time for cuddles and games for these felines.
- Appearance
While comparing their looks, the Ragamuffins appear more attractive than the Ragdolls. This might be slightly caused by the availability of the Ragamuffins in wide ranges of color patterns, unlike with the Ragdolls.
The Ragdolls have darker color points, while the Ragamuffins have different coat shades. Another trait that separates the two is their eyes. If you like cats with blue eyes, then the Ragdoll should be your go-to. However, you could choose a Ragamuffin, which differs in colors for those who prefer subtle colors.
The Ragdoll has raised angular hindquarters, while the Ragamuffin has a flat one when it comes to their toplines.
- Behavior
A person interested in a cat that is docile but cuddly and playful at the same time should get a Ragamuffin. However, a Ragdoll is also considered docile, active, and floppy. Therefore, when comparing behavior, both of them have closely similar behaviors.
- Health
The health of every cat is important. Thus owners should watch their diets. But both the Ragamuffin and the Ragdoll breeds require more attention. This is because they are at risk of getting obese.
Conclusion
Despite sharing history, the Ragamuffin and Ragdoll cat breeds have some different features, making them unique. However, they share some traits such as being friendly and quite lazy. Their sweet nature makes them desirable pets to have.
You can choose that which suits you best. With this detailed guide, you’re in a better position to make the right choice. You also understand the difference between the two breeds, caring for them, their needs, and much more. What is left of you is to decide which one of the two to add to your family.
