Ragdolls are not suitable for outdoors

The new kitten we purchased is half ragdoll and half bengal. Needless to say he has the beauty of a bengal and the sweet personality of the ragdoll. He does not defend himself against the other cats. Now he just runs. The 8 pawed cat we rescued from the outdoors cuffed him in the head and Im sure he had a slight concussion. All he did was sleep for about 3 weeks and he also walked with a limp. Well hes better now and all she has to do is look at him and he takes off running to hide. He is silver/white with black spots. Hes a very stunning cat. Some lady in our area is breeding these cats. I guess she started out with Bengals and somehow decided to add the ragdoll. Both parents of our kitten were Bengal ragdoll mixes. They were both the stunning silver color.

I personally believe that a cat’s character is mainly formed by the upbringing and socialisation it receives, but I have to admit that particular traits seems to go with many breeds. I witnessed that with my Somali Ivanhoe, who had a level of activity far beyond any other cat I have known before or after.

When talking about the personality or character of specific breeds however, we are not talking in absolutes, but rather something like shades of a desired quality. Supposing that all cats carry within them all character traits in varying degrees (e.g. from laid-back to hyperactive), then aiming for a particular quality can be done without excessive inbreeding as it will be found in different lines.

Finally a little thought experiment: For centuries the breeders of Persians have aimed for a relaxed lap cat, but wouldn’t it be possible to breed on the most active types and arrive at a more active type? A Persian with the active character of an Abyssinian maybe? It may not be able to jumpp as high, but still… 😉

“I don’t really know, but if the gene pool is deep enough and still produces consistent character traits, perhaps there isn’t a problem?”

This is the key. If a gene pool is very wide there will be a wide range of characters. But to generate one character trait (as opposed to a rounded balanced character) must include breeding from a few foundation cats that had that character trait. That results in inbreeding it seems to me. But I am open to criticism.

From everything I have read about different cat breeds, the Ragdoll personality seems to be a feature that’s valued and promoted just as highly as its appearance – hence the name! I think Burmese are recommended as indoor-only cats for similar reasons, i.e., their obliviousness to danger…

However, how this impacts on in-breeding issues within breeding programmes, I don’t really know, but if the gene pool is deep enough and still produces consistent character traits, perhaps there isn’t a problem? I know that I settled on Egyptian Maus as my ‘breed of choice’ partly due to their advertised character traits – intelligent, active, affectionate with their owners but wary of strangers, etc., all of which have proved accurate!