Fare Thee Well
This is a newly created space, launched in early July 2009, in order to tell the stories of some of our most fabulous and well-loved Ragdolls.
In addition to the excruciating experience of losing one of our beloved boys very early on in our life as breeders, the trouble with breeding was always going to be what to do with retired queens and studs. As cat lovers, this issue is absolutely heartbreaking but as breeders, entirely logistically unavoidable in that there is simply no way to keep them all. A breeding queen can only really be healthily bred for five or six years before further litters will start to take a physical toll on her. Males can carry on for a bit longer but still present a challenge once retired.
The choice to have so many Ragdolls in our breeding programme will inevitably involve the option of re-homing but it is with the utmost care and sensitivity that we undertake to do this.
If you feel that you may at some point be able to provide a good home to one of our retired cats, please do get in contact. In the meantime, there are some goodbyes to be said...
Au revoir, our Athena
Ragatage Athena was one of three girls in the very first litter born here at Ragatage Ragdolls on 14 July 2005.
Like her mother Iris, she had a propensity for large litters, a caring, doting nature as a mother and an uncanny ability to lose virtually no condition at all when rearing her kittens. Which is why it came as such a shock in April 2009 when she suffered a pyometra, whereby the uterus becomes inflamed. This is normally associated with infection in the uterine cavity and Athena was no exception.
Andy battled excessively to combat her condition with antibiotics and cage rest but the infection got the better of the process and she ended up with a full hysterectomy in May of 2009, thus suffering a fairly premature end to her life as a breeding queen.
The good news for Athena now is that she came through her ordeal with flying colours. After a trial run with a family who bought one of our kittens, she has now returned to Ragatage Ragdolls, where she is fulfilling a demanding role as cattery mascot. We are toying with the idea of either introducing her into our household (she would be our sixth house cat!) or trying to find her a new, more appropriate home. We reckon she would need to go somewhere without other pets or small children. Are you the one? Phone us if you feel you might like to welcome Athena into your home.
Happy trails for Iris
Vonvarda Iris was born near Dunbar (East Lothian, Scotland) on 4 December 2003. A gorgeous blue colour point with a feisty personality, she arrived with us as a pet, second to Yeti (see below for his story).
As she left kittenhood behind and grew into a big stocky beautiful blue girl, she quickly established herself as matriarch extraordinaire, nurturing litters notable not only for their beauty and true-to-breed personalities but for their incredible size. During her tenure here at Ragatage Ragdolls, Iris reared 39 kittens across six litters, including three litters of eight kittens each! She was an incredibly attentive mother and seemed happiest whilst with her babies.
So it is with a heavy heart that, at five and a half years of age, we decided to retire our special girl. She will be going to North Yorkshire in August of 2009 to live in an idyllic farmhouse with our very good friends Susie & Kingsley, who happened to be visiting us the very weekend in early 2006 when Iris came into our lives.
A point of interest in Iris's story: it is not uncommon for a weaned mum to lose weight and/or fur or coat luster. It's called 'losing condition' and it can take up to a year for her to bounce back fully. Curiously, especially considering her marathon litter sizes, Iris never seemed to lose condition - until her very last litter. She got a little bit thinner than she normally did and appeared a tad bit greasier. However, her appetite was solid and she seemed happy in herself. It was only by chance while cuddling her that Andy felt a mass in her abdomen and resolved to take her into the practice the next day for further investigation. We were beside ourselves with worry that night and certainly weren't prepared for the outcome.
Andy phoned with the news that it wasn't, as we had feared, a tumour but, bizarrely, a perfetly petrified kitten - nearly fully developed - situated in her abdomen. It appears she had had a true ectopic pregnancy (extremely rare in cats - and even more rare to suffer so few ill effects). Her last litter of six kittens was still with us at that point - but only just! At 11 weeks, they were nearly ready for their new homes and I think it's safe to say that Iris was definitely ready for hers. Andy performed a short, uncomplicated surgery to remove the kitten. A strange finish for this amazing mum but at least one in which she is happy and healthy. We will miss you, Iris, with all our hearts but look forward to hearing of your antics with our dear friends.
Yeti: the legend lives on...
Born 5 September 2003, 'Yeti' (Vonvarda Gaston) was our very first Ragdoll and the reason why, almost instantly, we wanted to become breeders. He lived in the house with us for a year or so while we obtained permission from his breeder to transfer him onto the active register and constructed a suitable cattery. He then took to his new abode with relish.
Yeti wasn't special simply because he was our first (although, there's no denying that plays a part in our continued devotion to his memory) but because he was just an amazing big seal colour point boy, true to breed in absolutely every way. Such a lovely, loving creature.
He fathered a small litter (with Sally) - a seal mitted girl and two seal colour point boys - in September of 2005. We weren't to know it would be his first and last.
One clear day in March of 2006, Andy saw Yeti lying in his outside run, soaking up the early morning sunshine. As he made his way up the hillside to do a first check on the cats, he realised with sudden strong horror that Yeti wasn't merely enjoying the glory of a new morning. Andy later said it was something in Yeti's demeanour and then, as he got closer, the look on our poor little guy's face. The autopsy came back listing the probable cause of death as anaphylactic shock, attributable to any number of allergens. It did little to quiet our sense of true loss and grief but we did decide to keep breeding. Pablo had come along to join the crew by then and we'd already kept two girls by him, bringing the numbers in our fledgling cattery up to a respectable six (five queens & one stud). But to this day, we sure do miss our boy.
