One of my correspondents found a sales advertisement for White Ragdolls and wanted to know if there was any genetic truth to the claims. As well as my own 40+ years of genetics study and knowledge, I consulted a number of cat breeders, cat judges and others who are very well grounded in cat genetics, who have unpicked fact from fiction. While White Ragdolls exist, due to the vagaries of the white spotting gene and the foundation female being solid white, the advert in question was factually incorrect and possibly put together by AI to create pure rubbish.

The advert starts: "Purebred Ragdolls, RARE pure white, with Blue eyes . . . The kittens are registered . . . Pure white Ragdolls are very rare. There are only four to five thousand pure white Ragdoll cats in the world today. They are all descended from the original pure white cat that was born in the UK. You can find out if your cat is a carrier of the white gene by doing a DNA test. A carrier cat will be able to produce pure white kittens. If your cat has white fur, you should consider doing a DNA test on him. Cats are carriers because of their large litter sizes and long breeding cycles. The first cat born in a litter will always have white fur. If a black cat is bred to a white cat, then the first born kitten will be white. The white gene is dominant, so if both parents are carriers, their offspring will be carriers as well. Pure white Ragdoll cats rare to find across the world. It is also known as a 'white kitten' or a 'white baby' and has a very high chance of being born with the genetic disease, which is called blue eye. The most common color of eyes in a Ragdoll is yellow. Blue eyes are a recessive gene and can be passed down from parent to their offspring."

The whole advert appears cobbled together using AI. The initial responses of breeders, judges and geneticists regarding the genetics information is summed up in these succinct comments:

"Getting so many untruths in one piece is actually quite impressive." "Giving off so much stupidity with so much conviction commands a certain amount of respect." "What a glorious and comprehensive catalogue of absurdity!" "Several glaring errors would be a polite description of these 3 paragraphs."

There are indeed blue-eyed white Ragdolls, and they do trace to the foundation cats, though they are not (yet) fully recognised as Ragdolls and the truth about them is much different to the mumbo-jumbo in the advert above. Ann Baker bred the Ragdolls from a white female Angora (a catch-all term for a white domestic longhair) and males that had the colourpoint and the sepia (Burmese-type) pattern and the intermediate mink (Tonkinese-type) pattern. This meant that her Ragdolls came in a variety of colours and patterns including solid/self colours. She created her own registry (IRCA – International Ragdoll Cat Association) and tried to control a breeder franchise programme. After a long and tortuous history (Early History of the Ragdoll), Colourpointed Ragdolls were recognised by major organisations and many IRCA members registered their cats with major registries. Ann Baker continued to breed IRCA cats under a variety of names including RagaMuffin (the non-pointed Ragdolls), HoneyBears and many other names. Upon her death, those non-Ragdoll IRCA cats were amalgamated into the RagaMuffin by the breeders – but even this was problematical: ( When Is A Ragamuffin Not A Ragamuffin?) because TICA allows Ragdoll crosses to be passed off as RagaMuffins, while CFA, ACFA, GCCF, WCF, CCA-AFC only accept those descended from at least 3 generation of pure RagaMuffin ancestors. Ragamuffins have slightly different conformation to Ragdolls.

Traditionally, Ragdolls come in colourpointed patterns and can have white markings ranging from mitts to "high white." TICA, and probably other organisations (I haven't checked them all), allows non-pointed Ragdolls, mink Ragdolls and sepia Ragdolls – all of which are descended from Ann Baker's foundation cats - to be registered as variants, but they do not meet the show standard and cannot compete for championship status.

One breeder of white Ragdolls is Eileen M. Pickett, Villaroyal Ragdolls, in New York State. Another is Christine Lupo, NY Divine Dolls, Long Island (affiliated to IRCA, the organisation founded by the late Ann Baker). Their websites provide detailed and accurate genetics information as well as proposals for the non-pointed Ragdolls as part of a Ragdoll Breed Group. According to NY Divine Dolls and Villaroyal Ragdolls, their Blue Eyed White (BEW) Ragdolls have the white spotting gene rather than the dominant white gene. The white spotting is so extensive that it hides the underlying colour/pattern. Examination of the pedigree and/or a DNA test can reveal which colours are being hidden. White spotting is not so strongly linked to deafness as the dominant white gene, but breeding a Blue-Eyed White Ragdoll to a colourpoint Ragdoll, not to another white Ragdoll, is considered safest practice. DNA testing can also detect any BEW Ragdolls that have the dominant white gene instead.

Another way that white Ragdolls could be produced is by outcrossing to a white longhaired cat and then breeding its white progeny to pure Ragdolls for sufficient generations that the registry classifies the descendants as Ragdolls. Ann Baker actually sold Ragdolls that could be outcrossed and the progeny were "Ragdoll Hobby Cats" and had to be registered with IRCA. These Hobby Cats traced back to the foundation cats and may have been registered as variants with major registries on that basis.

Finally, there are the other non-traditional colours of Ragdolls, solid colours, parti-colours etc, all of which trace to Josephine and which can have gold or blue eyes. Baker listed them as "New Ragdoll Lines." They can be registered as Ragdolls (variants), and can be used in breeding to ensure genetic diversity, but cannot compete for championship status. Because the Ragdoll show standard is for the colourpointed Ragdolls (with or without white markings), many breeders insist they don't exist. Years after her death, Ann Baker's cats still cause controversy.

"They are all descended from the original pure white cat that was born in the UK."
False. Ragdolls – of all colours - are descended from a white cat (Josephine) in the USA, not in the UK.

There are only four to five thousand pure white Ragdoll cats in the world today.
I can find only 2 breeders specialising in this colour and there is no way they can have bred four hundred white Ragdolls, never mind four thousand. So this is fallacy.

"You can find out if your cat is a carrier of the white gene by doing a DNA test. A carrier cat will be able to produce pure white kittens. If your cat has white fur, you should consider doing a DNA test on him."
There are several white genes. Dominant white is not "carried" (carried means "hidden unless a cat has 2 copies of the gene") but is always manifested if the cat has it. Dominant white masks all other colours, has blue eyes and a risk of deafness. Breeding 2 dominant white cats together can produce non-white cats with other colour eyes. Albino (aka recessive white) can be carried by non-white parents, but breeding two albino cats together always produces albinos and they are blue eyed, not yellow-eyed. White spotting produces a variable amount of white markings. Some Ragdoll breeders bred high white to high white, but there is often a residual spot of colour on the tail or ear, as well as blue eyes, and if bred to a colourpoint Ragdoll they produced 100% bicolour pointed kittens.

Cats are carriers because of their large litter sizes and long breeding cycles.
The litter size and breeding cycle has no impact on what genes the offspring inherit from their parents.

The first cat born in a litter will always have white fur. If a black cat is bred to a white cat, then the first born kitten will be white. The white gene is dominant, so if both parents are carriers, their offspring will be carriers as well.
It's hard to know where to start with this bunkum. Birth order has no impact on the kitten's fur colour. If it is black in the womb it will be black when born, regardless of whether it is born first, last or somewhere in the middle. Colourpoint kittens are born white and the point colour develops later because the gene is temperature dependent. If a black cat is bred to a white cat, then there is a good chance some kittens will be white because it's a dominant gene. Dominant genes are not "carried." Recessive genes are "carried" (present, but hidden). If both parents carry a recessive gene (e.g. albino), the law of averages states 25% of kittens don't get the gene at all, 50% are carriers with only one (hidden) copy and 25% get 2 copies and display the trait.

Pure white Ragdoll cats rare to find across the world. It is also known as a 'white kitten' or a 'white baby' and has a very high chance of being born with the genetic disease, which is called blue eye.
There is no such genetic disease as "blue eye." Blue-eyed white cats due to the dominant white gene are at risk of deafness.

The most common color of eyes in a Ragdoll is yellow. Blue eyes are a recessive gene and can be passed down from parent to their offspring."
Colourpointed Ragdolls (and those with white spotting) are blue-eyed due to the colourpoint gene. Sepia and Mink Ragdolls may have different eye colours. Blue eyes due to dominant white are not a recessive trait. Blue-eyed albino is a recessive trait – but the eye colour is inextricably linked to albinism.