Ann in cats

• RA Woo Wong × RA Toy Ling produced RA Thumper (seal bicolour) and RA Davy Crockett Tom Boy (seal mitted).
• RA Kookie × RA B'Wana produced RA Echo (seal mitted).
• RA Thumper × RA Tiki produced RA Pecos Bill (chocolate bicolour).
• RA Buddy × RA Rosie produced RA Daphné (seal colorpoint).

With these cats, Ann would breed and select for seven years. Some estimate her stock at 250; to a journalist she would claim 500, with the usual reliability of her assertions... (it is a little reminiscent of counting demonstrators).

By this time the three patterns were already present, and Ann assigned them different values. The least prized was the bicolor, the colorpoint had an average value, and the mitted was the most expensive. In more than thirty years she did not change one iota, still marveling at Daddy Warbucks's original appearance. It may be time for feline associations around the world to take note that, in her mind, he was the one who had the "Ragdoll look." For information, until 2007 the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) accepted only bicolors in championship; colorpoints and mitted cats were "tolerated" but without titles, only as "AOV" (Any Other Variety).

The cattery had its ups and downs. In 19.., a young cattery assistant used the wrong disinfectant and poisoned all the males except those away for mating (three). He almost certainly brought about the end of the Ragdolls... but Ann Baker was tenacious; like the Phoenix, she rose from the ocean of ashes and started again. She then called on Dennis Dayton and Blanche Herman.

"After we lost nearly all of our breeding males, who were poisoned, we felt that it would not be possible for us to continue achieving this appearance. Now, with the help of two breeders, we will be able to put them on the market."

While loudly proclaiming that she had bred only seal Ragdolls during those seven years, Ann Baker contradicted herself when she wrote that the first lilac (which was actually a blue) was Thumper Jr, born on April 27, 1969. From what hat did she pull this lilac blue? Naturally she claimed to have recovered it from the original mother and to have retrospectively drawn this beautiful lilac color from her. It had worked so well, moreover, that she had also tried it on the three from the Dark Side to obtain a black point. She had thus claimed to have demonstrated that there would never be chocolate or blue points.

However, it must not be forgotten that at the same time as she was working on the development of the Ragdolls, she had Black Persians and round-headed Balinese. Twice, in two letters (written words always remain), she told Blanche Herman about using her round-headed Balinese in her "experimental lilac" program. She later announced that someone had stolen all her lilac Balinese, thinking they were stealing Ragdolls. Ninety-five percent of the kittens from this program were born with kinks in their tails. She also asked her not to tell anyone about this crossbreeding program to obtain lilac. She had called it the "Extremely Light Side." She thought she would thereby obtain the secret weapon with which to defeat the breeders with whom she was in conflict.

She also had inbreeding problems, and a few defects emerged, but who would be surprised? Fugianna mated to Woo Wong produced Thumper. But serious doubts can be raised about the father... The best and worst of the cats' backgrounds will come out here:

"Thumper mated to Ming Toi produced Thumper Junior. 'A superb lilac cat, but this male has a kink in his tail; kinked tails, sterile males and short lifespan. Thumper mated to Tiki produced Pecos Bill; very light cats with a short lifespan... beige, gray, spotted and albino. The results demonstrated that Thumper's kittens could not be used as breeding animals.'

As soon as an ordinary cat other than a pure Ragdoll was introduced into a line, we lost most of the temperament. They were better than most cats, but no longer Ragdolls. As soon as they were mixed, they regained cat instincts, and these could not be removed, not even by mating them back together. These beauties were sold for $35 and $75 because they were crosses. What a bargain for people!"