The origins of this very sweet breed have remained a mystery.

The first one to breed Ragdoll cats was Ms Ann Baker, who basically founded this breed. According to her, the first kittens were born in River Side, California, in 1963, from Josephine, the white angora female cat of Ms Pennels, Ms Baker’s neighbour.

Josephine used to be very shy and diffident – and her kittens had the same personality – but one day she was run over by a car and suffered a head injury. Thanks to the right treatments she could recover and the kittens she gave birth to afterwards were all very mild, sociable and relaxed.

From one of Josephine’s following litters Ms Baker chose three kittens, i.e. Buckweat, a black female cat, Fugianna, a bicoloured, and Raggedy Ann Daddy War bucks, the first mitted cat to start breeding cats under the name Raggedy Ann.

In 1975 Ms Ann Baker patented her cats under the name “Ragdoll” and founded the IRCA (INTERNATIONAL RAGDOLL CAT ASSOCIATION).

There is no certain evidence on the “fathers” of the Ragdoll breed but it is supposed that they might have been Persian, Burmese and Sacred Birman cats.

The Ragdolls started to arrive in Italy at the beginning of the 1990s and today they are more and more widespread and appreciated both for their beauty and – above all – for their fantastic personality.