Carol’s Cat Chronicles

Volume 5

“Let’s Get Ready to Rumble”

When I left the story, we were ready to put all five cats together in the house and see what happened.  The ragdoll cats are very forgiving.  They do not take offense to much of anything that we have seen to date.  The Pixie-bobs, on the other hand, are skittish when strangers come into the house – they tend to take off and make their judgments from a distance.  With Scarlet viewing me as her new mommy, I had no trouble getting her to come to me whenever I wanted.  And at long last, little Dixie had come to accept me willingly.  In fact, to date, our nite-time ritual is for both Scarlet and Dixie to come up in my lap for some loving and then they usually take a little nap in my lap. 

I guess because I had called Dixie by name so often in the beginning when she would run from me, she was the first to recognize her name when called.  I think she is by far the smartest of the ragdolls.  She seems to understand things when you talk to her.  I think that Blake does understand me, but his attitude is such that even though he understands, he will do whatever you want…in his own sweet time!  Savannah is the most distant of the ragdolls.  She wants to be near you, but does not want you to reach out for her.  She comes when SHE wants. And she goes through periods when she craves your attention and will flop down in front of you as you walk to get you to stop and give it to her.  She is rather “prissy”, and we have been told that is a trait of the bi-color ragdoll. 

Blake, being 5 months old when he came, was a good size when he got here.  But it didn’t take long to see that he was growing fast.  Before we knew it, he was one of the biggest cats WE had ever seen, and he is only 10 months at the present.  Right behind him was Savannah.  She took off nicely as well.  But it seemed that Dixie was just staying “little”.  Her coat was growing thicker and longer.  Then, like overnight, I looked at her one day and it appeared that she had practically doubled in length!  She was still a “low rider”, but definitely longer.  Presently, she has just gone through another one of these length spurts.  So she is quite comical to watch, with her little tummy  about to drag the floor as she walks!  Rhett and Scarlet have a different build than the ragdolls.  Their back ends are “jacked up”.  And they have a distinctly different gait to their walk.  Where the ragdolls are furry and fat, the Pixie-bobs are lean and mean.  Not in the true sense of the word “mean”:  perhaps “slim and trim” is a better description.

I do not think we could have picked a better combination of breeds to have.  It is like daylight and dark when comparing the personalities of these two breeds.  The ragdolls are very quiet and calm:  the Pixie-bobs are full of spit and vinegar!  Don’t get me wrong.  Even though I say that, the Pixie-bobs are not “out of control” – they are just more active.  We get tickled at our male ragdoll, Blake.  He will lay in the cage all afternoon, sleeping.  And then when he is ready to come out, he will sit at the bottom of the cage and “talk” to me, like “O.K.  I’m ready to get up now.”  When I accommodate him and open the door, he walks about 5 steps away from the cage and lies down!  The female ragdolls will stay in the cage and not complain.  You know they are ready to get out when they are all sitting there, staring at you.  And they come out and do their share of playing with each other.  We put up a cat tree for them, and they will run up and down that thing for hours. 

Now, Mr. Rhett is another story.  I compare him to a child with ADD.  He cannot stay interested in anything for more than a couple of minutes and then he is off to look for something else to do!  That is unless you want to play with the “fishin’ pole” I mentioned earlier.  He will play with that until he is ready to collapse.  He gets so exhausted that he actually lies down and pants like a dog.  But after catching his breath, he is right back – ready to rumble!

As the chronicles continue, I will be discussing preparing for breeding.  This is my first experience in the field, and as you can tell from my ramblings, I see this all as a great adventure.  We are about ready to take things to the next level.  I hope that you might take some tidbits from my chronicles even if you are just considering getting a pet.