In Between Panels

Friday, March 02, 2007

I've been wondering about the pedigree of the huge tomcat I told you about yesterday, the supposed RagaMuffin I saw and reserved in Cartimar. I was trying to see if I got the real thing so I took pictures of the big guy and posted my question on three separate cat boards waiting for the opinions of other cat people. But since it was fairly new breed (consistently bred in 1994, accepted as an experimental breed in 2001, and officially recognized as one in 2003) not a lot of people ventured a guess. They did however post a lot of praises for his looks and offered some gestures of blessing for his welfare. Who can blame them, right? Heck, not even a lot of people know a lot about the Ragdoll persian, the more popular close cousin of this breed. Then I got this answer from srstephanie , the Administrator of the RagaMuffins Message Board:

Hi Heffer (is that your name?)

As you have learned in your research, RagaMuffins are still a new breed (since 1994) and there are no known breeders in the Philippines. There just aren't that many RagaMuffins in existance, relatively speaking, and I would think the chances of one turning up in the Philippines would be very slim. And, even here in North America where the majority of Muffins are, without pedigree papers from a breeder, there is no way to know for sure if a cat is a RagaMuffin. A RagaMuffin must have at least one parent who is a registered RagaMuffin and the other parent may be another registered RagaMuffin or a Ragdoll or Siberian (Persians were permitted but are not any longer as of this year). Because RagaMuffins have no "extremes" ... e.g. flat face, no tail, curled ears, etc that are specific characteristics that define a breed, without pedigree papers, it is impossible to know or confirm if any individual cat may be a Muffin. And, given that there are no known RagaMuffins in the Philippines, the chances of him being a Muffin becomes even slighter.

But, having said that, there are many "Domestic Longhairs" (i.e. non-pedigree cats) who are very similar to RagaMuffins with many of the features and personality characteristics of Muffins. My own cat, Macrina, is a Domestic Longhair that I got from the local SPCA shelter. She is a bit of a loner, but she has the easy-going laid-back characteristic of a Muffin and looks a lot like a Muffin. The RagaMuffin breeders have made Macrina an "honorary Muffin" and your cat can be one, too. Ultimately, as I'm sure you agree, what is important is not the pedigree or breed but the loving personality of each cat. And it sounds like this one has that loving, gentle personality and would make a wonderful pet.

By the way, whether or not he is a Muffin, you are very welcome on this board and we would love to have you continue to participate and let us know how things turn out ... and if you get him, please share lots more pictures. As I mentioned, I don't own a pedigree Muffin, either ... yet, I am an Administrator of the board. I'm the Secretary of RAG (the RagaMuffin Associated Group ... the Parent club of the RagaMuffin breed) and I work closely with all the breeders, including the remaining Founding Breeders, who also post on this board. It is a "family" atmosphere here and we welcome all cat lovers.

So that settles it. It's not as painful as I thought it would be and who cares if this isn't a RagaMuffin? I don't. He's still a big, big cat with fluffy fur, a sweet disposition and he's mine, ALL MINE!!