Are Ragdoll and Siamese Cats the Same?
The other day on YouTube, someone wrote on our- How to Hold a Ragdoll cat video – “Your cats are so cool. I really want a Siamese Ragdoll; they’re so badass.” It reminded me of this post. (There are cat breeds that are Ragdoll Siamese mixes. This happens when two separate breeds, “Ragdoll” and “Siamese,” are bred together, which is also known as a “Ragamese.”)
This website uses affiliate links that earn a commission at no additional cost. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
I replied and said my cats were Ragdolls. He replied, “Really? I thought the ragdolls with that coat were bred with Siamese/Himalayan cats, but tbh Idk a ton about cats; all I know is I want one of those. Lol”.
I replied, “No, Ragdoll is a breed of cat, Siamese is another breed of cat, Himalayan is a breed of cat – all separate. All are known as color-pointed cat breeds – meaning they change color as they age and show their color the most on their points.”
Ragdoll Siamese Mix
A Ragdoll Siamese mix is a Ragamese. Ragdoll + Siamese = Ragamese. In other words, a Ragamese is a cat produced from a Siamese cat and a Ragdoll cat mating. This article talks about the differences between the two color-point breeds of cats.
A Common Question
Surprisingly, this is a frequently asked question among cat lovers far and wide. Growing up, I can’t tell you how many people saw my childhood Ragdoll cat, Rags, and thought he was a Siamese.
Ragdoll and Siamese cats are often confused due to some similarities that these breeds share regarding blue eyes, colors, and patterns. Still, they are very different breeds from many points of view.
This article talks about the similarities, and differences, between the Ragdoll cat breed and the Siamese cat breed. With this information, you can get an idea of the unique features of each of these cats.
Ragdolls and Siamese Cats – Similarities
The most prominent characteristic shared between Ragdoll and Siamese cats is the seal color pattern of their fur. This means the white to creamy white bodies with dark brown masks, ears, tails, and mittens in contrast.
Since this combination of colors is quite different from those seen in other breeds, people often associate it with a single breed, thus confusing the Ragdoll and the Siamese.
While this pattern can be found in both cat breeds, plenty of elements can be used to differentiate the two.
Like Ragdoll kittens, Siamese kittens start out almost white and acquire their full color as they age because they are color-pointed cats.
Ragdolls and Siamese Cats – Differences
In this section, I will relay the most important differences between the two cat breeds. The main objective is the disambiguation of this relatively common Ragdoll-related confusion.
Breed Origins
Siamese – As the name may suggest, Siamese cats come from Thailand (Siam), and they are one of the oldest cat breeds in the entire world, dating back to 1351 AD.
In 1878, US President Rutherford B. Hayes received a Siamese cat, the first ever of its breed to reach the US. The modern version of this breed came in the 1950-1960s. There was a boost of interest in cats of this particular display.
Ragdolls – This breed also came about in the 1960s when seal point cats were all the rage. The first ever Ragdoll came from a Persian/Angora cat that bred with several unknown Birman males, out of which one presented the Siamese staple seal point coloration.
Ann Baker of Riverside, California, developed the Ragdoll breed and trademarked the name.
Coat
Siamese – The typical Siamese cat has a very short yet uniquely silky coat. Please note that there are no long-haired Siamese cats. Are there fluffy siamese cats? No. Silky but not fluffy. But the Balinese are known for their purebred long-haired Siamese cats.
Ragdoll – The breed standard for Ragdolls is a long coat of silky texture, similar to rabbit fur’s touch.
Please note that Ragdolls do not have undercoats, which makes them shed significantly more than other cat breeds.
Color Patterns
Siamese – The seal point Siamese cat is the breed’s most well-known color variety. These cats also come in several other colors – blue, chocolate, lilac, flame, and cream.
As you may expect, in the beginning, the breeders and cat associations considered all the other colors inferior to the traditional seal point Siamese cat. But as the breed grew more and more popular, they eventually accepted various patterns, such as tabby, lynx, and tortie.
Ragdoll – This breed became popular with seal point individuals. As such, to this day, this is the most common type of Ragdoll cat. However, like for the Siamese, there is significant variety in colors and patterns.
Ragdolls include blue, chocolate, lilac, flame point, and cream point. As far as patterns are concerned, Ragdolls also have tabbies, torties, and lynxes.
Personality
Siamese – Known worldwide as one of the most intelligent cats, the Siamese makes for an excellent pet. They are very affectionate yet social and particularly vocal and agile.
Siamese cats tend to get attached to a single person, but they will be sociable with the entire family. They are extroverts in the true sense of the word, and they thrive on human and/or cat companionship.
Ragdoll – The trait Ragdolls are known worldwide for is their docile nature. These cats are exceptionally calm and loving, up to the point where their floppy behavior has inspired their name (Ragdoll).
But don’t let their calm nature fool you, for Ragdolls are extremely intelligent and social.
Rescues
Unfortunately, as with other cat breeds, pedigree Ragdolls and Siamese can be found in shelters and rescues in the United States. In fact, many times, a Siamese could be listed as a Ragdoll or vice versa. Check out our Ragdoll Rescue page to learn more tips and tricks on how to find a Ragdoll or Siamese in need of a home.
As you can see, Ragdoll and Siamese cats are quite different, even though they share unique seal point colorations.
Each of these two fantastic breeds has some unique characteristics. Still, many things make them different from each other.
Hi, I’m Jenny Dean, creator of Floppycats! Ever since my Aunt got the first Ragdoll cat in our family, I have loved the breed. Inspired by my childhood Ragdoll cat, Rags, I created Floppycats to connect, share and inspire other Ragdoll cat lovers around the world,
Hi,my cat has the personality of a ragdoll but looks like a Turkish van,white with a black tail and sort of like a bicolor marking on its face,in black. He’s long haired.any idea breed he is? Maybe a Ragamuffin….idk
No, I wouldn’t really know. You could have a Cat DNA Test done to know for sure though!
Hi Jenny! Enjoyed reading your article about the difference between the Siamese and Ragdoll cats.
I have a long-haired cat named Shaggy, and he is a tuxedo with strong ragdoll
characteristics. Very laid back, floppy when he’s picked up, very cuddly.
I can’t help but think he has a strong ragdoll gene in him, though his mama was a gray tabby. I found that interesting.
Could be? You could always get him DNA tested? Check it out here: How to Tell if My Cat is a Ragdoll?
Where can I adopt a ragdoll cat? I am very interested in adopting one.
Floppycats is an informational website – and our tagline is “Uniting Ragdoll Lovers Worldwide.”
We are not a Ragdoll breeder, but we do try to help.
I learned long ago not to recommend breeders! I believe that people should make sure to do their homework on reputable breeding practices and decide for themselves. But some readers do recommend some breeders.
Here are the pages on the site that you might find helpful:
https://www.floppycats.com/ragdoll-breeders.html
https://www.floppycats.com/recommended-ragdoll-breeders.html
https://www.floppycats.com/bad-ragdoll-breeders.html
How to Know if a Cat Breeder is Reputable: An Interview with Bette Willette
https://www.floppycats.com/how-to-know-if-a-cat-breeder-is-reputable-an-interview-with-bette-willette.html
A small checklist when looking for a breeder:
Are they TICA or CFA registered?
Do they show their cats?
Do they breed within the written standard of Pointed, Blue eyed only?
Do they DNA test?
Do they keep kittens at least 12 weeks of age?
Do they provide a health guarantee?
Do the kittens come to you already spayed/neutered?
Do you feel comfortable with the communication with the breeder? You want to be able to contact your breeder months or years down the road with questions.
To see if a cattery is actually registered with TICA, you can go to this website. Be patient, when adding the cattery name into the search engine, it can take a minute or two to respond. The TICA online list is only a list of TICA catteries that decided to pay an extra fee to be listed. It is actually a very small percentage of Ragdoll breeders that did choose to advertise there.
https://tica.org/owners-breeders/catteries/registered-catteries
For CFA cattery names, you can check here.
https://cfa.org/cattery-name-index
RFCI is a great place to look also, the catteries listed there have been checked thoroughly to ensure they are registered with one or more of the major cat associations. They do sign a code of ethics as well, however with any breeder, do your own research and homework.
http://rfci.org/
Watch out for scams – https://www.floppycats.com/ragdoll-breeder-website-scam-ragdoll-family-or-ragdoll-giants.html
You might also search for a Ragdoll rescue, so we have the following webpage to help you find a Ragdoll Rescue in your area:
https://www.floppycats.com/ragdoll-rescue.html
If you find someone you like, you can always send me a link to their website and if I see any red flags, I will let you know – that’s the best I can do.
Good luck! Hope that helps and hope you’ll share your new little one with us on Facebook when you get s/he.
Jenny
I love both the Siamase and Ragdoll. I rescued a ferrel kitten. She is 8 months old and can be hard to handle. She looks like a Siamese Ragdoll.
Maybe talk about the difference between Ragdolls and Birmans. We have a beautiful seal point Birman and we chose home over a Ragdoll or Himalayan because of his single silky coat which never Matt’s. All three have sweet, gentle natures and are hard to resist.
To all the cats I’ve loved before…two Siamese, one Birman and three Ragdolls…and one Mexican street cat… The biggest difference I see is that of personality. My Ragdolls have been mellow, go with the flow kind of cats whereas the Siamese have been way more hyper. So protective of me one even bit my husband, repetitively…
Such a great re-post, Jenny honey! TYSVM for sharing this info again. Truly a wonderful & very educational post! 🙂 <3
Big hugs & lots of love & purrs!
Patti & Miss Pink Sugarbelle 🙂 <3 <3 <3
Hi Jenny,
I’m confused. I adopted three pointed kittens last year. One is a lynx point, another is a chocolate point, and the third.is what I thought was a long hair, chocolate point Siamese mix.
We don’t know their history. They are assumed to be siblings. They were found in the same neighborhood and are the same age.
The lynx point and chocolate are very soft, playful and loving while not very vocal. The vocal one is the long haired kitten. She trills to let my wife and I know she wants attention. She does this often.
She is almost a year old and neither her or her siblings shed. She’s not quite as silky as her siblings.
Is it possible that she’s a Siamese mix with a long hair breed?
Warm regards,
Tom
Ah, don’t you mean that the Ragdoll sheds less due to its’ lack of undercoat?
My experience is Ragdolls shed permanently compared to my non Raggy cats of the past.
Hi, my name is Greg, I have a female sealpoint cat that looks like a ragdoll cat in all ways except she doesn’t have mittens on her paws, there all dark brown, you have any idea what kind of cat she might be, she weights about 12 pounds
She sounds like she is a seal colorpoint. You can email me photos of her, and I can probably tell you for sure.
Jenny- my rescue Jax is a flame point ? Shelter listed him as Siamese flame point but he has long hair.
Good article, but I was surprised when you said that there were no long-haired Siamese cats that you didn’t follow up with a mention of Balinese which share the pointed and blue-eyed characteristics and are recognized as a separate breed, but which do have a long silky coat. I have been owned by many, many Siamese (and what I call Semi-meeze) cats and currently am owned by a Balinese and a Ragdoll. The Balinese cats are an offshoot of the Siamese breed and also share the intelligence of the other two breeds. My Balinese isn’t as outgoing and social, until he becomes comfortable around someone. My Ragdoll, George, on the other hand assumes that anyone in the house is there to see him! He is the official greeter and maintenance supervisor! And at just a hair shy of 20 pounds, many of my friends refer to him as my dog-cat.
Thanks for enlightening me about Balinese =).
How can you tell if a cat has an undercoat? I think I have a Flamepoint Ragdoll but not sure…
SUPER PAWESOME post & info, Jenny! I learned A LOT!!! When I’m out walking one of my favorite walking routes I encounter a beautiful inside-outside Siamese kitty with a pretty glittery collar (with her address on it) and she is so affectionate and friendly and always greets me for a petting session before she continues on her outside adventures on her street…lurve it!! 🙂 <3
Big hugs & lots of love!
Patti & Miss Pink Sugarbelle 🙂 <3 <3 <3
=)
Great article, Jenny – and viva la difference! People often refer to Ragdolls as “long-haired Siamese” when, as we know, nothing could be further from the truth. My old friend and former boss called Siamese kitties “monkeys in cat costumes” which I thought was pretty accurate. I much prefer Ragdolls’ personalities and appearance although, of course, I love all creatures (especially cats).
“monkeys in cat costumes” – LOL! Love it!
I have a snowshoe Siamese and a Ragdoll. Both were sold to me as a snowshoe breeder. But my male rag was sold as a female. I love both of them. The Siamese in them makes them wonderful pets (they get very attached to their owners). But the white markings come from the bicolor (tuxes) and those give them other great characteristics.