Maisie – Ragdoll of the Week

Maisie the Shy Ragdoll

I told my husband I really wanted a cat. I had grown up with cats. My first family cat, Sooty, was a stray that lived with us until the ripe old age of 21. I cried my heart out when Sooty left us. Now I was ready for a new chapter with a new fluffy companion. Also, I wanted my husband to know the joys of owning a cat.

We live on a busy street in London and my preference was to have an indoor cat. My husband works from home so this would work perfectly as the cat wouldn’t be lonely in the daytime. We started looking and as everyone knows, once you come across this wonderful, wide-eyed, playful breed, you just cannot believe you have only just discovered them! Ragdolls seemed to have the most perfect characteristics and certainly one that would not feel frustrated by being indoors.

Sooty had been a lap cat and I really hoped my new cat would enjoy being close to me and on my lap. I started the search first for reputable Ragdoll breeders and one in particular caught my eye due the sheer amount of referrals and high ratings among Ragdoll owners. I started looking through and then, there she was. The most beautiful kitten I had ever seen.

I was very lucky because this gorgeous kitten, who had the provisional name of “GaGa”, had been on the site only 2 hours before I looked so I couldn’t believe it when I was told she was still available. GaGa’s breeder, Sara, told us more about the kitten that would become ours.

Interestingly GaGa was the last of four siblings and had a very nervous disposition. Sara said GaGa would need socialising for a further month because of her timid nature. She said she was a very nervous kitten and this was unusual for the breed especially as her siblings didn’t display any such characteristics. All this made us love her even more and we couldn’t wait to collect her and bring her to her new home. Sara said that if we loved and cared for this cat in particular and gained her trust she would love us and only us. We would need to travel over 3 hours there and back to collect her but our hearts were set and we paid the deposit.

On return back home with our new bundle of fluff (who btw we re-named Maisie!), we had about a week of an extremely nervous cat who cried every night and who hid under the couch, only coming out for food and water and to use her litter. But slowly and surely she started to trust us. By the end of the week she had come out to us and sat with us, staring intently. And a few weeks after that she came and lay at the side of my husband in bed as he used his laptop.

Over the first year, Maisie just trusted us more and more and we were amazed at how much she would love playing with us in ways more in common with a puppy than a cat. For example she loved chasing after balls that we rolled down the stairs and then up she would come carrying the ball in her mouth. A cat playing fetch!
Maisie also loved being close to us and would follow us everywhere. She slept in the bed with us at night and would also sleep by my husband’s side every day while he worked at home. One day I came home from work to find both of them fast asleep on the couch together and it broke my heart! She really was the missing piece to our family and was growing fast.

Sara’s predictions came true as Maisie loves and trusts us completely but really is scared of everyone else. If my parents or my sisters come round, she hides under the bed until they are gone. There was a period of time when people didn’t even believe we had a cat! Maisie will now come out from under the bed if a guest is in the house for any length of time. But she will just sit outside the room and stare in, ready to run should anyone get up. But then when our guests are gone, Maisie trundles back in and jumps up onto our laps as if she’s the most confident cat in the world.

She truly does just love and trust me and my husband in all the world. It kind of makes her love a little bit more special if I’m being honest. Because we know we have earned it. Maisie has become my dream lap cat because my lap is her favourite place in the whole world. She shouts at me every evening to tell me to sit down so she can get up onto my lap. And she doesn’t even mind me knitting anymore!

Maisie loves a cuddle too, but she doesn’t display all the characteristics of a Ragdoll in that she only tolerates a cuddle or being picked up for a relatively short length of time, whereas I hear most Ragdolls don’t mind it at all, hence the name itself. One thing all Ragdoll owners know is that Raggies love routine! And so we have a number of things we do with Maisie.

One thing is that although Maisie doesn’t really sit on my husband’s lap because he moves around too much whereas I sit still. But she will only be taken to bed by my husband! He picks her up when we go to bed and takes her to her sleeping post in our bedroom. Then she will clean herself dutifully and go to bed with us. However, if my husband is away with work she just won’t allow me to take her to bed. She instantly jumps back up off her post and goes into the front room and waits for my husband to return. If he doesn’t return then she will just sleep on the couch, waiting for him! I don’t mind, at least I get my fix of Maisie lap time!

During the Covid19 lockdown I have also been working from home and she has enjoyed having me home and helped me throughout.

In conclusion I would just like to echo what all Ragdoll owners feel. Maisie has brought so much joy into our lives. We don’t think of her as a cat, she is just another member of our family. She understands so much of what we are saying and she responds to us in ways that are unusual for cats in general that prefer their own company – and there’s nothing wrong with that! I love all cats and their unique natures.

But Ragdolls are true companions. Your little shadows. They just want to know what you’re doing and if they can join in. Maisie has needed a lot of attention and we have been happy to provide that. I don’t think Maisie could have coped if she was left alone in the daytime, so my husband working from home has helped, and it has fostered a lovely bond between them both. Maisie is so loving, so kind natured. We couldn’t imagine our life without her. She has taught us so much and made us better people. We love you Maisie. Here’s to all Ragdolls around the world!

We made a twitter page for her if you’d like to follow her adventures, Maisie the Shy Ragdoll on @shyragdoll.

Thank you for reading my story. I look forward to hearing from all other Raggie owners! And Goodbye from Maisie the shy Ragdoll.

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