Mari Clementine – Ragdoll Kitten of the Month
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Hi Floppycats’ community! This is my kitten, Mari Clementine. Mari (mar-ee) was born on January 17, 2021 in New Jersey and she is a Blue Point Ragdoll! I found Mari through a breeder, and drove four hours to pick her up and bring her back to Massachusetts!
This kitten has been to more states than most people! Started in New Jersey, drove through New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, lives in Massachusetts, and even has vacationed in New Hampshire. She does AMAZING in the car and does not mind traveling one bit.
I gave Mari her name because in Spanish and Portuguese mar means ocean, and she has ocean blue eyes (I am also a huge Bachelor/ Bachelorette fan, and one of the contestants had that name and I thought it was gorgeous). Clementine was actually her birth name, and it was too cute to give up, so I left it as her middle name. We do call her by her “full” name, and she responds to it (especially if she is doing something naughty like going on the kitchen counter- she knows and listens so well).
Mari was my graduation present to myself. Once I finished my Masters in Education degree program I realized I really missed the companionship of a cat in the house. It had been about six years since my last cat passed away, and I was ready to have another furry friend in the family. To help with the loneliness of the pandemic, and the high stress job of trying to teach during a pandemic I knew I needed a little best friend in my life and it has truly been the best decision I have made during 2021!
On the weekend of January 17, was actually when I started the journey of trying to find a kitten. My goal for myself was to find “a kitten with white fur, and blue eyes”. Little did I know that was the very weekend my little best friend was born, and our paths will cross shortly.
I originally looked at rescuing a kitten, but all of the local shelters were empty of kittens (amazing problem to have!). So, I decided to do my research on breeders, and that is what lead to me to the Ragdoll breed. I knew and heard of the breed before my research, and I realized how beautiful inside and out these cats truly are, and I realized that was the breed for me, and what I was looking for all along. Fast forward to April, my school spring vacation, and I made the road trip to finally pick up Mari!
As soon as we made it back home, Mari took to the house right away. I could not believe how brave and friendly she was! She immediately wanted to play with all the toys I bought her! Her favorite toys are wool balls from MEOWFIA, toy mice, or anything that rattles.
She also loves this toy platypus that I found from Target. I don’t know what is about that platypus, but she loves to snuggle it, kick it and bat it around on my wood floors. Mari even knows how to play fetch! Anytime someone throws her one of her mice toys, she sprints after it, puts it into her mouth, and runs back to you all proud. She drops the mouse at your feet and expects you to throw it again.
It is so cute and funny to watch her play fetch. She is so proud of herself for bringing it back and hearing the praise of people calling her a “good girl”. She also likes to play hide and seek, where I hide behind a wall, and she comes running to find me and chase me. Above all however, even though we spend money on amazing toys for her, her favorite also includes paper bags, and cardboard boxes. Mari is also very vocal. She is constantly “talking back” if you say hi, or tell her to get down from the counter. We have our own conversations sometimes.
Mari truly is a “floppy cat”, she is always sleeping in crazy positions on her back and loves to be held like a baby. Though she just loves being held and snuggled in general. She is loyal, she is my shadow, and I am so lucky to have her in my life. She brings constant smiles, laughter, and whenever I am stressed or overwhelmed she seems to sense it right away. She is truly my best friend and I am thankful to come home to those beautiful blue eyes and snuggles every day.
Read more Ragdoll Kitten of the Month Stories…
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. I have been searching to adopt 2 male ragdoll kittens for months now and all I end up with is frustration. Do you of any pairs that are available for adoption? I live in Maryland but am very willing to drive to get them. I’ve never seen such beautiful and adorable kittens before. Thanks for helping me out, if you can.
Hi Wendy,
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 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