Ragdoll Cat Tabby vs. Lynx in Australia
I recently got a Ragdoll of the Week submission for Pasha, a Seal Lynx Point from GUYSNDOLLS Ragdoll Cattery in Australia.
When his owners wrote in to submit his story, they said he was a Seal Tabby Point, but when I saw his photo, I thought for sure he was a lynx – now that I have a blue lynx mitted Ragdoll cat, Trigg, and have been doing this website for almost 3 years, I feel like I am better at identifying colors and patterns.
So I wrote Debbie Le Strange of GUYSNDOLLS Ragdoll Cattery to verify that Pasha was indeed a Lynx and not a colorpoint and this is what she had to say:
“Unfortunately over here in Australia, they just will not listen, every time I send in my registration papers for my litters, I put Seal Lynx Point, or mitted or bi colour, which ever the case may be……………….but they persistently keep sending the papers back with “Tabby” on them. I have told them over and over again, but they will not put it on the papers, because the Birmans are tabbys, they think that they all should be registered as the same.”
I am by no means a breed expert, but I find this so interesting and wanted to share it with my readers – clearly Lynx exists and Ragdolls has had that designation in other parts of the world, including the United States, where they originated, so what’s the hold up
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,
I have been told that a tabby point has the distinctive “^^” on the forehead & a lynx point doesn’t ? Is there any substance to that ? 🙂
In Dunedin NZ.
I have cat very similar in colour markings to Pasha above.
Provenance unknown or possibly deceased estate as he came from a charity.
Non mitted, tabby legs, head however is more broader like a persian but no bracephalic features. Normal nose and very light blue eyes. Demure meow. Seems to cope with our other cats; IE can stick up for himself [ neutered male appx 2yrs old]. He has that lynx facial marking as if the facial pattern is cut and pasted onto his head. The face colour does not match the leg stripes/tabby exactly. He was in bit of a state and had to have lots of knots cut out, so his coat is not full length at present. He is kind of floppy, but I must check that characteristic. Ragdoll as opposed to Birman is the nearest I can come to in identifying him and ‘PASHA’ the closest for colour.
I am trying to get some pics but he will not sit for me ( :
i certainly am learning a lot here.
Tabby is just another way of saying Lynx, it all depends, here in Norway we say Tabby, but when we write English, we say Lynx, it´s the same pattern i belive, but different countries has different names =^.^=
Over in New Zealand, it’s a bit of a mixed bag as well. Some breeders use the term “Tabby” and register their kittens as such. Other breeders, like the ones we adopted our three from, describe, use and register as “Lynx.” Others again say Tabby/Lynx as interchangeable terms.
It doesn’t bother me too much though, because I’m more bothered by uneducated “breeders” that miss the mark altogether, for example I recently saw an add for a Seal Bicolour, who was actually a Seal Mitted with a blaze slightly thicker than Charlie’s! Absolutely gorgeous kitten, but the breeders were a worry not knowing their own breed properly.
Elle, I see that problem over here too – many breeders will say a cat is a bicolor when the blaze is thicker. Drives me crazy – because they don’t know the Ragdoll breed well enough to color identify them, so what else are they missing?
I agree with Lizzi because it sound as if they are simply associating the lined pattern with the term “Tabby.” Although since the Ragdoll International website actually lists all the patterns and terminology, it would seem to be a lot easier to just go by those terms since that is what cat shows and etc. would be using and looking for. Personally though, using the term “Tabby” just makes me think of an orange or silver/grey Tabby cat.
It sounds like it’s just the cat association’s different terms/names for the pattern… Like how some cat registries use the term “patched tabby” and others use “torbie”.