Rags and Juniper: A Story about a Seal Bicolor Ragdoll Cat
I am the mother of a very sweet and dedicated 11 year old homeschooler named Juniper. Ever since she was tiny she has been obsessed with cats. We discovered the Ragdoll breed and learned so much about these incredible cats through the help of Floppycats.com. We did our homework and spent TONS of time on the phone, asking questions and getting advice on the best breeders. We eventually found a breeder in Virginia (we live in South Carolina) and our sweet girl worked for months earning money by watering neighbors’ plants and pet sitting. (She even sold antique jewelry for scrap, but that’s another story! 😉 As her parents, we wanted this to be mostly her responsibility, although we did contribute a good bit to her fund! In August of 2017 all our dreams came true when her daddy took a road trip to pick up a very special new friend, Sir Ragelstein Rego! Rags exemplified absolutely everything that we had always heard about the breed… He was perfect in every way!
At the time we lived in a very small house with our 4 kids, our Bernese Mountain Dog, Greta, and our rescue kitty, Ollie. To say our life was busy would be an understatement! But Rags fit right in and never seemed to mind the chaos…
After a while, our kids decided to take him for a supervised visit in our very safe and fully fenced in backyard… Well, that was a huge mistake! Rags became OBSESSED with escaping & became an absolute Houdini… We did our best to keep him inside, but he seemed miserable and would loudly protest. One early morning in January of 2019, tragedy struck when he escaped to the front yard and disappeared from right in front of our house!! We searched EVERYWHERE and put up posters offering a large cash reward for his safe return. I called every vet in the area hoping that someone would bring him in for a scan…. The level of heartbreak that we have faced is difficult to describe… We have longed for (and searched for) Rags every day since!
It’s been nine months now since his disappearance and we still hope and pray that somehow Rags will make his way home to us. We have said goodbye to pets before, but always due to old age and after having had the pleasure of watching them live long and happy lives in our family. To lose a pet in a way that provides no answer and no closure is an entirely different level of grief… My dream is that we may someday open our hearts and our home to another Ragdoll.
In the meantime, my daughter, a budding cat artist and future Ragdoll breeder, continues to nurture her own dream of someday attending the CFA cat shows with a kitty of her own.
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,
OMG you must be devastated, I would be sick. I hope he is safe in someones home. My babies only go out on a leash and I live on a farm so if they did escape hopefully they wouldn’t go far. He is beautiful.