Teddy – Ragdoll of the Week

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Teddy came to be a part of my life after a long Ragdoll search that began in November 2009. I decided I wanted a cat and was initially drawn to the color point pattern and personality of Himalayan cats, but all of the breeders in my area only had the flat faced, Persian type Himalayans. While watching Cats 101 on the Animal Planet, I saw a Ragdoll for the first time and fell in love! Their unique personalities and manageable bunny fur coat drew me in! So I started my search in my area of North Carolina.

My favorite Ragdoll patterns are seal mitted and seal bicolors, so that’s what I was looking for. Unfortunately, no breeders that I spoke to had kittens at the time, but one very caring breeder offered to help me find one in another state. Her name is Annalisa Long of Magical Ragdolls, and she really has been a mentor in teaching me how to own a cat (this is my first cat!). She was getting a kitten from Raquel Elizondo of TexRenRags (www.texrenrags.com) in South Texas, and asked if she had any other kittens for a pet owner. Raquel had one special little boy left – Teddy, a seal bicolor boy. He was named this by Raquel’s daughters because he looks like a squishy teddy bear. Raquel asked me if I’d like for them to call him something else, but I love his name! Here is his baby picture:

So I began the wait for Teddy to arrive. Raquel sent me pictures every week (lots of them!) and told me funny things he was doing at the house. He was a favorite of one of her daughters so he has a special place in their hearts. Raquel has always been very good about answering all my questions and she kept me updated through the whole process. He was finally old enough to come to my state the last week of January, but of course, there had to be a MAJOR snow storm the day he was supposed to fly in! He and his half sister (for Annalisa) finally were able to fly in to NC in the same crate together 3 days later, and I was so happy! Raquel sent a huge packet of goodies and food for him as well as his pedigrees and medical records. He adjusted so fast that I couldn’t believe it. He’s been perfect about his litter box and eating right from the start as well. I’ve had Teddy for 1.5 months now and it’s been nothing but fun. He’s a great cat that loves people. In fact, when I had a dinner party for 15 people, he flopped over and asked everyone for belly rubs. He’s truly a Ragdoll since he sleeps in stretched out positions and follows us from room to room. I hope to get him a brother soon so that he will have a playmate and not be lonely at home when I’m at work. We recently made the trip back to Texas to see my family, and he made it on the plane ride with no problems at all.

I’m SO proud of him – he’s a fantastic cat. He is very loving and sleeps right next to my head every night. As far as products and foods, I recommend lots of scratching posts with sisal rope and Wellness Cat Food. We took Teddy to his scratching post the day we got him and he actually runs to it now when he wants to scratch because it’s his favorite. It’s saved our couch and the trouble of putting “soft paws” on him. I really like Wellness food for him because its grain free and he devours it. He eats the kitten food version and is free fed Wellness kitten dry food. Please visit my YouTube page to see a lot of his videos! Most of the pictures taken here are by my photographer sister, Diane.  If you’d like to see more of her pictures, please visit dianesfotos.blogspot.com.

And I’d like to thank the owner of this website, Jenny Dean, for talking to me endlessly about Ragdolls when my obsession started back in November and for sharing her lovely pics of of Rags, Caymus, Murphy, Charlie, and Trigg!

Videos of Teddy

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQUlCn0mrCY[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8g2Iq8XWeg[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezbViKz9_Oo[/youtube]