Dilutes

If you are ready to see the beautiful kittens that we have available for your family, go to our "Little Angels" page.

 Chocolate is a recessive gene to Seal, Lilac is a complete dilute color.  There is NO Lilac gene, only a complete dilution of the other three colors!

Tica's Second Best Lilac Lynx Bicolor in 2007, Anastasia with one of her early servants!

Be extra diligent if you want to buy a LILAC or CHOCOLATE Ragdoll.  First of all, most "Lilacs" are actually Blue.  We can not tell you how many breeders we have bought that have turned out Blue.  When you spend over two thousand dollars for a fabulous show breeder, and then find out she is blue or seal, you are pretty disappointed.  As a matter of fact, we have only bought one Lilac that turned out to actually be a Lilac Ragdoll... we have only produced them ourselves!

Also, Lilac RAGDOLLS are sadly, usually bred with other breeds by most Breeders, like the one below, to get the lilac or chocolate color.  This creates Ragdolls that mainly look like other types of cats!  For a pet, it may not matter.  However it can really be a problem if you get one that has the face, unfriendly personality or COAT of these other breeds.  Ragdolls are sweet and affectionate!  Ragdolls have bunny like fur that does NOT need grooming.  However, the mixed-breed Ragdolls can have horrible matting in their fur.  This can require trips to a groomer or daily brushing... so just beware.

Also, most breeders have outcrossed with Birmans, Burmese, or Persian/Himalayans to get lilac or chocolate Ragdolls.  We bought a Show/Breeder Ragdoll from breeder in Canada, only to get a motley crew of a cat that was lilac, but nothing close to a Ragdoll.  That cat was a matted and shaved mess, and is still being bred to create all of their lilacs.  

 Please look at pedigrees closely to see if they are SBT cats.  AON/BON/CON are the abbreviations in T.I.C.A. pedigrees that mean the cats have been outcrossed and therefore will not have all of the qualities that are so dear and special to a Ragdoll.

I promise!  I am ready!  I really want to understand color!

 Chocolate is a recessive gene of Seal.  Lilac is a complete dilute color.  There is NO Lilac GENE at all.  There is a Black (Seal) gene and a Brown (Chocolate) gene, and then there are the dense and dilute attributions associated with one of these two genes.

The colors "black, brown, blue and lilac" result from the interaction of two genes.  One gene determines whether the cat will be "black or brown": while the other gene determines if the color will be dense or dilute.

Black is called "Seal" and Brown is "Chocolate" in the Ragdoll world.  We try to write about it here in a way that makes sense.  (At the bottom of this page under Temperature Dilution, we explain why Ragdolls are known is seal point and chocolate point terms, we also explain why Seals have the darkest blue eyes, and why lilacs the lightest.)

OK!  I got that!  Now Really Explain the Color Varieties to ME!

Within the black gene the black allele, (B), is dominant to the brown allele, (little b).  Dense coloration, (D), is dominant to dilute coloration, (little d). 

This dilution is also called "maltese dilution"  Although most Ragdoll breeders do not understand how the colors work together and also do not use this term.  Blue and lilac are dilutions of black and brown, respectively.

B_D_ = Seal (Dominant black gene, Dense color showing)

bbD_ = Chocolate (Recessive brown gene, Dense color showing)
B_dd = Dilute Blue to Seal (Dominant black gene, dilute color showing)
bbdd = Dilute Lilac to Chocolate (Recessive brown gene, dilute color showing)

What Colors Produce What Color Offspring?

This is tricky for someone who only wants a basic understanding.  You can trust us that we know what colors will be in each litter, although you can not trust that other breeders will be so knowledgeable.  Nancy totally understood it, and provides us with this basic chart.

Four black (seal) varieties of cats can exist.

BBDD SEAL (pure) - All offspring will show seal, but may be any of the 4 varieties of Seal.
BBDd Seal + dilute - All offspring will show Seal or Blue
BbDD Seal + chocolate - All offspring will show Seal or Chocolate
BbDd Seal + dilute+choco - All offspring can show all colors if mated with dilute or recessive carriers.  If not, the dominant cats colors will dominate the determination of the litters colors.

Two blue varieties of cats can exist.

BBdd BLUE (pure) - All offspring can be Seal or Blue
Bbdd Blue +chocolate - All offspring can show Seal, Blue, Chocolate or Lilac if mated with dilute or recessive carriers.  If not, the dominant cats colors will dominate the determination of the litters colors.

Two brown (chocolate) varieties of cats can exist.

bbDD CHOCOLATE (pure)- All Chocolate
bbDd Chocolate +dilute - All offspring can show chocolate or lilac if mated with a dilute or recessive carrier.  If not, the dominant cats colors will dominate the determination of the litters colors.

Only one lilac variety of cats can exist.

DILUTE bbdd LILAC (pure) - All offspring can show lilac, or any color that the other parent can produce. 

Two Other Factors that Play into Color and Pattern are Orange and Cream, and Tabby Striping, known as Lynxes.

Orange and Cream Colors:
The orange gene is carried on the X-chromosome, that means that the orange gene is sex-linked.  All orange cats have some degree of tabby striping even if the cat is also non-agouti.  With other colors, if a cat is non-agouti, the tabby pattern fails to show itself because all the hair are the same color.  The orange gene produces hairs of two different colors without regard as to whether the cat is agouti, known as (A) - or non-agouti, known as (aa).

It is generally accepted that in order to have both black and orange colors present, the cat must have at least two xx chromosomes.  Therefore, most tortoiseshells are female, but one in 3000 tortoiseshells are males.  These males are usually infertile or sterile.  Occasionall however, a male tortoiseshell has been fertile.

Please look under COLORS to see a detailed explaination of the Orange/Red/and Creams

Lynx Patterns:

Ragdolls may also have lynx points.  Please look under PATTERNS to see a detailed explanation of the Lynx.

And Just in Case You Wanted to Know More!

Temperature Dilution:

What is known as temperature dilution greatly affects the color of Ragdolls.  What is known as the Siamese dilution is present in the following breeds.  The Siamese, Himalayan, Balinese, Snowshoe, Ragdoll and Birman breeds. 

This dilution presents an excellent example of the interaction of environment and heredity.  Due to the temperature dilution (Siamese), known as (c c ), the degree of pigmentation is governed by temperature.  The colder the temperature the more pigmented the region becomes.  Ragdoll kittens are born all white since its entire body, including the extremities are kept warm in utero during development.  At birth they are exposed to a much colder ambient temperature and their extremities become cooler than their core temperature.  Pigment first develops on the tips of the nose, ears, and tail.  Gradularly the face and paws become pigmented.  Lastly the body may become lightly pigmented. 

The dilution restricts the coat color to the points, and also is responsible for the bright blue eye color.  Corresponding to the solid coat colors black, brown, blue, and lilac are the temperature dilution colors known as the Siamese coat colors of seal point, chocolate point, blue point, and lilac point.  That is why Ragdolls are referred to in these color terms! 

OK!  We know that AngelGirl has provided you with more information than you ever thought possible!  But what if you want to know what your new little angel will need when you take it home?  Then, read What "Angels Need" next to find out what our Ragdoll babies love to play with!

If you are ready to see the beautiful Angels we have available for your family, go to our "Little Angels" page.