Ragdoll Dilute Colors 

If you are ready to see the beautiful rare lilac and chocolate ragdoll kittens, as well as blue-eyed whites, minks, creams, chocolate tortie, and lilac tortie, go to our "Angel Kittens" page.

Here We Try to Explain the Four Traditional Colors, (lilac, chocolate, blue, and seal) and...

How a Good Breeder Can Tell you the Color Outcome of their Kittens!

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 servants!

Be extra diligent if you want to buy a LILAC or CHOCOLATE Ragdoll. First of all, most "Lilacs" are actually Blue. Most Chocolates are really Seals.  We can not tell you how many lilac 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 he or she is blue or seal, you are pretty disappointed.

The only way to be certain is to color test either the parents or the kitten you have bought.  UC-Davis VGL, and several less expensive although slightly less reliable places offer this service.  All you need is a Q-tip. We know can tell every kittens color by visual inspection, but we still send off for the tests for our breeders.

Just so you know, we have only bought one Lilac that actually turned out to be a Lilac Ragdoll...  We have only produced lilacs and chocolates without other breeds by selecting seal and blue breeders who had dilute genes by studying their pedigrees.  We then have carefully bred them, waiting patiently through several generations.  Many breeders will tell you these colors do not exist, or are only available through cross-bred cats.  That is not true with our cats at AngelGirls.

It is true that most breeders have bred or bought Lilac RAGDOLLS that were bred with other breeds to get the lilac or chocolate color. This creates Ragdolls that mainly look like other types of cats but have the sought after lilac or chocolate color.

For a pet, it may not matter if color is all you care about, but then, why are you buying a Ragdoll?  Ragdolls are known for their loving personality and elegant fur that is hassle-free.  Does the boy below look like his fur is hassle-free? 

Problems with Ragdolls that have recent out-crosses are that they can look like the boy below who was cross-eyed and a matted mess when we received him as an expensive "Show/Breeder."  The major associations allow three generations between an outcross and the cat that is being registered. Personally, we think that there should be at least a six parent generation gap for the correct look and personality. 

We sent the boy below back, but not without having to engage a legal battle. Warning: This boy is the primary staple of the European lilac Ragdolls that are winning international awards.   Associations are more impressed with huge coats, and the size of the coat over personality is changing the Ragdolls.  We are trying to have a line of lilacs and chocolates that are traditional in demeanor, looks, and ease. 

Mixed breeds can really be a problem if you get one that has the face, unfriendly personality, or coat of these other breeds. Ragdolls are supposed to be sweet and affectionate. True 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, daily brushing, and even shaving, which is what the breeder before us did with this cat (although she didn't tell us)... so just beware.

Regis

Regis

Mixed breed persian, cross-eyed, matted furred 'Ragdoll' above with our Annaliese (below).  She is showing the proper Ragdoll coat.

Also, most breeders have outcrossed with Birmans, Burmese, or Persian/Himalayans to get lilac or chocolate Ragdolls, like the Canadian breeder above.  That was the case with the cross-eyed Persian above.  He is still being bred to create all of this catteries lilacs.  His parents were registered with TICA as Birmans and Persians.

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.  The associations will tell you the breed that was used in the cross if you contact them.

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. These are the two primary color genes (with dilute and dense versions) of the Ragdoll. 

Flame, (referred to as red) was added later, and is an independant 'agent'.

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 as seal point and chocolate point.  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, {B=Black Allele} Dense color showing)

bbD_ = Chocolate (Recessive brown gene, {b=brown allele} Dense color showing)
B_dd = Dilute Blue of Seal (Dominant black gene, {B=Black Allele}, but dilute color {d=dilute allele} showing)
bbdd = Dilute Lilac of Chocolate (Recessive brown gene,  {b=brown allele} but dilute color [lilac] 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 Hamilton 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.

RED's DILUTE IS CREAM!

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. Occasionally however, a male tortoiseshell has been fertile.

Please look under our "All the COLORS" to see a detailed explanation of the Orange/Red/and Creams.

Lynx Patterns:

Ragdolls may also have lynx points. Please look under our "All the PATTERNS" page 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. Gradually 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! 

Below is our dilute Chocolate (bbDd) male (Recessive brown gene, Dense color showing), or bbDd dilute black allele (bb), and brown allele showing (Dd) ~ 'Angelgirls Decadent Chocolate Hershey' 

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