Menu
Login
First off, she has beautiful cats. I'm not saying don't buy from her, but know what you are buying.
I spoke with the owner of Ritz N Ragdolls about purchasing an adult female cat for breeding. I had another cat I bought for breeding, but had to wait until next year when she was old enough, and I wanted to buy a cat I could breed immediately. I inquired about two of the cats on her website. She said both would be great. I chose the darker one. She said she had been saving her because she knew someone would want to breed her because she was so pretty, which she definitely is. I asked the average size of her cats and she said she had a male that was about 12 lbs.
When I picked the cat up from the airport and got her home, I was shocked at how small she was. She was the size of a 6 month old ragdoll. She was 17 months old. Ragdolls average 8-12 lbs by a year. She weighed 4 lbs! The owner said that maybe she had worms and she didn't realize it (doesn't she socialize with her cats enough to know how thin she was?), and she wormed her before she left, and that a lot of people like her smaller cats. The cat was also terrified of people and wanted to stay hiding her kennel until I took it out a couple days later. I expected her to be a bit shy and for it to take a few days for her to get used to us. We've purchased older cats before. She was far beyond that. She acted like a feral cat. When I asked the breeder about it, she said, "She lived with another female she was caged so this is all new and scary for her." My ragdolls run free in my home. It has taken her a month to get brave enough to poke her head outside my bedroom door. I can only hold her for about 30-60 seconds before she can't take any more and I have to let her go. That's after a month of working with her.
My vet suggested that I try to get some weight on her, then evaluate if I can breed her or not. She has knock-kneed back legs, which is another reason not to breed her. If I can get her up to 6 lbs, he says I can try to breed her. My male is 12 lbs. He said with her small bone structure, it will be risky to breed her--and then I would also be breeding a sub-standard size ragdoll. That would be okay, I guess, if I knew that was what I was buying. Size is part of what makes a ragdoll a ragdoll and there is a lot of competition in this area with 4 other high quality breeders. I've been able to get her to 5 lbs. so far. In one of the emails, the breeder suggested that it may take 6 months or so to get her to where I can breed her. That is not what I thought I was buying. If I had any idea of her size alone, I would not have purchased her. I assumed I was purchasing a healthy, average size, well socialized adult female cat of breeding quality.
The breeder offered to take her back and replace her with another cat. How do I know, unless I fly to Arkansas, that I won't be getting the same issues in another cat? She reassured me several times what a great breeder this cat would be. I will have to pay shipping for her to get back and shipping for the new kitty to get here. That's about $600, with no guarantee that I will be any better off than I was before. I would have to fly out there myself to return the cat I have and pick out a replacement cat to make sure of the size and health and weight and social-ability of the cat. I shouldn't have to spend $600 or more to replace a cat I was assured was ready to breed. She also said that someone else was interested in buying her as a breeder, if I didn't want her, so if I got her back there, the other breeder would buy her. I don't know if the other breeder has any idea of her issues. I offered for her to have that breeder contact me and if she wanted to buy her after I tell her about the cat, I would sell her. Then I wouldn't have to pay to return her. I guess if she went to another breeder that kept her caged, then the socialization issues wouldn't matter, but that's not fair to the cat. I have asked if she could refund the difference between a pet price and the breeding rights price and I would fix her and sell her as a pet. She will not do that. She says there are no refunds. There was no contract offered. She does not test for HCM. She does not offer a breedability guarantee (my other breeding cat came with a guarantee that they would replace her if she didn't produce two live births in 3 years).
If you fall in love with a cat on the website, ask a LOT of questions. I would never get one of her cats without going to her cattery and seeing the place for myself. She has 36 females and 18 males listed on her site as her breeders and my cat's mother is not even listed. I would want to play with the cat I chose and make sure she or he was socialized, healthy weight, see the size for myself as well as that of the parents. I'm glad people like her small ragdolls, but she should let buyers know the size of the kitten/ parents before purchase so she knows if the buyer is looking for a smaller cat or an average size ragdoll. That way her buyers will be happier. Proceed with caution, but if you like what she has and you know what that is, you will be happy with your purchase. I'm sure her kittens are more socialized than an adult cat.
I have a cat I spent $1530 on, with shipping, that I probably can't breed and MAY be able to sell as a pet for $500.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I know this breeder I have bought 3 of my baby's from her. 2 girls and a boy. I have found her to be very open and up front about her cats. The 2 girls I got from her Linda did tell me was small girls and that they was not very friendly. Anyway I did get the 2 girls and I'm very happy with what I have gotten. To tell the truth the Girls are doing better than what Linda even thought they would do. They run my house freely now. RitzNRagdoll's Morning Glory is expecting her first litter of baby's next week. I'm looking forward to them. Anyone can go to my website www.smokymtragdolls.com and see the baby's I have gotten from RitzNRagdolls.
I find it hard to believe that Linda would not tell anyone about any of her baby's someone wants to buy. Pam the Girl you bought you bought before I had a chance to. I was going to buy her myself and would have been very happy to have her.
RitzNRagdolls Morning Glory (5 to 6 lbs) expecting next week
RitzNRagdolls Crying the Blue's
RitzNRagdolls Iris
Im looking for the breeders. My cat got out of my house last night and we can't find him. I kusr need to know where she got him fixed and chipped at so I can find him
Only experienced Breeders should breed Ragdoll Variants.
http://www.eiserblew.co.uk/ragamuffin.htm
Breeds, Promotes & Sells Variant Ragdolls which are not traceable to the Foundation Cats of the Ragdoll Breed. Sells unrecognised and unacceptable outcrosses.
http://www.eiserblew.co.uk/ragamuffin.htm
Recently purchased two breeding females from ritz. When they arrived one was running at the eyes and nose. While I had purchased a 30 month old cat and a 10 month old cat they were both obviously from the same litter or at least the same age weighing just over 5 lbs. As reviewed the paperwork that came with the cats we found that both the vets report and the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry commissions Health certificate had been changed. We spoke to her vet and they confirmed the changes and that in fact the cats had not had health checks before they were shipped to us. Additionally we later found that she really wasnt sure which litter our cats came from. She had just sent us TICA registration forms that she had available. and to make matters worse we took the cats to the vet to find that the sick one has FHV a very contagious infection. This lady has very pretty cats but is fundamentally dishonest, falsifying forms and documents, shipping sick cats etc. and she apparently has way more cats than she can keep up with.
recently bought a kitten from this place. Cat that was shipped to me was not the kitten pictured that i thought I was getting. Had to take to the vet because he was sick. Spent another 325.00 in vet bills. Linda took no responsiblility and said it was okay when she shipped it. Would never have bought from her if I had it to do over
Please do not purchase Variant Ragdolls. If anyone has any question please Visit http://www.ragdollcatguide.com/forum/index.php before spending your hard earned cash on cats that are not Ragdolls.
So SAD that I am not alone in purchasing sick-ish, poor quality breeders from her. My cat still has a runny eye we can't clear up and it's been 10 months. She is pretty. She is small. She has not produced any healthy kittens that lived over 3 weeks. She has adjusted well to my home. She is not a good breeder or good quality cat. And Shane, I'll sell her to you for what I bought her for, breeding rights and all---maybe you will have better luck than I. But you turned me down last time I told you that.
I have been to this cattery! The cattery itself is an un-air conditioned, run down mobile home that is LITERALLY lined from one end to the other, from ceiling to the floor with cages. The smell inside was nearly unbearable! The conditions inside were very inhumane yet Linda (owner, although she says her SON owns the cattery. It may even be called JR's Ragdolls now) seemed unbothered by the whole situation. There were multiple male Ragdoll cats living in a back bathroom in the cabinet under the sink. It was obvious these cats had never or rarely, been touched by a human. They were unapproachable much less touchable. They were obviously wild. I ended up getting two cats from Linda although I wish I could have "saved" more of them.
Suffice it to say, I contacted the animal control personnel in that county upon getting home but to no avail. To date, I don't know that anything ever happened to her... I AM NOT exaggerating when I say Linda has or had AT LEAST 200 Ragdoll cats/kittens and also some Oriental Siamese cats/kittens. The last time I spoke to Linda, she had had a very bad URI go through her cattery. It had apparently killed many kittens as she said it had nearly "decimated" her kitten stock. I can't imagine having so many animals that I would be unable to treat or care for the ones that were sick!
Let me just add that Linda's house is adjacent to the mobile home and it is also in a state of disrepair and filthy. It is also quite full of various animals from at least 4 dogs, many kinds of birds, "house" cats and even a goat! This woman needs an intervention in the worst way! I hope someone out there reads this and helps these beautiful, helpless creatures and also Linda, get the help they all need! This is the address if an animal control person out there can help;
Linda Davis Mulberry, Arkansas. I'm not comfortable giving the street(if you can call it that) address.
What part of the U.S. are you from my breeder is ### and because of her horrid breeding practices I can't afford a male. Maybe we can help each other out I'm a starting out breeder with a good set of breeding standards. My names Shilo
shilosievers19@gmail.com is my email
I paid the woman $950.00 for a kitten. She told us the kitten would be ready to go home by the end of July. In the middle of July my wife called to make sure the date we were supposed to pick up the kitten was still a go. Linda said her cattery and house burned and they lost all of their cats. She said she was going to try to get up and running again by getting some more breeding cats. Meanwhile she expected me to wait at least another additional six months while all of this was taking place. I told her no I bought the cat for my daughter to have at this time and if she could not supply me with the cat when she was supposed to then I wanted my money back. She wouldn't give me my money back. I told her that I was going to have to buy another cat from a different breeder so that I could have it now and if she was not willing to give me my money back and I was going to have to wait at least another six months then she could give me a breeding cat. She got very ugly and told me that wasn't going to happen then she hung up on me. I called her back and told her listen if I've already given you my money for a cat at the end of this month which you will not be able to deliver on and you won't give me my money back then you can compromise and give me a breeding cat. She said no. She said there will be no compromise. I said so you are not going to compromise after I've already paid you but you expect me to? She said she'd suffered an act of God that was out of her control. I told her I was sorry for her loss but the fact that she could not refund my money was not my problem. She said well NOW it is your problem. I said yeah so if you've taken my money and refuse to give it back then you can compromise and give me a breeder. She said no there would be no compromise. She said she will replace the kitten I bought with another neutered cat whenever she was able to but that was all she was going to do. She told me I could call the police she told me I could sue her she didn't care. She would not listen to anything I had to say. She was very ugly uncooperative and unreasonable. She hung up on me again and said we are done. She said she wasn't arguing with me anymore. Then she hung up on me again. I tried calling her back and she had turned her phone off.
I purchased a cat from Ritz and it was so heartbreaking.
I want to say this before I talk about what happened with the cat I got from Linda.
I am not a novice to cats, cat behavior or psychology. I had a small cattery and bred Persians for many years and loved it. BUT I fell in love with the Ragdoll breed while I still had the Persian cats, and long knew my next cat would be a Ragdoll, not a Persian. We stopped breeding cats several years ago due to moving across country. We kept our original two Persians. It was a bit after they died that I was able to get another cat.
I started a search for a ragdoll kitten, as i needed a therapy cat, for now I am disabled.
I researched them well and thought I knew what I was doing... LOL... when i talked to Linda who was very nice, she had lots of kittens to choose from as it was December, and i explained that i just wanted her to pick out the sweetest kitten that would enjoy the attention of a therapy cat, I didn't care so much what it looked like as long as it had the temperament i was looking for.
From my own experience as a breeder, after all the hours of playing with them and taking care of the them, I knew which kittens were going to be the cuddly ones and which were more prissy with my Persians, so I put trust in her, as a breeder, to know the line of the kittens that she was producing based on the temperament of the mother and the father as well as the temperament of the kittens themselves.
Linda assured me that she had the perfect kitten but that he was 6 months old and we would make an ideal therapy cat. So i rushed her the $1050 to pay for him. It seemed that someone else was also interested in buying this cat for a breeding so she was in a big hurry. After alot of hastle and 2 mos later, I finally got the cat. I must say this, Linda is a totally different acting person before the sale than after. At one point I really thought I wasn't going to get Hershey at all... because of the way she was acting and the length of time it took to get the kitten - turned cat.
I don't know what his first 8 months were like, but i took him everywhere i could on his leash (using a cat harness, later a dog harness because he got so big)... or he rode in is carrier as we shopped or did whatever we were doing for the day. He was well socialized and was probably a bit spoiled now that I am looking back on it.
From the time that I got him, Hershey was not what I expected. He was pretty antisocial, but he did seem to like the outings on the leash. Over time, i noticed that he had intense Animal aggression first. He also became equally aggressive toward most humans as well.
Out of the blue he attacked me, all teeth & claws holding nothing back... drawing blood in several places on my body. This started when he was 2 and it was about 6 months after we moved to a bigger home. The attacks got more frequent, and by the time he was 3 years old, he was too dangerous to keep as a pet and had to be put to sleep.
I took him to the vet early on to make sure there wasn't anything physical that was making him violent. It couldn't be explained. I then of course started researching cat psychology to see if i was doing something to bring on the attacks, and to see if I could stop them. Next, I hired a trainer to help with Hershey. At first we worked in my home, but He ended up taking Hershey to see if a neutral environment would stop the violence. Hershey became violent toward the trainer, just as he had toward me. The behavior could not be resolved.
After previous interactions with Linda post sale, I lost faith in her.
When the aggression happened, I didn't call her. Who would blame me? The way she treats people. The only reason I would talk to her about it is so she would be informed of the possible problem with aggression in the line that Hershey was born of. That way she could adjust her breeding as needed to fix it. But I think the words would be wasted. That is a shame.
I really miss Hershey, I loved him very much. I wish I had the resources to replace my therapy cat, but that's not going to happen any time soon.
There isn't justice for things like what happened. I didn't post for revenge. I just hope someone else doesn't have the same heartbreak.
And if you are reading this and your cat from Ritz went psycho, please know that you are not alone, and there is possibly nothing that you could have done to prevent what happened. Try a good trainer, it's worth every penny. And good luck.
Paula lunaslove@live.com