by Quirin

Created on: September 06, 2008   Last Updated: September 07, 2008

When we lost our Missy kitty earlier this year to cancer, we were absolutely heartbroken. We soon decided new life would help to ease our sadness, and we started to look at the local pet stores and rescues for a new cat. Of course, we loved and wanted to take home every single one we saw - even the older ones, but we knew we wanted two kittens. Being our other two cats are older, we wanted to get a pair so that they could entertain each other and not wear out the old girls.

From the start, we knew it was going to be hard to try and fill the space that Missy had left. She was an outside cat of a friend before we inherited her 12 years ago at 2 years of age, and all she'd ever wanted was to be a kitty of luxury. She had a lovely personality and was always so grateful for her kinder home. The new kitty was going to have some pretty big furry shoes to fill! We looked and we looked at the kittens in the area, and though they were all so cute and so fun, none of them made us feel that "something special" for which we were looking.

We came home after one of our forays to a nearby shelter (still empty-handed), and I logged onto the Internet and looked up "Ragdoll cats" in Google. Though Missy was not papered, our friends knew that she had been a "throwaway" from a local amateur breeder's Ragdoll litter. They'd also owned her brother - Loverboy - and we've always regretted that we didn't take him too all those years ago. In looking at the many Ragdoll breeders' sites, we discovered it was because of the TYPE of cat Missy had been that we were having so much trouble with all the other kittens we'd been seeing. Ragdolls just have something about them that make them so very special!

So we started researching the breeders in the area, trying to find someone who had a kitten for sale. We discovered they were largely out of our financial means, and so I began writing to the breeders asking if they had any cats that were not "show quality", that they might part with for a discount. I did not find that many who were willing to lower their prices, but what I did discover was a networked community of warm and lovely people who understood our plight (not only had we suddenly lost what seemed like one of our children in losing Missy, but we had been having various life difficulties for some time) and were willing to get the word around to help us obtain a kitten for a reduced rate.

In the process, I learned a lot more about this particular breed of cat and the people who raise them.

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