RAGDOLL

Tanzania
1996

A controversial American breed that acquired its name because, when held, it goes limp and becomes completely relaxed and floppy, like a feline ragdoll. The Ragdoll myth dates back to the early 1960s, when a pregnant white Persian-style cat called Josephine was involved in a road accident. She broke her pelvis when struck by a car, and it was claimed that this injury resulted in her subsequent offspring being abnormally limp.

This is the most docile of all cat breads. It is the most relaxed, mild-mannered cat in the world. To its supporters this is extolled as a virtue of the breed, but to critics it is seen as the creation of a "living soft toy," a "cushion cat," the "denigration of the spirit of the cat."