Ragdoll Colorpoint Change: Charlie
Originally published Jan 14, 2012
Did you know that a Ragdoll’s color changes depending on temperature? The depth of their color will depend on their internal temperature, the outside temperature, what they eat, their genetics and more.
For example, my 11-year old Ragdoll cat Charlie was much darker when he was on a dry food diet because his blood circulation to his points wasn’t as good. Now he is much lighter because he’s on a mostly wet food diet.
You may remember last year a blog post that went up about a Ragdoll kitty in Hong Kong that had lost his fur and who had lost a lot of his coloring.
Well, my Charlie man has lost some of his color, so I wanted to inquire as to why. I reached out to Dr. Jean Hofve, DVM and said,”I wanted to know if you knew why my cat Charlie’s coat has changed so drastically in color. Please see photos. He was weaned from dry food more than a year ago. The photos are labeled according to what he was eating.”
Dr. Hofve told me that, in Ragdoll cats, “Their coats change color depending on skin temperature. That’s why they have dark “points” where there the skin is coolest; there is not much insulating tissue. E.g., ears are thin, tail and legs don’t have much between skin and bone… Fat is a good insulator for the internal organs, but doesn’t have a great blood supply itself…when he lost all that fat, the skin actually got warmer because the tissue immediately underneath has a more robust blood supply…therefore lighter color. The darkest Siamese cat I ever saw came from Alaska and was hugely obese. He did lighten up some when he moved to Colorado, but he was still very dark.”
You can learn more about cat health by reading Dr. Jean’s book, The Complete Guide to Holistic Cat Care: An Illustrated Handbook.
Have you seen a color change in your Ragdoll cat?
