Ragdoll Grooming

About the Ragdoll

A Ragdoll carries a long, soft, silky coat with a full ruff and a plumed tail, and it is considerably easier to look after than its appearance suggests. The reason is undercoat, or rather the near absence of it: most matting in a long coated cat happens in the dense undercoat, and a Ragdoll has very little. The coat lies flat, it does not fluff, and it is far more forgiving than a Persian's.

Forgiving is not the same as maintenance free. It still mats, in the same hidden places every long coated cat does, and a Ragdoll that has been left for a few months is still a job.

The breed also has a specific trap that comes from its temperament rather than its coat, and it is worth understanding before it catches you.

What a full groom involves

Slower and quieter than a dog appointment, and most Ragdolls make it straightforward.

A full comb through, dry, working in sections. As with any long coated cat this stage is diagnostic: the coat over the back and sides is almost always fine and the trouble is underneath, so a groomer works the armpits, the belly, the ruff under the chin, the trousers and behind the ears before deciding what the appointment actually is.

Anything felted is clipped out flat against the skin, never cut with scissors.

Then a bath if needed, with a thorough rinse and a full dry with a comb working through, because a long coat left damp mats as it dries. Many Ragdolls tolerate this better than most cats.

Then the detail work: nails, ears, the sanitary area trimmed short, and the hair between the pads cleared.

Around ninety minutes, and less than a Persian because the coat is much less prone to felting.

Where it mats, and why the trousers go first

The pattern is the same as any long coated cat: the armpits, the inside of the back legs, the belly, the ruff under the chin, behind the ears and the base of the tail. All of them are out of sight when the cat is standing and all of them are places a cat struggles to reach.

On a Ragdoll specifically, the trousers and the ruff are the usual first offenders. The trousers because the hair there is long, fine and rubs constantly, and the ruff because it is the densest part of the coat and sits right under the chin where the cat cannot see it.

Check by running a comb through those six places weekly rather than by looking at the cat. If the comb will not pass from the skin outward, a mat is forming.

Because there is so little undercoat, mats on a Ragdoll are often single and localized rather than a spreading felted sheet, which means catching them early genuinely resolves them. That is the practical advantage over a Persian and it is worth using.

Why Ragdolls mat more than their coat suggests

Ragdolls are famous for going limp when picked up, which is where the name comes from, and for tolerating handling that other cats would object to strongly. It is genuine and it is one of the best things about the breed.

It is also why Ragdolls turn up matted more often than their coat type predicts, and the mechanism is worth spelling out. A cat that objects to a mat being touched tells its owner something is wrong. A Ragdoll frequently does not. It will sit through discomfort, tolerate a tightening mat without complaint, and give no behavioral signal at all until the situation is well advanced.

So with this breed you cannot rely on the cat to tell you. The weekly comb through the six places is the only warning system, and it matters more here than on a cat that would have complained a month earlier.

The same tolerance is why a Ragdoll will let an inexperienced owner do real damage with scissors without moving. Never cut a mat out of a cat with scissors, whatever the cat allows you to do: the skin lifts into a fold underneath and sits exactly where the blade goes.

What moves the price

Coat condition, overwhelmingly, as with every long coated cat. A maintained Ragdoll is a comb, a bath and a tidy. One that has been left is a dematting job or a partial clip.

Size, more than with most cats. Ragdolls are big, and a twenty pound one is a substantial animal to bathe, dry and hold.

Temperament works in your favor here more than with any other cat on the site, and a groomer will price a placid Ragdoll accordingly.

Then availability, which is the constraint for all cat grooming: fewer salons take cats, and scarcity shows.

What to tell your groomer

Say honestly when the cat was last combed to the skin and whether you have found mats, because the placid temperament means the cat will not have told either of you.

Say the weight if the cat is at the larger end.

Ask whether they work without sedation and what they do when a cat has had enough. Most Ragdolls never reach that point, but the answer still tells you about the groomer.

Ask for the sanitary area and the paw pads to be kept short, which prevents most of the routine problems on a long coated cat.

And ask them to show you where the mats were. On this breed, knowing which two or three places your particular cat goes first turns the weekly check into thirty seconds.

Keeping the coat between grooms

Common Questions About the Ragdoll