RagaMuffin History

RagaMuffin History
The Original IRCA Cherubim Cats

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RagaMuffins officially became a new breed in 1994 with our acceptance into ACFA (American Cat Fanciers Association) as an Exhibition Breed and developed by our Founding Breeders:

Curt Gehm (deceased) - Liebling Cats
Janet Klarmann (deceased) - Encore Cats
Kim Clark (retired) - Ultimate Rags

Other significant contributing breeders, now retired, include: Judi Morrison deceased (Rivendell Rags), Pat Flynn (Behrfoot Rags), Pastor Melinda Villareall (God’s Lil’ Gift)

Prior to becoming RagaMuffins in ACFA, the cats were collectively known as IRCA Cherubim Cats and registered in Ann Baker’s IRCA registry, the International Ragdoll Cat Association.

Ann’s breeding efforts began in the early 1960’s and was officially established in 1971 with the formation of IRCA and her first line of cats were developed, the IRCA Ragdolls which were selected to be only color pointed cats.

Over the next 23 years she would continue to develop other new breeding lines using other breeds and increasing genetic diversity; These lines were inclusive of all colors and patterns. All of the breeding lines developed through those years were collectively named as her Cherubim Cats and registered in IRCA per their developmental lines - all these lines together are our original founding breeding lines.

Breed Development Timeline

RagaMuffin Development Timeline

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NOTE: Our ‘cousin’ breed known today as the Ragdoll is a very early offshoot of ONE (1) line of Cherubim Cats -> the IRCA Ragdolls only.

Four (4) years after the establishment of IRCA, in 1975 a small group of breeders decided to leave and take their color pointed IRCA Ragdolls to develop a Cat Fancy Ragdoll breed to be Recognized by more established, mainstream registries such as TICA, FIFe, CFA, etc. They developed a new Standard of Perfection under these registry rules using only some, but not all of the color pointed early development IRCA Ragdoll lines and none of the other Cherubim lines which were not developed yet. Thus began our ‘cousin’ breed known as just Ragdolls today.

The intervening 19 years of different, separated breeding cats and breeding selection for different traits between Cat Fancy Ragdolls and IRCA’s Cherubims resulted in two distinctively different physical types of cats by the time RagaMuffins entered the Cat Fancy’s mainstream registries in 1993.

RagaMuffin Foundation Cats

included only Cherubim lines previously registered in IRCA as:

Miracle Ragdolls	Solid, Tabby, mink, Sepia	"a highly upgraded Ragdoll”
Honey Bears	All Colors	IRCA verison/style of Older Type Persian
Maxamillions	Silver and Silver Tabbies
IRCA Ragdolls	Color Pointed only	NOT the early offshoot Cat Fancy Ragdolls
Note: Ann continued to develop more lines for a short time until her death in 1997 after RagaMuffins were established as a separate breed. These fledgling new lines were not used in the development of our RagaMuffins: Ragdoll Tu, Catenoids, Ragdoll Hobby Type, Baby Dolls, Angels, Shu Schoo, Symoneese/Symonees, Manxees, Fuzz

Our Founders were all actively breeding across the spectrum of Cherubim Cat lines in IRCA until 1992 when, due to Ann’s declining health and stability, they decided to leave IRCA and seek recognition as a breed within the formal Cat Fancy organizations.

Their contracts with Ann stipulated that should the breeders continue to breed IRCA cats outside of her registry, the name ‘Ragdoll’ could not be used to describe the cats produced. The name Cherubim had also been trademarked by Ann by this time. So despite the fact RagaMuffins were in fact the original Cherubim Cats and it would have logically made sense to retain Cherubim as our breed name, the need to ‘re-brand’ arose to remain ethically adherent to their contracts.

Curt Gehm penned the name RagaMuffin for the new breed for the first time on the ACFA application for Breed Acceptance, paying homage to the originator Ann Baker. As Curt put it, “because it made sense to say “(Ann) Baker’s” made Muffins.” The name had been intended as a temporary placeholder to later be changed. However, with the original cat Josephine having been a domestic longhair Angora-type cat that had almost literally taken off the street, the lovable street-urchin image conjuring name RagaMuffin seemed to fit and has stuck ever since then.

Later the same year that ACFA Accepted the RagaMuffin as a breed, UFO followed suit and thus began the march into the other mainstream registries such as with the tireless efforts of the Founding Breeders and several early new Breeders in showing RagaMuffins to gain recognition; Notably Lisa Rowe (Heavenly Muffins), Pat Messner (Scallywag Rags), Sonia Rolston (Big Bear Cats), Becky von Stetten (Cityname), Karen Hoffman (Ultimate Rags partner).

Registry		Accepted Breed	Championship Breed
ACFA	American Cat Fancier’s Association	1994	2001
UFO	United Feline Organization	1994	Registry Dissolved
ICE	International Cat Exhibitors (offshoot of UFO)	1994	Registry Dissolved
WCF	World Cat Federation		2008
CFA	Cat Fancier’s Association	2003	2011
CCA	CCA-AFC Canadian Cat Association		2014
GCCF	Governing Council of the Cat Fancy	2009	2015
CCC	Chats Canada Cats		2015
TICA*	The International Cat Association	*BREED NOT RECOGNIZED

The Board Room Kittens

These kittens were integral in our advancement from Accepted breed to Recognized Championship breed in ACFA. Presented to the ACFA Board of Directors at the Annual Board Meeting in 2000, these kittens made the 3,000+ mile trip like troopers and represented RagaMuffin kittens. They exemplified both Muffin conformation and disposition beautifully.

Standard of Perfection

The original Standard of Perfection for the RagaMuffin was written for ACFA and UFO based on CH Encore Cat's Robin Goodfellow, aka Puck, a Seal Point and White male who later went on to become a Grand Champion in ACFA after Breed Acceptance and earned many other top titles in other registries.

RagaMuffins are continuing to grow in public recognition and in demand across the world. However, they are still considered a Rare Breed; Less than 500 RagaMuffin kittens are born and registered every year. This is the driving reason that RagaMuffin Breeders often have a waiting list and kittens are usually reserved before being born.

Today, our RagaMuffins continue the legacy of our Founders in preserving the original Cherubim focus on personality, sweet appearance, and genetically diverse and sound health. Breeders and Exhibitors across the globe from the U.S.A. to Canada, the U.K., Italy, Austria, and Korea faithfully work to keep the this legacy growing - and will continue to do so tirelessly for the love of our RagaMuffins.

Pizzicato Pizzazz of Encore
Sire: Mister Mitts
Dam: Darling Maude

"Here is everybody's grandaddy!" - J. Klarmann. Zazzie, as he was affectionately called, was Janet Klarmann of Encore Cat's first Stud Muffin. He has become an important Foundational cornerstone of the RagaMuffin breed and is at original Foundation level in many of the pedigrees today.

Encore's Ted E Bear of Ultimate Rags
Sire: Mister Mitts
Dam: Darling Maude

IRCA Honey Bear; RagaMuffin Foundation Sire

Missie Mittens of Encore
Sire: Diamond Stud
Dam: Joanie
Mittens, a blue mitted female, is one of our Matriarchs weighing in at 17 pounds. She has mothered some of the most beautiful RagaMuffins and with several of her sons growing to be 30 pounds.

All that Jazz of Encore

All That Jazz of Encore
Sire: Mister Mitts
Dam: Darling Maude

Blue and White Male
Platinum Grand Champion, UFO
Diamond Grand Champion, ICE
Second Best Kitten 1997-98, ICE
12 Best Cat, SE Region, 1997-98, UFO

Liebling Cats Pennyanydots
Sire: My Edward Duke of Windsor
Dam: Wallis W. Simpson of Liebling Cats

Foundation Queen at Liebling Cats

See more historic RagaMuffins on our website album

Historic Photo Archive of RagaMuffin Cats

(Photos added continuously, as time permits)

Special thanks to Kim Clark of Ultimate Rags (retired) and Lisa Rowe of Heavenly Muffins for all their work with the RagaMuffins and for providing the details and insights into our History written here over the course of several conversations, emails, and texts messages. Citation for information without hyperlink provided are via direct verbal interviews and electronic communications with these and other RagaMuffin breeders that apprenticed under one of the Founders or had actively worked directly with them during the development of RagaMuffins. Specific contributing attributions available upon written request to [email protected].

Although now Over the Rainbow Bridge, another special thanks to Curt Gehm of Liebling Cats and Janet Klarmann of Encore Cats for all of the written communications they left behind in emails, forums, groups, and group listservers that allowed me to pull together their accumulated knowledge and experiences of how our RagaMuffins came to be.

Photo Credits: Historic photos provided by KimClark, Ultimate Rags, retired Founder; posthumously Encore Cats, Janet Klarmann, Founder; posthumously Liebling Cats, Curt Gehm, Founder.