Ragdolls come in all the pointed colors that you see in other pointed breeds such as Siamese and Himalayans.  Foss Mountain Farm breeds the traditional colors of blue and seal. The 'traditional' Ragdoll colors are blue, seal, chocolate and lilac. Foss Mountain Ragdolls also breeds for the 'new' lynx patterning, using our lynxpoint female Melody.  We also breed for the three traditional patterns of bi-color, mitted and colorpoint.  Since colors and patterns can be confusing to the newcomer to Ragdolls, we define the traditional ones here in as basic terms as possible!

Points
A pointed cat has darker color on it’s legs, face, ears and tails, than it has on the rest of its body.  This is due to a temperature-sensitive gene which causes darker color to appear on the coolest parts of the body.  Thus the extremeties show darker color.  Because kittens are warm in the womb before birth, all pointed kittens are born white and their color appears on the extremeties gradually.

Colors
Blue is a term used in the cat fancy to describe a gray color.  “Blue” Ragdolls have dark gray points and a lighter gray body.  Moonshadow and Blue Moon are both ‘blue’.

Seal is the term used for pointed cats that have a dark rich brown color, like a seal, on their faces, ears, legs and tail.  Seal ragdolls have a lighter brown color on their bodies, which darkens with age.  Beau Jangles, Breezy, Beyonce and Jimmy Mack are examples of  ‘seal’ Ragdolls living here at Foss Mountain Ragdolls.

Lilac is the term used for a pointed cat that has very light gray/mauve points and a frosty cream coat-color.  In fact, the term ‘frost’ is sometimes used in place of ‘lilac’.  Lilac as a color is quite rare as it takes a double-dilute gene to produce.  The pinkish-mauve tone to the points is usually a sign, as well as the coat staying a frosty-cream as the cat ages. 

Chocolate is the term used for a pointed cat with warm coffee colored points and a creamy body.  They are lighter brown than seal colored cats, especially in the body-color.  As with the lilac color, chocolate is hard to distinguish at first and is even rarer than lilac.

pATTERNS
The three patterns that Ragdolls come in all have to do with the amount of white that overlays the points.

Bi-color Ragdolls have the most white laying over the point colors.  They have an inverted white V on their faces, with white legs, ruff, and tummy.  Some bi-colors have white on the main body.  Because the white overlays the point-color on the legs, bi-color Ragdolls only show their point-color on their ears, upper face and tail.  Beau Jangles, Breezy and Rusty are  bi-color Ragdolls.  Note that the inverted V on Breezy's face is wider than the one on Beau’s or Rusty's.  But all are in the shape of an inverted V and come to nice points at the top.  When you combine the color of the cat and the pattern, you come up with ‘seal bi-color’ for Beau and Breezy, and ‘blue bi-color’ for Rusty.

Mitted Ragdolls have less white laying over their point-colors.  They have two white mittens on their front legs and two white boots on their hind legs.  Their ruff is white and runs down from their chest to their tummy.  The white also runs up from their chest to their chins.  A white chin is a must in the show-hall for a mitted Ragdoll.  Mitted Ragdolls sometimes have a white blaze on their nose, which is accepted for show and is really cute.  Because they have less white covering the point color, mitted Ragdolls will have darker point-colors above the white on their legs and have dark point-color on their faces.  Blue Moon and Moonshadow are mitted Ragdolls.  Blue has the blaze and Moonshadow does not.  Both are blue in color.

Colorpoint Ragdolls have no white at all.  Their faces, ears, legs and tails are darker than the rest of their bodies.  Their legs and feet look like they are wearing velvet stockings.  Jimmy Mack is a Colorpoint Ragdoll.  Combine his color with his pattern and you get the term 'seal colorpoint' Ragdoll.  As you see more and more Ragdolls, you’ll quickly learn what color and pattern they each are.  And then you will have a favorite that you must own.  Then your favorite color/pattern will change and you will have to have another Ragdoll of that variety!

A note about LYNXPOINTS

The Lynxpoint Ragdoll is not really another color or pattern, but is an addition to the pattern.  'Lynxpoint' refers to tabby striping that overlays the point color on Ragdolls and other pointed breeds like Himalayans.  Our Melody is a lynxpoint Ragdoll.  She is a seal colorpoint, but has stripes on her face, tail and legs.  Note the typical tabby 'M' striping on the face, and barring on the legs.

It is very true that Ragdolls are like potato chips. 
You can’t have just one!