Anyone who follows the British cat world will have noticed it: over the last twenty years the Ragdoll has gone from a niche breed to a familiar presence in UK homes. It is not just an impression. It is told by a scientific paper published in 2025 by the VetCompass group at the Royal Veterinary College, which analysed the clinical records of over a million cats seen by British first-opinion vets in 2019. It is a valuable vantage point, because it looks not at social media trends but at the animals that actually walk into the surgery.
What the numbers say
According to the study by Dan O’Neill and colleagues, in 2019 Ragdolls accounted for 1.70% of all cats under care at the vets in the sample. The more interesting figure, though, is another: the share of Ragdolls among the cats born each year rose from 0.70% of those born in 2005 to 3.72% of those born in 2019. In fifteen years, then, the breed’s presence among new cats grew by more than five times.
It is worth being precise, because simplified versions circulate online. This is not a doubling in five years, but a longer and more marked growth, measured on birth cohorts. And 1.70% remains a small share in absolute terms: the great majority of British cats do not belong to any breed.
The pedigree registries also confirm the trend. The GCCF, the main cat association in the United Kingdom, publishes every year the number of cats registered by breed: in 2024 the Ragdoll was the second most registered breed, after the British Shorthair and ahead of the Maine Coon. In the United States the CFA, the largest American cat association, named it the most popular breed for 2024, before seeing it overtaken by the Maine Coon in the following ranking. Rankings shift, but they tell of a steady presence at the top.
Why people love it
Statistics say how much, not why. Here we can add something from our experience of breeding, with the caution of those who observe eighteen cats and not a national sample.
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– The character. The Ragdoll is a gentle, patient cat, not inclined to sharp reactions. Many cats follow people from room to room and love to be near whoever is at home, without being intrusive.
– Tolerance of contact. The very name, "rag doll", comes from the tendency of many Ragdolls to relax when picked up. It is not an absolute rule, and should never be taken for granted, but it is a trait that anyone who knows the breed recognises at once.
– Life indoors. It is not a cat that needs large territories to explore. It adapts well to an apartment, provided it has chances to play, high places to watch from and company.
– The looks. The blue eyes, the soft semi-long coat, the patches of colour on the extremities: hard to remain indifferent.
In the United Kingdom, where a growing share of families live in cities and keep their cat indoors, this profile fits well with the way people live, and perhaps answers a need for a living presence in lives that are increasingly digital. It is a reasonable reading, but it is ours: the study does not investigate the motivations of those who choose the breed.
The flip side of popularity
Every breed that becomes popular runs a risk: that demand grows faster than the culture of how to breed and care for it. The same VetCompass study exists precisely for this reason, to offer those who live with a Ragdoll information based on real data on health and the most frequent conditions.
For us the lesson is simple. Popularity is not a value in itself. What counts is the careful selection of breeding cats, documented health, the time devoted to socialising the kittens. And it matters that anyone who wants a Ragdoll knows what it means to live with one: a long-lived cat that needs company, coat care and a trusted vet.
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A view from Italy
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In Italy we do not have a veterinary source comparable to VetCompass, so we cannot say with data in hand whether the British trend is repeated here. What we observe is a growing interest, often made up of very concrete questions: what is the character really like, how much does it shed, how does it behave with children. They are the right questions, and we try to answer them here.
To explore further
If the Ragdoll intrigues you, the starting point is our information guide Living with a Ragdoll. And if you want to get to know the breed better through our daily experience, write to us: we are always glad to talk about it.
Sources
– O’Neill D.G., Bass O., Brodbelt D.C., Church D.B., Engdahl K.S. (2025), Demography, common disorders, cause-specific mortality and life expectancy of Ragdoll cats under primary veterinary care during 2019 in the UK — PMC12587670
– GCCF, Registered cats by breed 2023-2024 — gccfcats.org
– CFA, Most Popular Breeds — cfa.org
Photo: iStock.com/peredniankina
