Cat Breeds Franklin Gets Mistaken For

When most people see Franklin, whether it be in person or in pictures, they immediately see his seal point coloring and ask if he is a siamese cat. John and I will explain that Franklin is actually a Ragdoll, and we are met with confused stares. Most people have not heard of this breed (unless they're a Swiftie, then they know the breed- looking at you, Benjamin Button).

John was doing a little research a few weeks ago and came across the breed Birman, which also looks a lot like Franklin. This made me want to research the difference between all of these similar-looking breeds so that I had a better understanding of the differences, as well as have a quick, factual response when describing the difference between Franklin, a Ragdoll, and whatever cat breed he has been mistaken for.

Siamese

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Image Credit: Miranda Morrissey

The main breed Franklin gets mistaken for is Siamese, which if you were a Disney kid like me, you know most famously from the movie Lady and the Tramp. If you think back to that movie, you'd remember that those cats looked quite skinny and had very short hair. It's the same as the image above. While the seal point Ragdolls like Franklin have almost the exact same coloring as Siamese cats, that's pretty much where the similarities between Ragdolls and Siamese cats ends. According to Catster, Ragdolls tend to be bigger, weigh more, and have extremely fluffy coats. Their personalities are also quite different, with Ragdolls being more laid back in comparison to Siamese cats.

Birman, Angora, & Persian

I made a very interesting discovery while researching Birman, the cat breed that John found as being very similar-looking to Franklin. Turns out, the breed of Ragdoll was created back in the 1960s from a mix of three cat breeds: Birman, Angora, and Persian.

Photo Credits:

Top Left: Birman @hillywood_dolls

Top Right: Ragdoll @SkylerTheRagdoll

Bottom Left: Angora @cat_hyiori_

Bottom Right: Persian @gabriel_persian_floof

Can you spot the similarities between these four breeds?

As mentioned in my blog post What is a "Ragdoll" and How Does Franklin Fit the Bill? there are six versions of the breed based on coloration. Franklin is a seal point, which means that he has dark brown ears, face, tail, and legs/paws. This is similar to the Birman pictured above, with the main difference being in the coloring of the paws and chin. According to The Little Carnivore, all Birman cats have white mittens and white chins. Some color variants of Ragdolls can have mittens, but if they are seal points like Franklin, they will not have a white chin or white paws as seal point Ragdolls do not have any white spots.

The Angora breed pictured above has striking blue eyes, just like Franklin and most Ragdolls, and Persian cats are extremely fluffy- just look at all the fluff pictured above!

So what do you get when you mix the seal point coloring of a Birman, the blue eyes of an Angora, and the fluffiness of a Persian?

"Mew meow meeeewww!!!" -Franklin (You get meeeee!!!)

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