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Years ago when I was first starting out, I didn't like the reds at all. I would tell anyone that wanted to listen that I would wait a long time before introducing reds into my breeding program. Well, that wasn't to be. I was contacted by another breeder that was having to sell all of her cats and she wanted me to have her creams and torties. That's how I got my Fiesta (cream lynx girl with the navy blue eyes), her mom, Bandera, a seal torbie (a tortie with lynx striping) and Safari (blue cream with the split-color face). Man, was I ever wrong about the reds. They are wonderful... absolutely awesome. They make wonderful mothers/fathers... they have very sweet babies... and they are so beautiful.
The red gene is a sex linked gene. If we breed a typical seal girl to a red boy, the sire only carries one red gene. Therefore, we will get all seal boys (no reds) but all the girls will be seal torties (seal with red).
It takes only one red gene to make red boys but it takes two red genes (one from the sire and one from the dam) to make red girls.
If we breed a tortie girl to a seal boy, we can get almost any color imaginable in boys (seal, red, blue or cream) and the girls will be either tortie or can be seal or blue. In order for the blue or cream to come in there, the parents must be carrying the dilute gene (along with the red gene). Blue is a dilute of seal and cream is the dilute of red.
If we breed a tortie girl to a red boy, we can get seal, red, blue or cream boys; and red, cream, tortie (both blue and seal) and also blue and seal girls. This is my favorite mating combination.
In order to get red or cream girls, both the sire and dam must have the red gene. Three years ago, we bred our Fiesta, a cream lynx, to Sundance, a red boy. All kittens, both boys and girls, were either red or cream. They got the red gene from both parents.
Here is my opinion of the red gene in cats: they are absolutely the sweetest, most gentle of cats. They are laid back, they love everybody and everything, especially dogs. Awesome! If you ever want the sweetest Ragdoll possible, then a red or cream just may be your answer.
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Two photos of Meriwidoz Red Robin, a solid red mitted girl with a blaze
Revel (Meriwidoz Red River Revel) is a cream lynx point mitted boy with a blaze.
He is the son of Fiesta (Zunidolls Fiesta of Meriwidoz) and Lawson (Confettidolz Lawson).
From left:
Meriwidoz Santa Fe - a solid calico bicolor girl
Meriwidoz Liam O'Bannon - a red bicolor boy
Meriwidoz Barrettes - a seal calico point van girl
Up front is Meriwidoz Lexus, a blue cream lynx point mitted girl.
At the back is Meriwidoz Sedona, a solid calico bicolor girl
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