Our Goals in breeding!

When we first started Fluffyrags, Mink and Sepia Ragdolls were always at the heart of what we wanted to do. In fact, they were the reason we started breeding in the first place.

At the time, there were very few breeders in Australia really focusing on developing these lines or pushing for greater recognition within the cat fancy. We didn't want to simply breed Mink and Sepia kittens. We wanted to understand them, improve them, protect their pedigrees and genetics, show them and hopefully play a small part in seeing them gain the recognition we believed they deserved.

As the years passed, the more we learnt, the more our passion and vision grew.

We began looking beyond Australia and learning from breeders around the world. We saw qualities in international lines that we wanted to bring into our own program — beautiful type, strong bone structure, incredible coats, beautiful eye colours and, most importantly, greater genetic diversity.

That is where our journey with importing really began.

Importing a cat into Australia is a huge commitment. It takes a minimum of 7–8 months, comes with significant expense and requires an enormous amount of trust in the breeders we work with overseas. But for us, it has never been about simply owning an imported cat or being able to add another country to a pedigree. Every import has a purpose.

Over the years, we have carefully built our breeding program through a combination of our own direct imports and international lines acquired through other established breeders. Our pedigrees now bring together genetics originating from New Zealand, Poland, Germany, China, the Netherlands, the United States and Canada. Some of those lines have come from cats we have personally imported, while others have come through carefully selected cats whose pedigrees carry those international lines.

For us, it isn't about where the cat was born or how many countries appear on a pedigree. It is about what that cat and its genetics can contribute to the generations that follow. Our hope has always been to strengthen the genetic diversity available here in Australia while continuing to develop the beautiful type that first inspired us. We want every generation to build upon the one before it. We aren't chasing perfection — we are simply trying to make thoughtful decisions that move our program forward while protecting health, temperament and the qualities that make these cats so special.

Seeing how much interest there is in Mink and Sepia today is something we never imagined when we first began. But with that growing popularity, we also believe there comes a responsibility to protect what a Cherubim actually is. To us, these cats are so much more than a colour or something different to produce. There are generations of pedigrees, genetics, careful selection and history behind them, and we hope that isn't lost as they become more popular.

Seeing the Cherubim gain greater understanding and recognition in Australia would mean so much to us. Not because we want another title in front of a cat's name, but because we would love to see more Cherubims on the show bench, more people learning about them, more breeders sharing knowledge and working together, and more appreciation for the years of work that go into developing these lines responsibly.

The cat fancy has given us friendships, knowledge, experiences and memories that we never imagined when we first started. We have learnt so much along the way, and we know there will always be more to learn.

After all these years, our goals continue to evolve, but the heart of Fluffyrags has never really changed. To keep learning. To protect genetic diversity. To improve with every generation. To share what we learn. To continue advocating for the Cherubim and greater recognition of these beautiful cats. And hopefully, in our own small way, to leave the breed and the Australian cat fancy a little stronger than when we found it. This isn't something that happens overnight. It takes years, generations, patience, heartbreak, difficult decisions and an incredible amount of love. Fluffyrags has never simply been about breeding kittens. This started with a genuine love for Mink and Sepia, and all these years later, that is still what drives us.