Ragmeister Ragdolls

I received only a positive experience with Gary. Before buying a kitten, I had a lovely and informative conversation with Gary. Since I never had a ragdoll kitten before, had to call and e-​mail millions of times. And always received an extended answers from the owner. No things to complain at all. Day before we were supposed to collect our baby girl, we received a call from Gary with more tips to be 100% ready for our kitten to come to her new place.
Even now, once kitten is at our home, in case of any questions, Gary is always for us!
Personally, I would highly recommend this Breeder!
Thank you Gary!

While we love our cat, we are not pleased with the level of service we are receiving when it comes to getting our registration papers. Our cat is now 9 months old and we still have not received them even after submitting his neuter paperwork months ago as promised. I was told the litter was not registered three months ago, after two emails, and that he would work on it that day. That was three months ago. After two more emails to him over the past month, I am still yet to receive a return email, call or the papers. The International Cat Association has informed me it only takes 5 – 7 days for a breeder to receive the papers once submitted.
Update: I have since received the papers after posting this…

Excuse me, but I believe repeatedly contacting a business and receiving no response is appropriate grounds for a valid review on my part! I believe, and I think most would agree that if you can’t even respond to a prospective client’s inquiries, you’re even less likely to be responsive to an unsatisfied customer! Cases in point: According to other reviewers, a lack of responsiveness is a common problem with you, especially when they have a sick or dead cat on their hands that they paid hundreds for!!! So why is my review any less important than anyone Else’s?
You’re really something! Discounting and criticizing every person’s review that questions your business ethics and making no effort to right the situation in any way.
Let me save you some time… Here is your response:
We have no record of a Nicole EVER contacting us. I have no idea where these ridiculous and obviously fabricated negative reviews come from. Please do click on this link to see the reviews that don’t point out the issues with our business.
Ridiculous!

I bought my kitten from Ragmeister Ragdolls in May of 2012. The entire experience was amazing. I was able to meet my kitten before putting down a deposit to make sure she was the one. I even got to meet her beautiful mother. She is very healthy lively and has a great personality. I am so glad to have found such a wonderful kitten. I was also given her shot record and papers when I picked her up. I love my Ragdoll. :D

I wrote a lengthy review recounting my negative experience and this breeder threatened to sue me for slander if I didn’t take it down. Fighting with him is not worth my time and/​or energy so I have removed my previous review and replaced it with this. I think that tells you more about what kind of person this is than I ever could in a review.

Contrary to the owner’s comment, I am not trying to «damage» his reputation. Unilocal is a forum for consumers to write honest reviews– both good and bad. The best way to learn about someone in an industry like breeding is to speak with peers. Not one breeder that I emailed tried to sell me one of their kittens or convince me that they were better. Some responses were simply that they had never heard of him or hadn’t heard anything negative OR positive about him. However, a few breeders did comment that they worked with numerous parties who had received sick kittens from Ragmeister.
As far as never receiving anything in writing, I was referring to him answering my questions in writing. He rarely answered any questions via email, only over the phone. Additionally, as I’m looking through my emails with him right now, I recalled that he was going to send the kitten home with me at 8 – 9 weeks, which is FAR too young. I was also responsible for neutering the kitten myself.
I emailed him a list of 11 questions that I wanted answers to. Questions about the type of vaccines and testing they would receive, deworming, proof of purebred parents, conditions the cats are raised in, references, etc. His was response was simply, «I will answer all your questions later when I have time». When he did respond, he provided very general answers to all my specific questions. For example, when I asked which vaccines the kitten would receive, he said I would get a shot record indicating what the kitten had. He said he didn’t have any photos of the parents (how is that even possible??) and I would receive registration papers 5 – 7 months after I’ve supplied him with proof that he has been fixed. He said the kitten won’t be dewormed because «we don’t have worms».
Overall, he appeared very shady and confrontational, which is the reason for my 1 star review.

Hmm, I find it VERY interesting that after 2 bad reviews he gets three 5 star reviews and one 4 star reviews all on the same day!!! That right there is a BIG clue as to what kind of guy you’ll be working with…
Anyway, here’s my experience. When I first learned about Ragdolls a few years ago, I was very excited to add get one for our family. I looked at a lot of breeders and realized how expensive they were. So, when I found Gary’s website, I was excited that he was giving away a retired breeder (Warning sign #1!!) I drove all the way from Phoenix, AZ to pick up this cat. She was fine on the ride home and the first night. The next day she started acting weird, hiding under the bed and had blood coming out her backside. I contacted Gary (no response-​warning #2), as well as two other breeders that I had initially contacted to find out more about the breed. Anyway, both said that she was probably hemorrhaging and would need an emergency spay (he did not spay her before releasing her to me-​warning #3-​NO reputable breeder does that). So, I take her in and sure enough, her uterus is about to rupture and she’s got an infection. We get that surgery all taken care of and I contact Gary (via phone and email) to please forward me her papers, as he said he would send me her papers after I showed proof of her surgery. He never responded. I called and emailed him for a month with no reply (warning #4, a reputable breeder will always care for the welfare of the Ragdolls they breed and will always be willing to answer questions for you.) AFter she was healed from her surgery, she began pooping and peeing all over my child’s bed. Once again, calls to Gary went unanswered, so I had to contact another Ragdoll breeder to see if she had any ideas. Also, another warning sign was, that after seeing more photos of Ragdolls, getting a second Ragdoll from a REPUTABLE breeder and doing more research, the cat we got for ‘free’ was SO not even show quality, she should have never been bred in the first place (legs and body too long, mitten coloring improper, not large enough, etc etc). Finally, my 6^th and final warning sign is that this guy doesn’t even show his cats, if he does, its very irregular (I know, I go to shows, and talk to breeders who do…)
As you can see, I had a very bad experience and would not recommend this breeder to ANYONE!!! There are SOOOOO many amazing breeders in California, who love the breed, are passionate about the breed and genuinely care about each and every Ragdoll they place. Unfortunately, Gary is not one of them.
And finally a note to Gary, you may have written a book in the 90’s, but that does NOT make you a good breeder. You should get out of the business now (which I believe this is to you, a business, rather than a passion to improve the breed).