Adopting a Ragdoll cat in Birmingham: rescues, rules and costs

The count under the short answer is live: it shows every Ragdoll and Ragdoll cross listed with us in Birmingham and within about 25 miles, and each profile links to the rescue. Most of Birmingham's cat rescues are small volunteer groups with cats in foster homes, and pedigree Ragdolls rarely reach them, so a count of none is often the honest picture. Pedigree cats more often move through breed channels: the GCCF, which registers pedigree cats in the UK, says every affiliated club has an officer for welfare matters who keeps lists of older or rescued cats needing homes.

Life changes for the owner, far more than anything about the cat. The British Ragdoll Cat Club has rehomed more than 60 cats a year in recent years, and puts it down to owners' changed circumstances or to serious health and welfare problems. Its rehoming page adds a second pattern: many cats arrive from homes with children or other pets they could not cope with, which explains how many of its listings ask for an adult-only home.

Ask each route for its fee, because neither prints one. Strawberry is clear about what you get: its homepage lists neutering, vaccination, a microchip and flea and worm treatment for every cat, plus 5 weeks' insurance at no charge, and its adoption page makes keeping lifetime insurance a condition of adoption.

A registered pedigree kitten costs anything from £200 to well over £1,000, depending on the breed (Cats Protection), so check which vet work the breeder has already done. After that the bills match: PDSA says at least £79 a month.

The GCCF says Ragdolls can carry a gene for a heart disease called HCM (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy), which can lead to heart failure at an early age. A DNA test has existed since 2007, and since 24 February 2016 every Ragdoll registered for breeding with the GCCF must be tested for the one known Ragdoll HCM gene. With a rescue cat you seldom know the parents, so you won't usually have their results.

• No symptoms is not proof of a healthy heart. International Cat Care names Ragdolls among the breeds at higher HCM risk and says early disease often shows nothing, though a vet listening to the chest may hear a murmur.
• Know the limits of the rescue's checks. Strawberry Persian and Pedigree Cat Rescue has each cat seen by a vet at vaccination, but does not DNA test, scan or X-ray every cat. Ask what has been found for the cat you are interested in.
• Kidneys and grooming. PDSA adds polycystic kidney disease (cysts that slowly stop the kidneys working) to HCM on its Ragdoll list, and wants the long coat brushed weekly or more, with care in the armpits and round the neck where knots form.

Plan for an indoor cat, whether you live in a flat or a terraced house with a garden. Free roaming is not advised by The British Ragdoll Cat Club: Ragdolls are laid-back enough to miss danger, and it treats them, like most pedigrees, as indoor cats. Its listings state the outdoor space a cat needs, a catio or a secure garden for example. Strawberry Persian and Pedigree Cat Rescue places indoor-only cats; a flat is fine if windows stay shut and any balcony is fully cat-proofed or out of bounds.

Budget for size too: the GCCF counts the Ragdoll among the biggest breeds, and it may not be fully grown until four.

Nobody sells a rescue Ragdoll. You apply for one cat, the rescue or club picks the home that suits it, and an adoption fee changes hands, not a price. The cats come from owners who can no longer keep them, so they are mostly adults, and Strawberry Persian and Pedigree Cat Rescue runs no waiting list for kittens of any breed. To see what is available near the city right now, use our Birmingham Ragdoll page.

Buying instead? Cats Protection points you to a breeder registered with a breed body such as the GCCF, and to meeting the kitten with its mother in the breeder's home, never on the strength of a video or a social media post. Ask for both parents' HCM results, as the GCCF advises. A scam advert can be reported to Report Fraud (formerly Action Fraud).