author Cherie Stivers RagaMuffin lover
I grew up on a farm and always had animals of some kind. Being a dairy farm, my dad always had Border Collies to help bring the cows in to be milked every day. And of course, there was always a barn cat or two. After school and going to work, I moved to the city.
Around 2006, one day a gray female domestic short hair cat showed up on my doorstep in May and, needless to say, adopted me. Have no idea how old she was. . . the vet was guessing at least 10 years old. As the heat and humidity of the summer came, I just had to bring her inside. Belle was such a sweet, loving cat. She was attached to me like a magnet. In 2010, she became terminally ill and passed away in March.
After a short time, I decided I would really like to have another cat and wanted another loving cat just like Belle. So, I started surfing the internet. I looked at all the shelter and rescue sites and nothing really got my attention. Being the history buff that I am, I started researching the history of cats. That’s when my research led me to the RagaMuffin breed. After reading about their loving, laid back disposition, I thought this was exactly what I was looking for. So, I started searching for breeders. As is the case now, there wasn’t a lot of RagaMuffin breeders and most of them at that time were in Florida and nowhere close to me in Kentucky. Finally, I did find a breeder in Central Kentucky. I couldn’t believe it, a breeder that was close to me, only 45-60 minutes away!!!!
To my surprise, this breeder was Robin Klarmann who just happened to be the daughter of Janet Klarmann (one of the co-founders of the RagaMuffin breed). Janet had lived in Florida, became ill, and moved herself and the cattery to live with Robin. Janet had just recently passed away from her illness and Robin was running the cattery at this time. Obtaining her information from the internet, I contacted Robin inquiring into a young adult, female RagaMuffin. She had a three-year-old male that she said was such a good cat and deserved a good home. Even though it wasn’t the female I was looking for, she invited me to come visit the cattery and look at the male cat. I accepted the invitation and set out on a Saturday to go and check him out.
It was love at first sight!!! He was silver and white in color and had the prettiest blue eyes I had ever seen. He was perfect but I had one major concern, I have never owned a purebred cat before . . . . was I good enough to own and take care of one????? Saying I was nervous is an understatement. However, Robin convinced me Venture (aka Bugs) was no different than any other cat and she had all the confidence in the world that I could do this. So, with her total support, off I go with Bugs in tow. I will say this was the best thing I have ever done was adopting Bugs. He was so affectionate and loving. I was now hooked on the RagaMuffin breed.
Unfortunately, Bugs became ill during the summer of 2019 and passed away on Dec. 15, 2019 from cancer. I lost a piece of my heart! I knew I had to have another RagaMuffin, no other would do. I wanted another male with big blue eyes. This time, however, I wanted a kitten. Having Bugs for the ten years I had him just wasn’t long enough. So as before, I started the search. Things had changed in the ten years I had Bugs. The big blue eyes were almost non-existent and there was more variety in the colors/patterns. I found a breeder that had such a good reputation and was even a veterinarian! To me this reinforced good health. Perfect! Good news, she just happened to have a litter that was just days old. Wonderful!! So, I contacted Dr. Thornton of iCandy RagaMuffins. She was gracious enough to put me on a waiting list. 
In time, Dr. Thornton started posting pictures of the kittens (six in all). All the kittens were shades of white and gray, black smoke but there was one kitten that was different and absolutely caught my eye. It was a sable and white female. The more pictures and videos Dr. Thornton posted, the more I was drawn to this one kitten. When the time came to choose, I was fortunate to be able to pick the sable and white female. So much for my blue eyed male, right? I couldn’t be happier. Murfie is perfect!!!! I am so thankful to Dr. Thornton and cherish each day with Murfie. I can’t believe she is one year old now, but I hope to enjoy many years of love and companionship with her.
I learned a lesson from my past two experiences – if it’s a RagaMuffin, you are going to fall in love with it regardless of gender or color. There’s nothin’ like a muffin!
