What Is a Cherubim Cat?

As of May 1, 2025, TICA officially recognized mink, sepia, and solid Ragdolls as a separate breed within the Ragdoll Breed Group — and gave them the name Cherubim. But this wasn’t a new invention. These color lines have been part of the Ragdoll gene pool since Ann Baker developed the breed in the 1960s. Baker herself registered solid and mink cats as Ragdolls and used the name “Cherubim” for her broader lines. The name was always hers.

What the 2025 TICA recognition actually changed was show eligibility. Mink, sepia, and solid Ragdolls were previously ineligible for championship titles in TICA. Now, registered as Cherubim, they can compete alongside traditional pointed Ragdolls. For breeders who’ve been working these lines for years, it was a long time coming.

The practical takeaway for families: a Cherubim kitten is a Ragdoll — same breed group, same body type, same Cherubim cat personality foundation. The distinction is coat genetics and eye color, nothing more.

The Cherubim Cat Personality

The Cherubim cat personality is the same Ragdoll temperament that the breed has always been known for. Calm, affectionate, patient, easygoing, and genuinely bonded to their people. If you’ve been around a traditional Ragdoll, you already have a good picture — the Cherubim cat temperament is the same foundation.

What that looks like day to day: they want to be near you, but they’re not demanding about it. They’ll follow you around the house, find a spot nearby, and just settle in. The Cherubim cat personality doesn’t push — it just shows up consistently, and that steadiness is one of the things that makes them so easy to live with long term.

They’re also not particularly skittish. New people in the house, a change in routine, a noisy afternoon — Cherubim cats roll with it. That’s a real advantage in a busy home, and it comes from both genetics and good early socialization. A well-raised Cherubim kitten that’s been handled from birth and exposed to real family life tends to carry that confidence into adulthood.

Are Cherubim Cats Good Family Pets?

They are, and I say that from actually living with them, not just breeding them. We have five kids at home. The cats in our house deal with a lot — noise, unexpected grab attempts from a toddler, the teenager who wants to study with a cat draped across their laptop, the general unpredictability of a big family. Our Cherubim cats handle all of it without drama.

That said, the Cherubim cat personality isn’t magic. A kitten that hasn’t been handled early or socialized around kids can still be nervous around them. The temperament is the foundation — what a breeder does with that foundation during the first twelve weeks matters a lot. That’s why we raise our kittens underfoot, in the middle of family life, from birth. By the time they leave us they’re genuinely comfortable with everything a busy household throws at them.

They also do well with other pets. We have multiple cats and the integration process is usually pretty straightforward. Their calm baseline makes them less reactive to a curious dog or an assertive resident cat than some breeds would be.

Cherubim vs. Ragdoll: What’s Actually Different?

This is genuinely the most common question we get, so here it is plainly. The difference between a Ragdoll and a Cherubim is coat color and eye color — that’s it. Same breed group, same body structure, same coat length, same conformation standard, same temperament. TICA created two separate breed names so that each group could compete in championship class on their own terms. It’s an administrative distinction more than a biological one.

One thing that surprises people: in a single litter, you can have both Ragdoll and Cherubim kittens. If either parent carries the mink or sepia gene, some kittens may be Cherubim and others traditional — same parents, same home, raised together. Their personalities reflect that shared start.

Mink, Sepia, and Solid — the Coat Types Explained

All three Cherubim coat types come from variations of the same Burmese (cb) gene that’s been in the Ragdoll pool since the beginning. Here’s how they differ in practice:

The coat texture across all three types is what people always comment on first. Mink in particular gets described as rabbit-soft — dense, silky, and low-matting. The semi-longhair coat with minimal undercoat means it doesn’t tangle the way a Persian or Norwegian Forest Cat would. Two or three brushes a week is enough to keep it looking good.

What It’s Like Living With One

Big, first of all. Cherubim cats are large — males typically reach 15–20 lbs and don’t fully fill out until around four years old. You get used to a substantial, warm presence taking over whatever piece of furniture they’ve decided is theirs today.

The Cherubim cat personality day to day is consistent and low-maintenance in the best way. They greet you when you get home. They find whoever is sitting still and join them. They play when there’s something to play with and sleep when there’s nothing going on. They pick up on the rhythm of a household and settle into it — our cats know the school run routine, dinnertime, when the house quiets down at night. They just fit.

What they don’t do is make a lot of demands. They’re not the cat knocking things off the counter because they’re bored, or yowling at 3am, or scratching furniture out of spite. The Cherubim cat personality is genuinely easygoing, and that holds up over years, not just the kitten phase.

Is a Cherubim Kitten Right for Your Home?

If you’re drawn to the coat and eye colors and were already considering a Ragdoll, a Cherubim kitten is a natural fit. The Cherubim cat personality gives you everything that makes Ragdolls so popular — the calm, the loyalty, the patience with kids and other animals — in coat colors that traditional Ragdolls simply don’t come in.

Where it really matters is finding a breeder who takes socialization seriously. The Cherubim cat personality is a starting point, not a guarantee. A kitten raised in a real home environment, handled from birth, and exposed to the sounds and unpredictability of daily family life is going to land in your home ready to settle in. That early foundation is everything.

For the official breed standard and background, the TICA Cherubim breed page is worth a read. And if you’d like to see the Cherubim and Ragdoll kittens we have available — all raised in our home with five kids and socialized from day one — our available kittens page is the place to start.