Curly-haired cats have appeared (and disappeared) as blissful accidents of nature all by historical past. However the Selkirk Rex, a placid, social, cuddly cat with dramatic curlicues, remains to be with us at the moment due to the well timed intervention of people.
The Selkirk Rex is just not the primary breed of cat with curly locks, however this cat is nothing like crinkly-haired breeds that got here earlier than it. Not in appears to be like, nor in temperament.
Let’s discuss what makes this kinky-haired kitty distinctive.
In 1987, a kitten with “unusual hair” was picked up in Sheridan, Wyoming by a shelter employee who introduced the kitten again to Bozeman, Montana.
Wyoming and Montana weren’t precisely hotbeds for cat fancy within the ‘80s. However this shelter employee knew of a neighborhood Persian cat breeder with a particular curiosity in genetics and he or she needed Jeri Newman to take a look at her.
Newman named the kitten Miss DiPesto after a curly-haired character on the TV present Moonlighting, and since she was a “pest” for consideration. She wondered whether little Miss DiPesto wasn’t just a funny-looking Cornish or Devon Rex.
When she was of age, she did a check breeding of Miss DiPesto with considered one of her black Persians to see if any of the kittens can be curly. Half the litter was, which proved that Miss DiPesto’s curly fur didn’t come from the identical genes accountable for both of the 2 curly cat breeds she suspected.
It is because the genes accountable for the Cornish Rex and Devon Rex cats are recessive. If Miss DiPesto was a member of both established curly-haired breed, she wouldn’t have produced curly-haired kittens after mating with a non-curly feline.
Extra on the genetics concerned beneath.
A brand new breed, the Selkirk Rex, is born
One cat is just not sufficient cats to start out a cat breed. Newman knew that she needed to outcross Miss DiPesto with cats from different established cat breeds, whereas trying to preserve no matter gene or genes have been accountable for the curly hair.
“Outcross” simply means breeding a person animal with one other who is just not intently associated. Over time, the breeding program for the Selkirk Rex included American Shorthairs, Himalayans, Unique Shorthairs, British Shorthairs, and Persians.
As we speak, the Cat Fanciers’ Affiliation (CFA) now not permits outcrossing. As of 2025, all CFA-registered Selkirk Rexes should have two Selkirk Rex dad and mom. It is because the affiliation believes there may be now sufficient genetic variety within the Selkirk Rex breed that outcrossing is now not wanted.
The Worldwide Cat Affiliation (TICA), nonetheless, nonetheless permits outcrossing.
Regardless of outcrossing, each Selkirk Rex who has ever lived can hint its ancestry again to Miss DiPesto.
Newman named her new breed “Selkirk” in honor of her stepfather. It was his household title. The Selkirk Rex is the one cat breed to be named after an individual.
“Rex” is definitely a time period that’s related to a fur mutation in rabbits. Rex rabbits have an uncommon velvety, plush coat. In France within the early 1900s, a priest who was obsessive about growing this uncommon rabbit breed known as them the “King of Rabbits.” Rex means “king” or “ruler” in Latin.
The fur of a Selkirk Rex doesn’t actually look at all like a rex-coated rabbit, so you might be wondering what plush animal coats have to do with curly animal coats.
The first cat breed given a name with “rex” in it was the Cornish Rex. The farmer’s wife who discovered the first Cornish Rex (in her own barn) was actually a breeder of Astrex rabbits, and so she was presumably predisposed to giving a cat with weird fur the same name as her rabbits with weird fur.
The Cornish Rex was not the first curly-haired cat breed, however. All of the curly-haired cats that came before the Cornish have just been retroactively referred to as “rex” cats.
There have probably been curly-haired cats almost as long as there have been cats.
Nature is inclined to make “mistakes,” also called genetic mutations. One might say that the very nature of Nature is the making of mistakes. Mutations create variation and provide a kind of trial and error of new features that give living things an opportunity to continuously evolve.
Mutations that give a plant or animal some type of survival or reproductive benefit are likely to unfold by a inhabitants. Mutations that hurt the plant or animal will invariably die out, as could mutations which can be impartial in impact.
Curly hair in cats is a type of pleasant accidents of nature that in all probability neither helped nor harmed, or simply didn’t have a possibility to unfold. In communities the place a inhabitants of curly haired cats have been nothing greater than a neighborhood curiosity, the mutations tended to die out.
However within the case of the Selkirk Rex, people took nice curiosity, intervened, and did the whole lot attainable to protect the mutation.
Because of cat researcher, Sarah Hartwell, for compiling an inventory of curly cat occurrences (which I’m abbreviating right here):
In 1876, a narrative within the Hampshire Telegraph, in England, referred to a cat with a shaggy coat that “resembled the hair of a poodle canine.”
In 1892, a cat imported from Tibet with “half-curled hair like an Airedale Terrier” was proven on the Crystal Palace in London.
Within the Thirties, a Prussian Rex was found. There have been different curly siblings in his litter, however they have been all castrated, and the remaining curly boy by no means produced any curly kittens.
Within the Nineteen Forties, a curly haired cat was discovered within the Ural Mountains in Russia. There are Ural Rexes at the moment, however this cat breed was nearly misplaced to communism. Cat fancy was thought-about a bourgeois pursuit.
In 1944 a curly haired cat was present in Ohio. However this was throughout World Conflict II, and minds weren’t on cat fancy. 9 years later, just a few extra curlies confirmed up in the identical space, however all of them died.
There have been Italian Rexes in 1950, German Rexes within the Nineteen Forties or Fifties, a California Rex, and an Oregon Rex in 1959. There was an Irish Rex, a Dutch Rex, a Pennsylvania or Maryland Rex, a Connecticut Rex, a Victoria Rex from London, and a Czech Curly Cat by the Sixties and Seventies.
Within the Eighties, just a few Maine Coons with crinkled fur have been born to British breeders, however have been sadly castrated.
Since, there was a Missouri Rex, a Texas Rex, a Dakota Rex, and an Iowa Rex. The Prairie Rex got here from a colony of hearty, curly haired farm cats found in Saskatoon, Canada.
The Brooklyn Wooleys are largely born bald, however finally develop curly fur. There’s a curly coated Manx strain, known as the Tasman Manx. And in Indianapolis (the Hoosier Rex), a curly mother and kittens have been relinquished to a shelter, which was, sadly, required to neuter them.
In 2004, the Tennessee Rex was found with corkscrew curls, sporting a uncommon satin or glitter gene, which makes the fur appear to be it was sprinkled with gold mud.
And in 2014 in Russia, a spontaneous mutation in Scottish Fold cats resulted within the Fleecy Cloud breed.
There are three things you need to know about a Selkirk Rex’s genes.
The gene that gives a Selkirk Rex curly hair is incomplete dominant.
Genes come in versions, called alleles, and we get one version from each of our parents. Some alleles are dominant and some are recessive. If an allele is dominant, you only need one copy of the gene from just one parent for the trait to show up.
An example of a dominant gene in cats is short hair. If a cat gets one dominant short-hair gene from her mother, for example, she will be short-haired, even if her father is long-haired.
The gene that gives a Selkirk Rex curly hair is incomplete dominant meaning that a cat only has to get one copy of the Selkirk Rex gene to have curly hair. This is why Miss DiPesto was able to produce some kittens with curly hair after mating with a Persian who did not carry any curly-hair genes.
But the “incomplete” part of incomplete dominant means that a cat doesn’t get fully curly hair with only one copy of the gene. Keep reading.
There are, genetically speaking, two kinds of Selkirk Rexes: heterozygotes and homozygotes
When a plant or animal gets two different incomplete dominant versions of a gene, the plant or animal tends to get a mixture of both traits. Color in the snapdragon flower is good example of how incomplete dominant genes work. A cross of red snapdragons with white snapdragons produces pink snapdragons.
If a Selkirk Rex gets one curly-hair gene and one straight-hair gene from each of his parents, he will have a blend of both traits. This kind of Selkirk Rex is called a heterozygote, and heterozygote Selkirk Rexes have a full, randomly curled coat.
If a Selkirk Rex gets two curly genes, however, she’s a homozygote. She will have tight, wavy curls, similar to a Cornish Rex. She will also have other traits that go along with being a homozygote, including a more-slender body, bigger ears, and a less-rounded head.
The Selkirk Rex has a different mutation than other curly-haired cat breeds
The KRT71 gene is one of the genes responsible for curly coats in cats. It seems to have some effect on the keratinization of hair follicles. Keratinization is how certain cells, especially those of the skin, hair, and nails, develop a waterproof layer.
Various mutations of the KRT71 produce different traits in cats. One mutation produces the hairless Sphynx cat. One other produces the distinctive curls of the Devon Rex.
And one more model produces the Selkirk Rex.
Completely different genes are accountable for the curly hair of different cat breeds, together with the Cornish Rex.
The Selkirk Rex is a medium to giant cat, with males weighing 12 to fifteen kilos, and females rather less. This cat feels stable and muscular, and has a closely boned physique.
A Selkirk Rex’s head is spherical with full cheeks, spherical eyes set large, and medium-sized ears.
Some Selkirk Rexes are long-haired with unfastened, unstructured, random ringlets that go each which method, particularly across the neck, tail, and belly.
Some Selkirk Rexes are short-haired, with hair that’s the similar size throughout.
Whiskers are curly and fragile have a tendency to interrupt.
A Selkirk Rex may be any shade.
Oh boy, is that this a pleasant kitty.
The Selkirk Rex is social and cuddly, and sometimes described as extra interactive than lively. They prefer to make dialog with their individuals, leap on a lap for snuggles, and ask, politely, for love. They’re clever and typically a little bit foolish.
A Selkirk Rex would possibly chase a toy round the home, however it is a cat who prefers to maintain all 4 paws on the bottom. You’re not going to search out your Selkirk Rex teetering on the high of a bookshelf.
This breed enjoys and will get together with youngsters who’ve been taught to be respectful to animals, and other household pets.
The Selkirk Rex is a wholesome cat breed. Some could have inherited the well being challenges of the breeds which were outcrossed of their line, corresponding to polycystic kidney illness from Persian cats and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy from British Shorthairs.
Otherwise, the only “problem” worth noting is that some homozygous Selkirk Rexes (those that have two copies of curly gene), have tendency toward an excessively greasy coat, requiring more frequent bathing.
(*Be aware: as an Amazon Affiliate, I’ll earn from qualifying purchases.)
A Selkirk Rex’s curly locks are simple to take care of.
Simply use a delicate scratching movement to periodically fluff up the curls.
Comb your Selkirk Rex not less than twice a month to keep mats from forming. A comb, like this one from Andis, is ideal.
Love Pinterest? Here is a Pinterest-friendly pin in your boards!
Daybreak LaFontaine is a lifelong animal lover who all the time appears to have a little bit pet hair in her keyboard. Her weblog, Kitty Contemplations, helps cat guardians higher perceive and look after the particular beings they share their lives and houses with. Her cat-products business, Cat in the Box, sells lovely, well-made, and award-winning merchandise that she designed to fulfill the organic wants of cats.
