Selkirk Rex

The Selkirk Rex is a breed of cat with highly curled hair, including the whiskers (vibrissae). Unlike the Devon Rex and Cornish Rex, the hair is of normal length and not partly missing, and there are longhair[1] and shorthair[2] varieties. Also unlike the other Rexes, the Selkirk gene is dominant.The Selkirk Rex originated in Montana, America in 1987, with a litter born to a rescued cat. The only unusually coated kitten in the litter was ultimately placed with a Persian breeder, Jeri Newman, who named her Miss DePesto (after a curly-haired character in the TV series Moonlighting). This foundation cat was bred to a black Persian male, producing three Selkirk Rex and three straight-haired kittens. This demonstrated that the gene had an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance. All Selkirk Rex trace their ancestry back to Miss DePesto.
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Black smoke shorthair Selkirk Rex
Photo: Chanan Photography

Weight: 9-11 lbs.
Overview
Selkirks are similar in temperament to the affable British Shorthair and the gentle Persian. While they are not lap cats per se, they are tolerant, easygoing creatures that happily cohabitate with people and other animals.
Appearance
The Selkirk Rex, which may be bred with Persians, Exotics, or British and American Shorthairs, are rectangular, heavy-boned, muscular cats with a round, broad head and a short muzzle. The wide-set eyes are large and round; the ears are also set well apart and are rounded with pointed tips. Selkirk kittens are born with curly hair and whiskers; when the kittens reach about six months of age, the curly coat is replaced by a sparser, straighter coat until they reach maturity. Adults tend to lose the curly whiskers they had as kittens. The adult Selkirk's coat is dense, full, and soft as lamb's wool. The loosely coiled curls are most prominent on the neck, tail, and stomach. The coat may be either long or short. Cats with the Selkirk gene on both sides have sparser, tighter coats than cats with only one Selkirk parent. Selkirks come in any number of colors and patterns.
Special Grooming Needs
These dense-coated cats should be brushed a couple of times a week to remove loose fur.
Origins
The foundation for this new breed of rex (curly-coated) cats was a unique, curly-coated calico kitten found in a Wyoming animal shelter in 1987. Bred with a champion black Persian in 1988, she produced three curly-coated kittens in a litter of six, proving that the rex gene was dominant. The breed was named after Wyoming's Selkirk Mountains.