The Selkirk Rex cat

Curly-haired cats have appeared (and disappeared) as happy accidents of nature all through history. But the Selkirk Rex, a placid, social, cuddly cat with dramatic curlicues, is still with us today thanks to the timely intervention of humans.

The Selkirk Rex is not the first breed of cat with curly locks, but this cat is nothing like crinkly-haired breeds that came before it. Not in looks, nor in temperament.

Let’s talk about what makes this kinky-haired kitty unique.

What is the history of the Selkirk Rex cat?

In 1987, a kitten with “strange hair” was picked up in Sheridan, Wyoming by a shelter worker who brought the kitten back to Bozeman, Montana.

Wyoming and Montana weren’t exactly hotbeds for cat fancy in the ‘80s. But this shelter worker knew of a local Persian cat breeder with a special interest in genetics and she wanted Jeri Newman to have a look at her.

Newman named the kitten Miss DiPesto after a curly-haired character on the TV show Moonlighting, and because she was a “pest” for attention.[1] She wondered whether little Miss DiPesto wasn’t just a funny-looking Cornish or Devon Rex.

When she was of age, she did a test breeding of Miss DiPesto with one of her black Persians to see if any of the kittens would be curly. Half the litter was, which proved that Miss DiPesto’s curly fur did not come from the same genes responsible for either of the two curly cat breeds she suspected.

This is because the genes responsible for the Cornish Rex and Devon Rex cats are recessive. If Miss DiPesto was a member of either established curly-haired breed, she would not have produced curly-haired kittens after mating with a non-curly tom cat. 

More on the genetics involved below.

A new breed, the Selkirk Rex, is born

One cat is not enough cats to start a cat breed. Newman knew that she had to outcross Miss DiPesto with cats from other established cat breeds, while attempting to conserve whatever gene or genes were responsible for the curly hair.

“Outcross” just means breeding an individual animal with another who is not closely related. Over time, the breeding program for the Selkirk Rex included American Shorthairs, Himalayans, Exotic Shorthairs, British Shorthairs, and Persians.

Today, the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA) no longer allows outcrossing. As of 2025, all CFA-registered Selkirk Rexes must have two Selkirk Rex parents. This is because the association believes there is now enough genetic diversity in the Selkirk Rex breed that outcrossing is no longer needed.

The International Cat Association (TICA), however, still permits outcrossing.

Despite outcrossing, every Selkirk Rex who has ever lived can trace its ancestry back to Miss DiPesto.

How did the Selkirk Rex get its name?

Newman named her new breed “Selkirk” in honor of her stepfather. It was his family name. The Selkirk Rex is the only cat breed to be named after a person.

“Rex” is actually a term that’s associated with a fur mutation in rabbits. Rex rabbits have an unusual velvety, plush coat. In France in the early 1900s, a priest who was obsessed with developing this unusual rabbit breed called them the “King of Rabbits.”[2] Rex means “king” or “ruler” in Latin.[3]

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.[4]

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.

A short history of curly 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 kind of survival or reproductive advantage tend to spread through a population. Mutations that harm the plant or animal will invariably die out, as may mutations that are neutral in effect.

Curly hair in cats is one of those delightful accidents of nature that probably neither helped nor harmed, or just didn’t have an opportunity to spread. In communities where a population of curly haired cats were nothing more than a local curiosity, the mutations tended to die out.

But in the case of the Selkirk Rex, humans took great interest, intervened, and did everything possible to preserve the mutation.

Some recent curly-haired kitties

Thanks to cat researcher, Sarah Hartwell, for compiling a list of curly cat occurrences (which I am abbreviating here):

In 1876, a story in the Hampshire Telegraph, in England, referred to a cat with a shaggy coat that “resembled the hair of a poodle dog.”

In 1892, a cat imported from Tibet with “half-curled hair like an Airedale Terrier” was shown at the Crystal Palace in London.

In the 1930s, a Prussian Rex was discovered. There were other curly siblings in his litter, but they were all castrated, and the remaining curly boy never produced any curly kittens.

In the 1940s, a curly haired cat was found in the Ural Mountains in Russia. There are Ural Rexes today, but this cat breed was almost lost to communism. Cat fancy was considered a bourgeois pursuit.

In 1944 a curly haired cat was found in Ohio. But this was during World War II, and minds were not on cat fancy. Nine years later, a few more curlies showed up in the same area, but they all died.

There were Italian Rexes in 1950, German Rexes in the 1940s or 1950s, 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 through the 1960s and 1970s.

In the 1980s, a few Maine Coons with crinkled fur were born to British breeders, but were unfortunately castrated.

Since, there has been a Missouri Rex, a Texas Rex, a Dakota Rex, and an Iowa Rex. The Prairie Rex came from a colony of hearty, curly haired farm cats discovered in Saskatoon, Canada.

The Brooklyn Wooleys are mostly born bald, but eventually grow curly fur. There’s a curly coated Manx strain, called the Tasman Manx. And in Indianapolis (the Hoosier Rex), a curly mom and kittens were relinquished to a shelter, which was, unfortunately, required to neuter them.

In 2004, the Tennessee Rex was discovered with corkscrew curls, sporting a rare satin or glitter gene, which makes the fur look like it was sprinkled with gold dust.

And in 2014 in Russia, a spontaneous mutation in Scottish Fold cats resulted in the Fleecy Cloud breed.[5]

What are the genetics behind a Selkirk Rex’s curly hair?

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. Another produces the unique curls of the Devon Rex.

And yet another version produces the Selkirk Rex.

Different genes are responsible for the curly hair of other cat breeds, including the Cornish Rex.

What does a Selkirk Rex look like?

The Selkirk Rex is a medium to large cat, with males weighing 12 to 15 pounds, and females a little less. This cat feels solid and muscular, and has a heavily boned body.

A Selkirk Rex’s head is round with full cheeks, round eyes set wide, and medium-sized ears.

Some Selkirk Rexes are long-haired with loose, unstructured, random ringlets that go every which way, especially around the neck, tail, and belly. 

Some Selkirk Rexes are short-haired, with hair that is the same length all over.

Whiskers are curly and fragile tend to break.

A Selkirk Rex can be any color.

What is the personality of the Selkirk Rex?

Oh boy, is this a nice kitty.

The Selkirk Rex is social and cuddly, and often described as more interactive than active. They like to make conversation with their people, jump on a lap for snuggles, and ask, politely, for love. They’re intelligent and sometimes a little silly.

A Selkirk Rex might chase a toy around the house, but this is a cat who prefers to keep all four paws on the ground. You’re not going to find your Selkirk Rex teetering at the top of a bookshelf.

This breed enjoys and gets along with children who have been taught to be respectful to animals, and other household pets.

Does the Selkirk Rex have any known health problems?

The Selkirk Rex is a healthy cat breed. Some may have inherited the health challenges of the breeds that have been outcrossed in their line, such as polycystic kidney disease from Persian cats and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy from British Shorthairs.[6]

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.

Does a Selkirk Rex have any special grooming requirements?

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A Selkirk Rex’s curly locks are easy to maintain.

Just use a gentle scratching motion to periodically fluff up the curls.

Comb your Selkirk Rex at least twice a month to keep mats from forming. A comb, like this one from Andis, is perfect.

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Dawn LaFontaine

Dawn LaFontaine is a lifelong animal lover who always seems to have a little pet hair in her keyboard. Her blog, Kitty Contemplations, helps cat guardians better understand and care for the special beings they share their lives and homes with. Her cat-products business, Cat in the Box, sells beautiful, well-made, and award-winning products that she designed to meet the biological needs of cats.