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    At BirchCrest we are lucky to have two beautiful Selkirk Rex girls.  One is a longhaired cream and white girl, Nite Wind Reflections of BirchCrest.  Nite Wind MinkoDeMayo of BirchCrest is a Chocolate Silver Patched Tabby shorthaired Selkirk Rex.  Both of these wonderful girls are bred by Mary Jones.  Thank you Mary for our wonderful Selkirk girls.

    The Selkirk Rex is one of CFA's newest breeds in Championship competition.  It is unlike the other Rex breeds, in both body shape and coat.  While the Cornish and Devon Rexes are delicate looking cats that are small to medium in build, the Selkirk Rex should be large and robust.  The Cornish and Devon Rexes have a very short, fine coat, and the rex gene produces an all over wave.  The rex gene in the Selkirk Rex produces ringlets of curls in the longhaired variety and clumps of curls on the shorthaired variety.  The Selkirk Rex gene is a Dominant gene, where as the rexing genes in the Cornish Rex and the Devon Rex are Recessive.  The Selkirk Rex is also the only Rex that has a longhaired version.

    The very first "Selkirk Rex" was an odd curly coated cat found in a shelter in Montana.  She was named Miss Depesto, called Pest for short.  She was given to Jeri Newman, a Persian breeder, to explore if the unusual curly coat had a genetic basis.  "Pest" was bred to a black Persian, "Photofinish of Deekay".   The resulting litter had six kittens; three had curly coats.  That proved that the Selkirk mutation was a dominant gene, unlike the Cornish and Devon Rex mutations.  There were also longhaired kittens born proving that "Pest" carried the gene for longhair.  Later "Pest" produced color pointed kittens; so it was decided that when the application was made for CFA acceptance the Selkirk Rex Breed Council would ask for both longhaired and shorthaired varieties.  Color wise the Selkirk Rex can be any color genetically possibly; there are no limits.  The Selkirk Rex has three allowable outcross breeds.  Until 2010, Persian and Exotic Shorthairs (the Shorthaired version of a Persian) can be bred to a Selkirk Rex and produce purebred Selkirk Rex kittens.  British Shorthairs may be used until 2015.  After 2015, all Selkirk Rex must have only Selkirk Rex parents.

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Last modified: 05/15/07