The curls of the coat are most prominent on the neck and the tail. The curliness on the body is variable and coat is loosely curled. Development of the coat takes up to 2 years to show the curled coat.
The breed is called the cat in sheep's clothing.

The Selkirk Rex exists in longhair and shorthair:
Longhair:
The coat is medium long, soft and plush, it is quite dense. The coat has loose curls, which are individually different on each cat.
Shorthair:
The coat is not so short as usually in shorthaired cats, it is medium-short and double coated, with thick undercoat. Waves are with curled ends.

History

The breed is one of the newest natural breeds, with a naturally curly coat and originating from the housecat, Miss DePesto of Noface was born in the shelter, called For Pet's Sake and run by Kitty Garrett Brown in Sheridan, Montana, in 1987. Miss DePesto was a blue-cream-white female with green eyes and that naturally curly coat. Her original name was Curly-Q, because of her strange curled coat. When she was placed at very young age, she bounced back to the shelter, because she cried too much and was too demanding. With nine weeks she was placed again and came to Peggy Vorrhes of the Bozeman Human Society, who brought her to the Persian breeder, Jeri Newman in Livingstone, Montana. Jeri changed her name and called her Miss DePesto, she bred her to Ch. PhotoFinish of Deekay, a black Persian. Miss DePesto produced three curly kittens out of six on July 4, 1988: Noface Oscar Kowalski, black and white curly shorthair male, Noface Sheela, black curly shorthair female, one tortie curly shorthair female, two black straight-haired shorthair males and one black straight-haired longhair female. Note that there was also born a longhair kitten!

Miss DePesto	Noface Oscar Kowalskisi

In 1989 Oscar was bred back to Miss DePesto, which gave birth to a litter of 4 on July 15, 1989: Noface Snowman, a shorthair curly red point male, two shorthair curly tortie females and one shorthair straight-haired female. Note that there was a pointed kitten in this litter.
Oscar is the father of the majority of Selkirk Rex lines.
Thus it turned out, that the gene causing that curly coat, was dominant, and that Miss DePesto carried LH and the Himalayan gene.

Miss DePesto was bred five times, once to PhotoFinish, the black Persian, twice to her son Oscar, once to a housecat, named Mr. Rogers, and once to Ch Razberrilane Purrpower of Big Sky, a shaded golden Persian.
Jeri Newman also wrote the first standard desiring the more "Brit" look (see that outcrosses to British Shorthair are still permitted). She chose the name Selkirk using the family name of her stepfather. There are also the Selkirk Mountains, about 75 miles away from the birth place of Miss DePesto, and a creek called Selkirk, about 20 miles away.

The breed was first recognized by TICA and ACFA in 1994.
The first Selkirk Rex shown at a CFA show in Salt Lake City, Utah, in January 1990 were Oscar and his son Snowman. CFA accepted the breed as miscellaneous breed in the shorthair category in October 1992.

The first Selkirk Rex to arrive in the UK on February 7 and 8, 2002, were 3 siblings bred by the Austrian breeders Christiana & Karl Aichner (DGC Serenitie Betty Boop of Courtlycats, dilute Calico SH female x RW SGC Conan von Ebenthal of Courtlycats, blue BSH male). The first of the 3 was Courtlycats Count Basie, a cream LH male, which arrived on February 7 at Kresant cattery (owned by Angela & Jim Mann).
On February 8, 2002, the 2 other of the 3 siblings arrived in the UK: GC Courtlycats Call Me Madam to cattery Toreska (owned by Linda Davison), and CH Courtlycats Cookies n Cream, a LH blue-cream female, to cattery Trueblue (owned by Lisa Peterson).

From the 3rd litter of Miss DePesto (with her son Noface Oscar Kowalski), Noface Grace Slick, a blue point-white female, born on February 10, 1990, went to Mary Harrington in Switzerland. An article about Grace published in the French cat magazine Atout Chat, attracted many interested people. One was Regine Lohre (cattery du Clos Des Anges), which contacted Mrs. Harrington and got Grace, thus becoming the foundation queen for the Selkirk Rex in France.

One kitten of Grace born 1992 in France, called Helosia du Clos des Anges, went to Saarlouis and became the foundation queen of the Selkirk Rex in Germany.

Genetics and breeding

The Rex coat of the Selkirk Rex is inherited dominantly, the gene affects guard, awn and down hairs. That means this gene differs from that of the Devon Rex and Cornish Rex, which is inherited recessively.

For breeding British Shorthair, American Shorthair, Persian and Exotic are used.

Temperament

The Selkirk Rex of today is very patient, gentle, tolerant and very affectionate, having a fine voice and not being very noisy. The breed resembles the gentle and patient temperament from its outcrosses to British Shorthair and the cuddly and loving nature from the Persian.
This breed is nothing for beauty fetishists, who want their cats always looking well groomed, because the curls are loose and are not tight organized.
They love to cuddle, like to be carried in your arms and to lay back relaxed on their back.
The have a robust health. The breed is easy going and may be bred without any problems.

Grooming

The breed, especially the longhair, needs to be regularly groomed. A monthly bath is also recommended.