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 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!
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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.
From the 3rd litter of Miss DePesto (with her son Noface Oscar
Kowalski), Noface Grace Slick, a blue point-white female, who proved
to be homozygous, 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.
Noface Grace Slick
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.
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