Selkirk rex: features, choice and rules of care

Selkirk rex is a fairly young cat breed, is distinguished by an extraordinary and memorable appearance. Its main difference from other rex breeds is in the structural composition of the animal’s hair, which includes three types of hair: straight, wavy and curly. Due to this heterogeneity, the pet's fur coat looks like the hair of a young sheep and is considered to be a visiting card of the Selkirk Rex breed.

Selkirk Rex is home to the United States, or rather, the state of Montana. The history of the breed dates back to 1987, when an ordinary stray cat was born in one of the private cat shelters, which soon gave birth to five babies. This event would have remained an unremarkable mundane fact, if not for the appearance of one of the kittens. The attention of the institution's employees was attracted by the unusual hair of a newborn, randomly curled not only on the surface of the body, but also in the ears. Moreover, the baby's antennae were also small curls, sticking out funny in different directions.

The kitten was shown to an experienced Persian cat breeder felinologist Jerry Newman, who took him to his cattery. The unusual creature turned out to be a girl who received the name Miss De Pesto (full Miss De Pesto of Noface), and at the age of 14 months she was mated with a luxurious black Persian. As a result of crossbreeding, six babies were born, three of whom inherited the dominant maternal gene, born curly.

In fairness it should be noted that subsequent litters of Miss De Pesto brought no more rex, which allows us to regard the appearance of curly cats as a result of an accidental natural mutation. The breed owes its unusual name to the Selkirk mountain ranges, near which the mother of Miss De Pesto was chosen, and the term "rex", meaning curly.

As a result of further breeding work, Newman managed to obtain both long-haired and short-haired offspring of a wide variety of colors and shades. A little later, at the beginning of the 90s of the last century, the felinologist-breeder begins to compile a description of the breed standard, taking one of the sons of Miss De Pesto as a standard. This choice was due to the fact that the offspring had more noble body shapes in comparison with the mother ones, and resembled a Persian in outline.

After a couple of years, the Selkirk Rex was separated into a separate breed, and with the permission of TICA experts allowed them to participate in official exhibitions. Recognition and success came pretty quickly, and by 1994, representatives of this wonderful breed were winning the first champion title at an international exhibition. To date Selkirk Rex is one of the most popular cat breeds, and is officially recognized by such reputable organizations as ACFA, WCF, ACF and CFA.

The formation of the breed was pretty fast. In addition to the Persians, representatives of exotic, British and American shorthair breeds, who transferred their best qualities to the Selkirk Rex, took an active part in its formation. Today, cats of this breed are characterized as animals with a powerful and strong skeleton, growth above average. Representatives of the male traditionally outperform females in physical parameters and often reach a weight of 7 kg, while the average weight of cats is 3-4 kg.

Animals have a round, without flattened areas, head with well-defined cheek lines. The muzzle is rather round, not too wide, and its length is 1/2 width. If you look at the Selkirk Rex in profile, you can see that the upper sponge, nose and chin are on the same line. The nose itself has a slightly curved shape, and its back is slightly below the line of the eyes.

A characteristic feature of the breed are wide-set ears that blend harmoniously with the rounded shape of the head. The fur in the ears curls well, while the eyebrows and vibrissa are also curly. Animals have round expressive eyes, perfectly harmonizing in their shade with coat color. Most often they are amber, copper, green and blue.

Selkirk Rex has an impeccable physique: a rectangular body of medium length, a thick and short neck, matching the width of the hips and shoulders, and strong legs proportional to the body. The tail, which is medium in size and regular in shape, has a rounded tip and thickens at its base. The coat can be either elongated or short, and the intensity of the curls varies depending on the season of the year and the age of the cat.

In shorthair representatives of the breed, the fur coat is moderately wavy and resembles a plush toy, while longhaired individuals boast luxurious curls, most pronounced on the panties, neck, stomach and chest.

Moreover, the intensity of the formation of curls varies from birth to two years of age. So, newborn kittens can be quite curly, but during the first two months, the hair is almost completely straightened and in appearance does not differ much from the hair of Selkirk Straight - straight-haired kittens. And only after 8-10 months, the curls re-spin, after which the young animal takes on the form of true rex.

By the standard, any colors and patterns are allowed, however, preference is still given to pure saturated colors. You can often see spotted Selkirk Rex, as well as two-tone cats and albinos such as mink and sepia.

Among the most common shades, red, cream tabby, lilac, chocolate, smoky and even silver prevail. Polychrome color options look very nice, such as black and white, red and white and smoky white. The eyes and tip of the nose are usually harmoniously combined with each other and with the color of the animal's fur coat, which gives the appearance of the pet even more aesthetics and attractiveness.

Selkirk rex incorporated the character traits of several breeds involved in breeding. So, from the British Shorthair they inherited power and ease, from the Persians - affection, and from the exotics - mischief and playfulness until old age. Cats quickly get used to household members and get along well with children and other pets.

A feature of Selkirks is the need for constant contact with a person, because of which they are not recommended for a long time to be left alone. And if the owner lives in the apartment one and most of the time is absent, then when choosing a pet, he is better off staying on a different breed, because due to lack of communication Selkirk Rex can easily become depressed.

Representatives of the breed are very sensitive to the mood of the owner and members of his family, and adult animals who have lived in the house for several years, well feel the physical pain of a person. Selkirk will surely come up and begin to “console” the household in need, and in case of illness, he will simply lie on a sore spot and try to ease the suffering.

Another positive feature of the nature of rex is the fact that individuals of both sexes are very sociable: they happily enter into communication with guests, even if they see them for the first time in their lives. Cats gladly climb into the arms of strangers, and allow them to stroke themselves and ruffle.

However, in order for a cat and a cat to grow as described above, you must constantly deal with them. From the first days of the appearance of a kitten in the house, it is recommended to devote as much time as possible to him, play and talk with him, as well as buy him more bright interesting toys. In most cases, cats that have grown in constant attention and care become very friendly and open animals, and throughout their lives delight the owners with their affection and sociability.

Moreover, Selkirk Rex is one of the best trained cat breeds that can be easily trained. Animals perfectly tolerate hygiene procedures, allowing the owner to regularly comb out the hair and cut their nails. Another advantage of Selkirks is their immunity to sharp frightening sounds: cats are indifferent to the sound of a working vacuum cleaner, they are not afraid of doorbells and saluting volleys. The only behavioral drawback of Selkirk Rex is their omnivorousness and gluttony.

The animal sweeps away all the food available to it, therefore, in order to avoid overfeeding and the development of obesity, it is recommended to strictly dose the portions.

Having made the decision to purchase a Selkirk Rex kitten, it is necessary to take into account that for people suffering from allergic manifestations, the maintenance of “wool” cats is contraindicated. In the presence of such a disease, it is better to opt for pets with less rich hair, not prone to strong molting. If there are no allergy sufferers in the house, then the Selkirk will be an excellent choice and will delight the owners with its presence for many years.

After the documents are checked, it is necessary to make a visual inspection of the kitten. In this case, special attention should be paid to the fatness of the baby, as well as the condition of the coat. So, on the kitten’s body there should be no tumors, bald spots or ulcers, and the coat should be clean and slightly wavy. The nose, ears and eyes should be absolutely clean and free from any discharge. The teeth of a healthy kitten are pure white and evenly spaced, while the gums should be pale pink in color without sores and seals.

The next criterion for choosing a selkirk is motor activity and behavior. A healthy kitten is very curious and fearless: he will run up to the new owner with interest and even try to start a game with him. If the baby is lethargic and indecisive, and also has gait disorders, it is better to refuse to buy such an animal, since these signs indicate the presence of obvious or hidden pathologies and anomalies in development.

So, the diet of a pet must necessarily include raw fish, meat, cooked cereals, liver, offal, fruits and vegetables. Feeding Selkirks is recommended in small portions 6-8 times a day. Putting food in a cup immediately for the whole day is prohibited.

The cat will eat the entire daily portion at a time and will ask for supplements. The same applies to feeding dry food: pour exactly as much feed into the cup as the animal is supposed to for one meal. A prerequisite for this is the constant availability of clean drinking water. Besides, Selkirks should not be accustomed to feeding from the table, as cats of this breed are prone to gluttony, and with "double" nutrition they gain weight very quickly.

Another important point when buying a Selkirk Rex is its price. It should be noted right away that real purebred cats of this breed cannot cost less than five thousand rubles, and representatives of famous nurseries born from champions of prestigious cat shows cost 20 and even 25 thousand rubles. In our country, Selkirk Rex nurseries are located in cities such as Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Oryol, Bryansk and Samara.

Cats of the Selkirk Rex breed need regular care, and they do not need to create any special conditions for themselves. The main guarantee of proper cultivation is a balanced diet and hygiene procedures.

Feeding Selkirk Rex is not much different from feeding kittens of other breeds and is of two types. In the first case, the animal is fed exclusively balanced quality feed, in the second - natural food. The latter type of nutrition is more complicated and labor-consuming, since it requires an independent calculation of the required amount of nutrients needed for a kitten at one age or another, as well as the selection of vitamin complexes and mineral supplements. In addition, raw meat needs to be cooked with boiling water, and soups and cereals should be cooked every day.

Shorthair Selkirk Rex, like Selkirk Straight, requires minimal care, which consists in bathing the animal as it gets dirty and wipes the ears with a wet swab. With long-haired representatives of the breed, the situation is somewhat more complicated. It is recommended to comb such animals 1-2 times a week and often bathe. For washing, use Only special shampoos that facilitate combing after drying.

When using soap or conventional means there is a risk of the formation of tangles, which in the future will have to be cut. Therefore, if the choice fell on the long-haired Selkirk Rex, then together with the kitten you need to purchase a comb with long teeth, brushes for undercoat, a furmer to remove old wool, scissors with blunt tips to remove tangles, a suede wipe for wiping wool and a spray gun for spraying wool.

A pet should be bathed in water at a temperature of 38.3 degrees. To perform the procedure, the animal is carefully taken by the scruff of the neck and doused from the shower, trying to prevent water from falling onto the head. In order to avoid accidental flow of water into the ears, it is recommended that they be plugged with cotton wool first. After the cat’s hair is evenly moistened, it is washed with a soft sponge dipped in previously diluted shampoo.

Then the animal is rinsed from the shower and wrapped in a soft towel. It is recommended to wipe the face with a damp sponge. Ears are cleaned weekly with a cotton pad dipped in oil, petroleum jelly, or liquid paraffin. Claws should be trimmed as they grow back, and brush your teeth once every 7 days.

Selkirk rex is a healthy breed and has no genetic ailments. However, the British Shorthair involved in creating the breed passed the Selkirk Rex to a rather weak heart, and from the Persians they got not very strong kidneys. Because of this, cats of this breed can suffer from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and polycystic kidney disease.

The third rather vulnerable organ is the eyes, which is why selkirks often suffer from conjunctivitis. Purulent discharge in this case must be removed with a swab dipped in a neutral antiseptic. The use of tea leaves and infusion of chamomile is permissible only with a dark color, light cats are not treated with the indicated means. In general, cats of the Selkirk Rex breed are considered strong animals, possess excellent immunity and live quietly for more than two decades.

See Selkirk Rex breed description in the next video.