The Early History of the Selkirk Rex Cat |
The foundation cat of the Selkirk Rex breed was a cat registered as "Miss DePesto of NoFace." She came from a "batch of ordinary housecats" in Sheridan, Montana. according to the breed originator, Jeri Newman. She was given to Jeri because of her unusual coat. "Pest" was born in July, 1987, according to Kitty Garrett Brown. She is described as blue-cream and white with green eyes, and having curly whiskers, ears full of "brillo" hair, and the coat on her body was like that which results from a "body wave." (although, in my opinion, from the picture below, she looks more like a tortoishell and white to me.) When Kitty corresponded with Donna Bass, of the Selkirk Rex Breed Club, in1998, she stated: "Miss DePesto's momcat is still alive, a dilute calico that is missing a foot where it was caught in a trap before she was rescued. Her hair is not completely normal, with a bit of a kink at the end. Her whiskers are normal." |
Copyright 1999, Robin Bary. All Rights Reserved. |
References: Article written by Wendy McGuire & Jeri Newman published in Wave Link, the Cornish Rex Society newsletter, and messages from Donna Bass regarding her correspondence with Kitty Garrett Brown about where "Pest" actually came from, that were sent to the Selkirk Rex email list, and also now documented on the SRBC web page. |
">
">
">
">
When Miss DePesto was a little over a year old Jeri bred "Pest" to her black Persian male, CH Photo Finish of DeeKay. Her first litter, born July 4, 1988, had six kittens. Three of the six were curly. There was a black and white curly shorthair male, aka "NoFace Oscar Kowalski," a black curly shorthair female, named "NoFace Sheela," a tortoishell curly shorthair female; two black straighthair shorthair males, and a black straighthair longhair female. Because Jeri's inquiries revealed that Pest's littermates and mother were normal coated, and no curly coated cats were know to be in the area where she was born, Jeri believed that Miss Depesto's coat was probably the result of a new spontaneous mutation. Although, now, based on the comments from Kitty Garrett Brown, Pest's mother may also have exhibited a coat mutation. |
Miss DePesto of NoFace and her son, NoFace Snowman |
More to Come.... ** Our Page is still currently under construction. Please forgive typos, missing information and missing links. Please check back often for updates. I am building my pages daily, until I finish. Thanks! Please be sure to sign my guestbook on the main Selkirk page or the main Scottish Fold page! ** |
This page was last updated on: January 5, 2000
