Little Kittens Have Adorable Curly Fur Like Nothing You've Seen Before
Selkirk Rex cats are hard to miss, thanks to their soft curls, round faces, and plush little bodies. In this story, four kittens from Switzerland, Tony, Manny, Sosa, and Elvira, are getting attention for looking like tiny stuffed animals with a natural perm.
The breed itself has a surprisingly recent history, with roots that go back to Montana in 1987. That unusual coat comes from a natural mutation, and it has helped the Selkirk Rex become one of the most recognizable curly-haired cats online.
Now these kittens are winning hearts for more than just their looks, and their growing fan base says plenty about why people cannot get enough of them.
Curly Kitty
Smol Kitten
Adorable Kitty Cat
The Selkirk Rex cat breed made its first-ever appearance in Montana in 1987, which makes it a relatively new breed. Their unusually curly hair has allowed them to gain a cult-like status on the internet. The origin of those curls is a natural mutation that resulted from a litter of a blue tortoiseshell cat and a white cat.
The lineage of all Selkirk Rexes can be traced back to Miss DePesto, the first-ever Selkirk Rex kitten. She was named after Jeri Newman’s stepfather, her breeder.
When Newman from the Noface Cattery in Livingston, Montana, realized that DePesto carried “the dominant curly-coat gene, but also the recessive gene for long hair,” he was quite surprised. In order to produce a long-haired offspring, both parents must possess at least one copy of the long hair gene, and that's exactly what happened.
The breed was presented to TICA’s board of directors back in 1990 and became a new addition to the New Breed and Color class. Two years later, the breed was registered in the miscellaneous class by the CFA. The Selkirk Rex is one of the most loved and unique cat breeds to have emerged in recent decades. It even achieved CFA championship status in 2000.
While these days most Selkirk Rexes are born with curls, some are also born with straight hair. Their waves tend to become much more defined as they get older. Many people call them "teddy bears" since they are super soft to the touch.
These four adorable kittens are melting hearts all over social media.
For more rare fuzz surprises, check out 14 unique cat breeds you don’t see every day.
They have more than 111k followers on Instagram who enjoy seeing their updates regularly.
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After hearing about Miss DePesto’s curly origins, meet the Sphynx cats born hairless in the bald-and-beautiful story of Sphynx fascination.
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