Here are 15 concise facts about the Cornish Rex. This is a relatively rare cat breed. It is not mainstream as is the case for the Maine Coon and British Shorthair, for example.
Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles:- Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats
- All Cornish Rex cats can trace their ancestry back to Kallibunker (see above) who was born on a farm on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, England, UK in 1950. He was born to a tortie-and-white shorthair cat named Serena who had a litter of kittens all of which were standard cats except for Kallibunker who not only had an unusual, wavy coat but his body conformation was slenderer than the others. This was due to a spontaneous genetic mutation.
- The farm was owned by the Ennismores and they bred Kallibunker back to his mother which produced more wavy-coated kittens. That was the beginning of the breed.
- In 1957 a pregnant Cornish Rex was sent to a breeder in California and her litter consisted of two Rex kittens. One of them were sent to another breeder: Fan-T-Cee and the other to a third breeder: Daz-Zling. These kittens were the foundation cats of the breed in America: Lil of Fan-T-Cee and Marmaduke of Daz-Zling.
- Marmaduke was bred to Siamese cats at Helen Weiss’s cattery which resulted in the finer bones of the Siamese cat and a longer head, body and tail. And of course, the crossbreeding introduced the Colourpoint coat to the Cornish Rex breed.
- In the cat fancy, some people call this cat ‘the greyhound of the cat world’ because the backbone is curved upwards and the stomach is drawn in giving an appearance of a greyhound.
- This is long, slim medium-sized cat.
- The head is egg-shaped.
- The top of the head is rounded instead of being flat.
- The oval eyes are an eye’s width apart.
- Of course, the coat is very wavy and this is the most noticeable aspect of the breed.
- The Cornish Rex coat lacks the primary guard hairs but has a more complete coat than the other Rex cats.
- In some organisations a lot of emphasis is placed on the wave of the coat which can lead to less emphasis on the body type i.e. conformation of the cat.
- The wavy coat is not a permanent fixture and depends upon the time of year and this cat may lose some of his fur. Also, when females are in season their hormones affect the wave of their coat.
- Some breeders think that the hormones affect the waviness of the coat. And this applies to the other Rex breeds: Devon Rex, Selkirk Rex and La Perm.
- The Cornish Rex is recognised in all colours of all divisions and the colours ripple giving a shimmering effect to the coat.
- The breed is said to be talkative. active and charming. They have a playful personality and are very curious. They are a sweet and loving companion.
Below are some more pages on the Cornish Rex.
