The media have named the Selkirk Rex cat a “Poodle Cat”. This is incorrect. They have quoted some scientific research¹ into the genetics of the Selkirk Rex – probably in breach of copyright – and had the gall and arrogance to add in words of their own to the supposed verbatim quote.
After the words “Selkirk Rex” they have added “[or poodle cat]”. So they have blatantly misquoted the scientists’ abstract (summary) and made up a name for a cat that never had the name Poodle Cat except perhaps very informally. There is no mention of it being called this nickname on the CFA website, for example.
The online newspaper who has done this is inquisitr.com. There are others. In fact the press have got hold of this story and blown it up out of all proportion. It is ridiculous. They even call the Poodle Cat a “hot new designer breed”. It has been around since 1987!
The real Poodle Cat which was created at a similar time as the Selkirk Rex is also a curly coated cat (a rex cat) but it has folded ears. The Selkirk Rex does not. This is because the real Poodle Cat is a multicat hybrid and one of the breeds in the mix is the Scottish Fold.
The real Poodle Cat was developed/created by a German Scottish Fold breeder named Rosemarie Wolf in 1987, the year the Selkirk Rex was started Montana, America by Jeri Newman.
The real Poodle Cat is a hybrid of: Devon Rex, Scottish Fold and European Shorthair. The Selkirk Rex was a “discovered” cat breed and then developed by outcrossing with American Shorthairs, Persians, Himalayans, Exotic Shorthair cats, and British Shorthairs (BSH).
What is interesting is that the scientific study I refer to found that the Selkirk Rex contains genes that link it to the Scottish Fold as well but, I repeat, this cat breed does not have folded ears. The Selkirk is a basically a British Shorthair with a curly haired (permed) coat. That is it.
Obviously, the reason for the press calling the Selkirk Rex a “poodle cat” is because the curly coat looks like the coat of a poodle.
Conclusion: don’t always take things on face value from the press. I guess we all know that. This is an example of the press making up stories when they run out of them.
Note: 1. the scientific research referred to is Selkirk Rex: morphological and genetic characterization of a new cat breed by Filler S, Alhaddad H, Gandolfi B, Kurushima JD, Cortes A, Veit C, Lyons LA, Brem G. See abstract.
***Photo of Selkirk Rex copyright Helmi Flick***
Stupid press – I’m not sure where the stupidity starts in all of this, the breeding or the stuff made up about the breed.
Both, which is the point your making, I guess. The Poodle cat (the original one) is a creation that did not take off because it is a German creation and there are some genetic illnesses associated with the gene that produces the folded ears (from the Scottish Fold) and the Germans are more strict about that sort of thing on health grounds. That put a barrier to progressing it.