Miss DePesto of Noface

Noface Oscar Kowalski

The original cat, Miss DePesto, came to live with the breed originator, Jeri Newman, in 1987. The cat had been born at the home of Kitty Garrett Brown who ran a shelter out of her home called For Pets Sake in Sheridan, Montana. She named the strange-looking kitten, born to a feral cat, Curly-Q and placed her with someone when she was very young. The little kitten bounced back because she cried too much, required too much attention and was rambunctious. She was placed again at nine weeks when Peggy Vorrhees of the Bozeman Humane Society brought the kitten to Jeri in Livingston, Montana because of her unusual coat. She was named Miss DePesto (call name Pest) because she was always pestering Jeri for attention. Her whiskers were curly, her ears were full of brillo hair and her body looked like a body wave.

"Before me sat a blue-cream and white kitten with green eyes. She came from a batch of ordinary housecats in Montana, and Peggy Vorrhees of the Bozeman Humane Society brought her back to me in Livingston, Montana because of her unusual coat. At an estimated age of ten months, her whiskers were curly, her ears were full of "brillo" hair, and her body looked like a 'body wave'. And so Miss DePesto of Noface came to live at my house." explained Jeri in an article written for another breed's newsletter.

She survived her teenage phase at my house, and remained a very inquisitive, mischievous cat all her life. She was very prone to earring thievery, bathtub plug theft, and had an interesting affinity for water! 'Pest' was an 11-pound, blue-cream and white shorthair known to carry colorpoint and longhair. She has a narrow muzzle with a strong whisker break, prominent cheekbones, slanty eyes (green) and a wide flat spot between her ears. Jeri has been known to describe her as the world's worst Devon with a Chartreux body."

As of June 1997, Miss DePesto's momcat was still alive. She is a dilute calico that is missing a foot that was caught in a trap before she was rescued. Her hair is not completely normal either, with a bit of a kink at the end. Her whiskers are normal. On further inquiry, Jeri discovered that Miss DePesto's five littermates were all normal coated. No other curly cats were found in the area, leading Jeri to believe that Miss DePesto was the locus of a new mutant gene. It is interesting to note that the Devon Rex, the Cornish Rex and the Selkirk Rex were born from tortoiseshell and white feral cats (Selkirk coming from a dilute calico), all had fathers that could not be positively identified above rumor, and all were single curly-coated kittens in litters of all straight-coated siblings.

At 14 months of age, I bred her to my black Persian Male, Ch Photo Finish of Deekay, and anxiously awaited offspring. On July 4, 1988, Miss DePesto not only had six babies, three were definitely curly! The kittens were: One black and white curly shorthair male (Noface Oscar Kowalski); one black curly shorthair female (Noface Sheela); one tortoiseshell curly shorthair female; two black straighthair shorthair males; and one black straighthair longhair female."

These kittens proved that the gene for the curly coat was dominant, since it appeared in the first generation when bred to a cat that could not be carrying a curly coated gene that was the same as Pest's. They also proved that the short-hair Pest carried longhair.

The next year, Oscar was bred back to his mother, and on July 15, 1989, Pest had one curly shorthair flamepoint male (Noface Snowman), two curly shorthair torties and one black shorthair straighthair female, proving that Pest carried the pointed pattern, since Oscar's father was from non-pointed Persian lines.

Pest developed into a cat of medium size, with a muscular body, medium legs, good sized tail, broad head with ears set well apart and a long muzzle. Because Jeri felt Pest's look was not pleasing, she made the decision (and based on her breed resources and the result) that a more balanced look, similar to the British Shorthair, was to be the desired conformation of the breed. Thus the standard originally produced by Jeri to introduce the cat to the world was meant to describe the "Brit" look she envisioned for the breed.

The name Selkirk Rex originated with Jeri. She did not want to name her new breed "American Rex" as the Cornish and Devon were named for their areas of origination. She instead decided to honor her stepfather by calling the breed Selkirk after his family name. Jeri also told many people the breed was named after the Selkirk Mountains which are about 75 miles from the birthplace of Miss DePesto. Later, Jeri was to find the name of Selkirk used on a creek within about twenty miles of the point of origin.

Rex was chosen because the cat was curly - indicating a change in coat type unlike the American Wirehair and closer to both the Cornish and Devon Rexes. Other Rexes with curly coats have been found: The Oregon Rex (since died out, specifics of the coat unknown) and the German Rex (determined to be on the same gene locus as the Cornish). Thus, the name Selkirk Rex, denoting a new, curly haired breed of cat.

Oscar is the father of the line for the majority of Selkirks today. Pest was bred a total of five times, once to Photo Finish, twice to Oscar, once to Mr. Rogers (the name given to a local stray cat, when Pest escaped outside) and once to a shaded golden Persian (Ch Razberrilane Purrpower of Big Sky). Out of the Oscar to Pest breedings several homozygous curly cats were born - cats that never produced a straighthair, regardless of what they were bred to. This indicated that the curly gene was a true, complete dominant, which separated it from the other dominant coat gene known at the time - the Wirehair gene which is known to be an incomplete dominant.

Hair samples from Oscar and Snowman were sent to genetics experts, along with background information on the origin of the breed. Because this gene proved to be dominant, unlike either the Devon or Cornish Rexes, it was obviously different from either one.

The first CFA show to witness the introduction of the Selkirk Rex to CFA was Salt Lake City, Utah in January 1990. The two cats that were shown were Oscar and Snowman (Oscar's flame point son), and the crowd found them irresistible. Miss DePesto was known to hate shows and was known to remove the cage from the table! Jim Kilborn, a long-time CFA Allbreed judge, oftens mentions that he was the first judge to encourage Jeri in her efforts to create a new breed. Jeri had called him to find out what she needed to do to get the breed accepted in CFA.

Jeri took Noface Oscar Kowalski, Lil BoPeep's Lambert, and Lil BoPeep's Mouton Rouge to the Board meeting where she presented the Selkirks for acceptance by CFA, in February 1992. TICA and ACFA had already accept the breed into their registration and exhibition categories earlier. CFA, as the largest cat registration organization in the United States was the last to accept the breed. At the Board meeting, CFA accepted the Selkirk Rex for registration. At the October, 1992 Board Meeting, the breed was put into the Shorthair class as a Miscellaneous breed.

Breeders are starting to pet out more of their curly kittens, keeping just the best for breeding. Males are easier to get as a pet than females, since most breeders would prefer to keep females for breeding rather than males. Outcrossing is still being done. Because the Selkirk Rex coat modifying gene is a dominant, we get straight hair kittens in the same litter with the more desirable curly kittens. These straight hair pets still have the same wonderful personality of their curly coated siblings, but currently are not being used in breeding programs and would make wonderful pets. They usually cost much less than a curly coated kitten.

In Miss DePesto's third litter there was a kitten named Noface Grace Slick that became the originator of the European Selkirk Rex. On February 10, 1990 Gracie was born out of Miss DePesto of Noface and Noface Oscar Kowalski. Gracie was a blue point female with white socks and was a homozygous curly. In September Gracie started her long-distance journey to Europe, where she was to go to Mary Harrington in Switzerland. Gracie had three litters of kitten in Switzerland with a total of twenty-one kittens. The publication of Gracie's picture and an article in Atout Chat, the French cat lovers; magazine caused an outright sensation. Many breeders wanted to have a cat like Gracie, everybody being particularly charmed by her blue eyes. Regine Lohre (Cattery Du Clos Des Anges) contacted Mary Harrington. Gracie went to live in France where the first Selkirk's were born in France. In 1992 one of the kittens born to Gracie in France, Helosia du Clos des Anges moved in with two ladies in Saarlouis. She was the first Selkirk Rex in Germany. Regine Lohre was the pioneer of our new breed in Europe where the breed continues to grow.

Several cats have been sent to Australia, and have done well there. Gary Veach, a CFA Allbreed judge, made such a good impression with his presentation of the Selkirk Rex to the main cat organization in Australia that they were advanced to Championship without any qualms or hesitation. The breed continues to gain acceptance with fanciers around the world.