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Cornish Rex Breed Profile

History of the Cornish Rex

In 1950 in an old farmhouse near Bodmin in Cornwall the Cornish Rex Cat was discovered. A tortoishell cat called Serena was giving birth to 5 kittens, one of the kittens, a red and white male, had a distinctive curly coat. The kitten was called Kallibunker and was the foundation for the Cornish Rex Cats that grace our homes and the show bench today.
In the early years the Cornish Rex were outcrossed to British Shorthairs and Burmese to widen the genepool and ensure breed vigour.
The Cornish Rex finally achieved Full Breed status in 1967.

The genepool remains small and many breeders continue to outcross to GCCF approved breeds, recognising the role of the Cornish Rex Variant in the development of the breed. These straight coated kittens 'carry' the rex gene and when the first generation variants are mated back to a Cornish Rex 50% of the kittens will be curly coated Cornish Rex.

Kallibunker

Character

Cornish rex are purrsonalities plus. they are vocal, sociable, energetic and can be mischievious.
They love company, human or other cats, and don't do well as an only pet or in a household where they are left alone for long periods.
They can be hard-wearing on ornaments, soft furnishings and houseplants.
Their energy is fuelled by an overly healthy appetite, which may need to be carefully controlled if they are not to become overweight.
Milo and Jake

Appearance

The Cornish Rex is a lean, muscular cat of medium foreign type, it has a wedge shaped head, strong chin, large upright ears set high on their head and oval shaped eyes. They have a flat skull with a straight profile.
They stand tall on long slim legs with dainty oval paws and have long tails expressing their every mood.
The most important characteristic is the coat, it has no guard hairs and is extremely wavy and soft to the touch, like crushed velvet. The rexing should be all over the body, whiskers and eyebrows are also curly. The coat can vary from cat to cat ranging from loose waves to fine curls to deeply rippled waves.
The Cornish Rex can come in any colour or pattern including solids, smokes, bi-colours, tortoishells, dilute colours, tabbies and si-rex .
Milo and Jake