In 1987 a kitten with a curly coat appeared in a litter of non pedigree kittens born in Wyoming USA. She was named Miss DePesto of NoFace and was bred to a black Persian longhair male by Jeri Newman which was used to establish the breed, as breeders wanted a type that was clearly different from the existing Rex breeds, all of which were fairly elegant. Because Miss DePesto was a shorthair and she was crossed with a longhaired cat, the breed has produced both short and long hair kittens from the outset. This first mating produced 3 of 6 kittens that were curly, therefore seeming that the curls are associated with a dominant gene and thus created the most recent of the Rex variations.

The Selkirk Rex is described as being a well proportioned large heavy boned cat with a substantially muscular torso. They have a round head with full checks and whisker pads, no flat planes and a firm chin, with both the males and females having definite jowls. The whiskers must be curly and this is evident from birth. Their eyes are large and round being set well apart and the ears are medium sized, pointed and also well spaced. Their legs are lengthened (not cobby or lanky) and well boned with large round firm pads and the tail is thick with a rounded tip.

They have a double coat which does moult so they do require occassional grooming, but over combing will cause the curls to straighten. As an adult the hair on the tail, belly and around the neck will form more curls than the rest of the body. Kittens appear curly at birth but may loose their curl completely which is followed by an untidy looking stage as a youngster, before the curls return at 8 to 10 months. Selkirks' coat is longer than the other Rex breeds with definite guard hairs. They come not only in short and long hair, but also straight varieties. The coat should be soft, plush, full and curly with the feel of lambswool - hence the saying that they resemble a 'Cat in Sheep's Clothing'. The hair is arranged in loose springy individual curls clearly distinct from one another. All coat colours and patterns are permitted as are all eye colours, though these are to be bright and expressive and they need not match the coat colour.

The Longhair must have a long thick coat, which is at it's best in the Heterozygous cats, which have 1 rexing and 1 straight haired gene. This combination creates the loose ringlet effect and they also currently conform to the standard and are therefore considered to be show quality.

Homozygous (Zygot) cats exhibit a much more extreme type, are finer in confirmation and do not conform to the standard. They are however very valuable as all kittens born from this type will have curly coats. The Zygots have 2 copies of the curly gene, but for showing the standard requires 1 curly gene, however their kittens will be of the normal standard show type.

Straight haired cats resemble Selkirks in every way apart from not having a curly coat. They usually display very good type and are still used in the breeding program.

Persians, Exotics, British Shorthair and until recently American Shorthair cats were among the breeds that have contributed to the makeup of the Selkirk Rex.  With the exception of the American Shorthair the other 3 breeds are still being used to develop a large and healthy gene pool in Australia which will be revised around 2015.

Selkirk Rex are a friendly and gentle breed, affectionate and love children and human company. They get on well with other cats and dogs and are quite active, loving to play and climb. They are healthy, sturdy and incredibly patient whilst having a loving and tolerant disposition, thus they make the perfect family pet.