Purina

Personality:

• Devoted, active, and highly intelligent.
• Loving companions for people and dogs.
• Known to be excellent jumpers.
• Enjoy grooming their human companions.

History:

In 1950, a curly-coated, cream-colored kitten was born in a litter of otherwise normal-coated barn cats in Cornwall, England.  The owner of the litter, assumed the coat was the result of a spontaneous mutation and worked to develop a breed with the characteristic coat.  The term rex is a genetic term that refers to a lack of guard hairs, or top coat, leaving only the soft curly undercoat.  Accepted for championship status in all breed associations.

Body Type:

• Small- to medium-sized with a long, slender torso.
• Head is small and narrow with a roman nose and large, full, alert ears.
• Eyes are medium to large with color corresponding to coat color.

Coat:

• Coat is short, extremely soft, and made up completely of undercoat that forms a tight, uniform, marcel wave from head to tail.
• Coat sheds very little.
• Wide assortment of colors including white, black, red, cream, chinchilla, smoke, tabby patterns, calico, and bi-color.

Health and Wellness:

• As with all breeds that are developed from spontaneous mutations, there can be problems with weakened immune systems in cats that come from heavily inbred lines.

What you should know:

• These cats enjoy perching in the highest spot in the house.
• These cats may not cause allergies in allergy sufferers.
• Because of their minimal coat, these cats like warmth and can suffer from cold temperatures.