DNA Cornish Rex

Even the origin of the Cornish Rex is unique. It was the morning of July 21, 1950, in Cornwall, England, that Nina Ennismore's farm cat, Serena, gave birth to five kittens. Mrs. Ennismore noticed that one of the kittens had a strange waviness to his coat. Thinking that the coat was just wet, she dismissed the waviness and went on with her daily routine. Much to her surprise, when the coat dried, the curls remained.

As the kitten grew, it became more apparent that he was diffferent from his littermates. Unlike the substantial cobby-bodied British domestic cat, Kallibunker (as Mrs. Ennismore had named him) was of a type the British call "foreign". He had a slender body with a long tail, large ears set on a wedge-shaped head, and whiskers that curled.

Mrs. Ennismore was acquainted with the Rex rabbit, which, at that time, was also curly-coated, and she recognized that she may have found a new feline mutation. Her veterinarian put her in touch with Mr. A.C. Jude, a geneticist. Mr. Jude agreed that the fur was similar to that of the Rex rabbit and suggested calling the cat a Rex. At Mr. Jude's urging, Kallibunker was bred back to his mother. The mating produced one straight-coated and two curly-coated kittens. The breeding was repeated and again curly-coated kittens were produced. This was the beginning of the Cornish Rex breed.

One of the kittens sired by Kallibunker was call Poldhu. He was not only unusual in that he was a Cornish Rex, but also because he was a bluecream male. Bluecream males, like the genetically similar tortoiseshell male, are extremely rare and are almost always sterile. Poldhu was bred to almost all of his female relatives and sired a number of Cornish Rex kittens.

Currently, there is some controversy over whether Poldhu was truly a bluecream. Some breeders now contend that he was actually a blue tabby. Pictures of Poldhu, unfortunately all in black and white, show that he definitely had tabby markings. However, because Poldhu was owned by the noted experimental cat breeder Brian Sterling-Webb and had been examined by several geneticists, it seems reasonable to believe that he was indeed a bluecream.