4 Cat Breeds That Started With a Single Founding Cat
The image we have of a "breed" is one of decades of planned breeding, generation after generation. In four cat breeds it was nothing like that: each began with a single animal, which turned up by chance, with its name, date and address on record.
Which cat breeds came from a single founding animal?
| Breed | Founder | When and where |
|---|---|---|
| Sphynx | Prune | 1966, barn litter in Toronto, Canada |
| Selkirk Rex | Miss DePesto | around 1987, shelter in Sheridan, Montana |
| Devon Rex | Kirlee | 1960, Buckfastleigh, Devon county, England |
| Cornish Rex | Kallibunker | July 21, 1950, Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, England |
No known photograph of Prune survives. Of the other three, there is — and that is why this article can show the animals instead of generic cats of the breed.
Are the Devon Rex and the Cornish Rex related?
They are not, and the proof is a lovely one.
Both have a wavy coat, appeared in neighboring counties of England and are separated by only ten years. When Beryl Cox found Kirlee in 1960, the immediate assumption was that he carried the same gene as the Cornish Rex, found a decade earlier in Cornwall.
To confirm it, she mated Kirlee with a female Cornish Rex. If it were the same gene, the kittens would be born curly. All were born with a straight coat. The story is recorded in the breed profile at the Cat Fanciers' Association, which reports that Kirlee was at first taken for one more example of the Cornish Rex mutation and that the test matings proved the idea completely wrong.
It was that litter that proved these were two different mutations — two separate inventions of chance, giving almost the same visible result.
Why this matters when choosing a cat
A breed founded on a single animal starts with a narrow genetic base. That is not a defect in itself, but it explains why serious breeders of these breeds work with outcrossing and why the breeder's track record weighs more here than in a large-population breed.
What NOT to do
- Don't treat Devon and Cornish as variations of the same breed. They are distinct genes, with their own temperament and structure.
- Don't choose by coat. In the three wavy-coated breeds the skin is more exposed to the environment; the care routine changes.
- Don't buy without a record. In a narrow-base breed, documented lineage is the main indicator of health.
Frequently asked questions
Who was the first Sphynx cat?
Prune, born in a barn litter in Toronto, Canada, in 1966. There is no photograph of him in any known public archive.
Why is the Cornish Rex older than the Devon Rex?
Kallibunker was born in 1950, on Bodmin Moor; Kirlee appeared in 1960, in the neighboring county of Devon. Ten years separate the two mutations.
Does the Selkirk Rex have the same gene as the Cornish and the Devon?
No. Miss DePesto was found in Montana around 1987, and her wavy coat comes from another mutation, with a different inheritance from the two English ones.
A cat from a narrow-base breed calls for attentive nutritional monitoring. Find the ideal food for your cat.
Picked by score from our overall cat ranking, not by the topic of this article. To get it right for your pet — age, weight, spayed or neutered — take the quiz and get a list made for them. A pet with a diagnosed condition needs a diet prescribed by a veterinarian.
