People Are Obsessed With 'Sheep Cats' That Have Naturally Curly Hair

Cats are known for being independent, mildly heartless and for having neat, straight fur.

However, there is a small subset of feline species who have sheep-like hair that is naturally curly.

The Selkirk Rex is a rare breed that is slowly growing in popularity on social media, with everyone going wild for their unique appearance.

The breed first originated in Montana, USA in 1987, from one cat who was born to a rescue cat.

The curly-haired kitten was then placed with breeder Jeri Newman, who named her Miss DePesto after the curly-haired character from TV series Moonlighting.

Jeri then made the little kitten the dominant breeder, and two kinds of the breed were developed: a long-haired and short-haired type. She named the breed 'Selkirk' after her stepfather, so making it the first breed of cats to be named after a human.

People will likely draw comparisons between the Selkirk Rex and the LaPerm breeds, however the former's coat is usually much thicker and plusher than the latter.

Eleonora Muccio, a Selkirk Rex breeder from Switzerland, told Tyla she fell head over heels for the breed after seeing it at an expo in Geneva: "I felt immediately in love!"

She picked up her fair-furred Selkirk, Gina, in December 2017 and describes the tabby as 'very agile, curious, talkative and cuddly'.

Ms Muccio launched an Instagram account for Gina and her other cats and it has amassed more than 37,000 followers.

Eleonora then began to breed more Selkirks to share the amazing breed with the world.

Despite their shaggy appearance, the cat owner describes their fur as 'softer than straight hair' as the hair is finer. But she warns the Selkirk Rex malt a lot in summer due to the heat. There had to be a downside somewhere.

Eleonora adds that they also get more earwax and rheum than other breeds.

"For that they need special care, I clean their eyes and ears once a week," she said, adding: "But you have to pay attention you don't do it too much as they can get an infection."

Topics: News, Animals

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie