The official publication of the Selkirk Rex Breed Club
CFA International, November 2002 There were 14 Selkirks entered in the CFA International this year, held at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX, November 22-24, 2002. Each cat entered is indicated below, with pictures of the ones that were present.
LH Selkirk Rex Kitten
WHF Oscar Again Catalog No. 475 Black and White Male Reg #5760-1414203 born 05/14/02 Sire: Deenewkurl Slow Gin Fuzz Dam: Ms Oklahoma Twister of WHF Breeder/Owner: Patricia and Arnold Farley	Lapurrfect Snow Queen Catalog No. 476 Odd-Eyed White Female Reg #5703-1405631 born 05/27/02 Sire: Lapurrfect El Zorro The Great Dam: Whozz Cat Is It of Lapurrfect Breeder/Owner: Debra Sutherland
Lapurrfect Queen Mother Catalog No. 477 Tortoiseshell & White Female Reg #5761-1411362 born 05/27/02 Sire: Lapurrfect El Zorro The Great Dam: Ch Lapurrfect Princess Camelia Breeder/Owner: Debra Sutherland	WHF Sweet Curl Catalog No. 478 Dilute Calico Female Reg #5719-1414206 born 05/14/02 Sire: Deenewkurl Slow Gin Fuzz Dam: Ms Oklahoma Twister of WHF Breeder/Owner: Patricia & Arnold Farley
SH Selkirk Rex Kitten
Spellbinding Hot Rod Lincoln Catalog No. 479 Red Classic Tabby Male Reg #4740-1396199 born 03/26/02 Sire: GC Finger's Chewbaaka of Spellbinding Dam: Ch Lapurrfect Magic Carpet Jan Mellinger	Woolibaar Wool O'The Wisp Catalog No. 480 Seal Point Female Reg #4973-1402601 born 03/27/02 Sire: Woolibaar Nathaniel Woolthorne Dam: Woolibaar Diamond Jane Breeder/Owner: Donna Bass
LH Selkirk Rex in Championship
Lapurrfect Count of Monte Cristo Catalog No. 824 Seal Point and White Male Reg #5760-1390209 born 11/30/01 Champion Sire: Lapurrfect Sealed With A Kiss Dam: Lapurrfect My Dearest Cloie Breeder/Owner: Debra Sutherland	Lapurrfect Billy The Kid Catalog No. 825 Brown Classic Tabby and White Male Reg #5760-1402294 born 10/05/01 Champion Sire: Lapurrfect Mark Anthony The Great Dam: Lapurrfect Lucille Breeder/Owner: Debra Sutherland
Reigning Cats Jamaican Sunset Catalog No. 826 Blue Male Reg #5706-1359817 born 05/13/01 Grand Champion Sire: Lapurrfect Howlalot Dam: Kameokitn Lightening Breeder: Karon Schmitt Owner: Patricia Simmes	Nitewind Divydo of Deenewkurl Catalog No. 827 Dilute Calico Female Reg #5719-1364988 born 06/27/01 Grand Champion Sire: Wishstar Let's Party of Nitewind Dam: Nitewind Ivy of Wishstar Breeder: Linda Mercer/Mary Jones Owner: Debi Kallmeyer/Jeri Newman/M Jones
SH Selkirk Rex in Championship
Nite Wind Bo Brambles of Roustabout Catalog No. 828 Cream Mackerel Tabby Male Reg #4754M-1394728 born 01/28/02 Champion Sire: Serenitie Mary's Lambz of Nite Wind Dam: Nite Wind Kati Lambz Breeder: Mary Jones/Linda Mercer Owner: Michelle Kirby	Lapurrfect Derrick The Great Catalog No. 829 Red-Lynx Point and White Male Reg #4760-1384675 born 01/04/01 Champion Sire: Lapurrfect The Great Ceasar Dam: Lapurrfect Touch of Cream Breeder: Debra Sutherland Owner: Karen Williams/Debra Sutherland
Deenewkurl Tipicurl Girl Catalog No. 830 Blue-Cream-Lynx Point Female Reg #4791-1395782 born 02/18/02 Champion Sire: Maurista Alaska of Destino Dam: Woolibaar I Am Curious (Blue?) Breeder: Jeri Newman/Debi Kallmeyer Owner: Debi Kallmeyer/Jeri Newman	LH Selkirk Rex in Premiership Jumping Jack Flash of WHF Catalog No. 1042 Shaded Ameo Male Reg #5762-1339335 born 07/30/00 Grand Premier Sire: Katsebel King Smokey Dam: Starstream Moonshadow Breeder: Josephine Donati Owner: Patricia and Arnold Farley

Is Your Cat Fat?

Is your cat fat? While there is a myth that suggests that neutered cats get fat, there is science to indicate that it's all about diet. There are many serious health risks associated with obesity in cats. Read on to learn more:

What you feed your cat can have profound influences on their long term health and well-being.

Many people feed their cats a strictly dry commercial food diet. Some incorrectly think that canned food promotes dental problems, many take to heart the manufacturer's claims that their food is "100% nutritionally complete".

Information is coming to light that indicates that a dry only diet increases the chances of kidney failure and renal problems as cats age, and there is now a definite link to diabetes in cats who eat a dry diet only. Below is an article written by Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins on the subject. I thank Dr. Hodgkins for allowing me to include this valuable information on my website and I hope that it will prove helpful to all.

First, let me say that there is no ONE cause of adult onset (Type II) diabetes (diabetes mellitus or DM) in the cat. The disease, like most diseases, is multi-factorial in the cat, as well as in humans. In fact, the feline version of type II diabetes is more like human type II diabetes than this condition in any other species that has been studied.

Type II DM is not an autoimmune disease, but genetics certainly do play a part. Certain cats are predisposed to developing adult onset DM, while others simply are not. However, type II DM in even predisposed cats is not commonly a matter of auto antibodies being produced against pancreatic tissue as is true if other autoimmune diseases (some cats do produce antibodies to injected insulin from other species used to treat feline diabetics but that is not the same as an autoimmune phenomenon causing the diabetes in the first place). In fact, there are some extremely important environmental factors, and inappropriate diet is chief among these.

The cat is an obligatory carnivore. As such, it is dependant for good health upon a diet that is very high (greater than 50-60%) in animal source protein. In the wild, cats seek out diets that have nutrient profiles with at least this much protein, about 30-40% fat, and 1-2% carbohydrate. Unfortunately, the extruded dry foods we feed our pet cats today has a very distorted nutrient profile for cats (just as the present, government-recommended, high carbohydrate diet for humans has a distorted nutrient profile for humans).

Most of these dry cat foods contain very high amounts of cereal grains in order to make it possible to put the ingredients through an extruder to produce "popped" kibble product. The result is a food that has 18-30% protein, 15-22% fat, and as much 40-60% predigested starch (read sugar!). As this kind of diet has become more and more popular as a sole diet for pet cats in our society, those pet cats have become fatter and fatter (like people on a high carbohydrate diet, only worse) over the past few years, and the incidence of type II DM has soared among that same population. Ask any vet if he or she is seeing a lot more of this disease among his/her patients than a decade ago. The answer will be "yes!"

It is certainly true than most serious cat breeders do not have a lot of problems with this disease. The reason is not just that those breeders have skillfully bred genetically DM resistant cats, however, although that can be a part of the whole story. The larger reason is that most, if not all, breeders feed a significant amount of canned foods and fresh raw or cooked meats. Although most breeders do provide dry cat foods to their cats, the diet of their breeding animals is not even close to 100% dry food, as is often the case with pet cats in 1-3 cat households.

Consumption of dry cat food causes a very rapid and extreme surge in blood glucose as the predigested carbohydrate in the food is dissolved and absorbed into the bloodstream essentially as sugar from the stomach and intestines. This rapid rise in blood glucose causes the pancreas to secret a much larger amount of insulin in response than would be needed with a more natural, high protein, moderate fat diet. Ultimately, the constant abnormal stimulation either suppresses or exhausts the pancreas (we're not sure exactly which, yet), and clinical diabetes results. This process takes months to years to occur, depending on the individual cat's ability to withstand the effects of this abnormal metabolic effect. Along the way, the constant high insulin levels (hyperinsulinemia) cause the cat to experience hypertriglyceridemia (high triglycerides) and hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol), and obesity results.

Our research has shown that weight reduction in even the most obese (but otherwise healthy) cat is no more complicated than withholding all dry food, and providing free choice canned food or fresh meat as the sole diet. Thus, although I agree that obesity does not cause type II DM, DM and obesity have common causes in the cat and in humans as well.

Excessive carbohydrate consumption, over time, causes both obesity and strongly predisposes the cat, an obligatory carnivore, to the metabolic "train wreak" we know as type II feline diabetes mellitus. Once this condition exists, effective treatment absolutely requires that a high protein, moderate fat and low carbohydrate diet be used in these patients. High fiber diets like w/d and r/d (and their analogs by other companies) DO NOT WORK, and they do not work because they are loaded with carbohydrate that continues to dump sugar into the blood stream of an animal that already has problems handling sugar.

For now, there is compelling scientific evidence to show that high carbohydrate diets (essentially all dry cat foods) fed to pet cats on a continuous and exclusive basis predispose to, or even directly cause, feline obesity and type II feline diabetes mellitus. In time, I believe we will learn that other common feline maladies, such as hyperthyroidism and urinary tract disease, are also related to this very abnormal and non-physiological practice of feeding large amounts of carbohydrate to animals not at all equipped to handle this nutrient in such quantities. Conscientious breeders will want to keep their eyes on the research into this very important aspect of cat breeding and proper cat husbandry.

Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM
Sunstone Ocicats
www.sunstoneocicats.com

24 April 2002

The Selkirk Rex Breed Advisory Committee (GCCF)

Breeding Policy for Selkirk Rex

Introduction

This document is seen as a way of ensuring breeders observe what is considered ‘best practice’ in their involvement with the Selkirk Rex and particularly in their Selkirk Rex breeding programmes.

Selkirk Rex, unlike most other breeds, owe their origin in 1987 to one cat - Miss DePesto. Inbreeding was carried out to establish if this was a new, or already established gene. It was found that Miss DePesto was a new mutation of a complete dominant nature unlike the Devon and Cornish Rex which are both produced by a recessive gene. The Selkirk Rex may be homozygous (have two Rex genes) or heterozygous (have one Rex gene) and may be long or shorthaired. To produce Rex coated kittens at least one parent must be a Selkirk Rex. Straight coated Selkirk Rex Variants do not carry the Rex gene but are useful for breeding because the best exhibition Selkirk Rex are heterozygous.

Two blood types have been confirmed in Selkirk Rex - type A and type B. Type A is dominant over type B. This means a cat with type B blood is homozygous for B. Type A cats can be either homozygous for A or heterozygous (carrying the B gene). Cats with type B blood have strong antibodies against type A red blood cells. These anti-A antibodies can cause two serious problems: Neonatal Isoerythrolysis (fading kitten syndrome) and transfusion reactions.

Aims

It is vital regular selective outcrossing be introduced and maintained to increase the gene pool and maintain stamina and health. This is ‘best for the breed’ in its ongoing development.

Guidelines

Breeders and owners of Selkirk Rex and Selkirk Rex Variants are recommended to blood type test all their cats but more especially all breeding stock. Blood type A kittens resulting from a mating between a type A stud and a type B queen may die within the first few days of life if allowed to suckle their mother’s colostrum. It is also important to know that cats with the relatively rare type B blood can die if given a transfusion of the more common type A blood.

PKD has been confirmed in Selkirk Rex. Breeders are advised to buy only from PKD tested stock and to breed only with cats, including ALL outcrosses, which have been screened PKD clear under a recognised scheme (the FAB/PKD scheme in the UK).

All cats used for outcrossing should be thoroughly researched, of sound temperament and free from any hereditary defects.

Breeders should ensure, to the best of their knowledge, that any Selkirk Rex from which they breed are of sound temperament, free from any hereditary defects, (including those listed in the GCCF Standard of Points), and conform as closely as possible to the Standard of Points (excluding the coat description where variants are concerned).

Selkirk Rex are not compatible with either Cornish Rex, Devon Rex or LaPerms. Such matings are therefore highly undesirable. The product of such matings will be registered on the Reference Register and cannot be considered to be variants. They cannot be used in any Rex breeding programme and should be placed on the non-active register. It is considered to be in the best interest of the Selkirk Rex breed to keep it entirely separate from other incompatible Rex mutations.

Under no circumstances should any cat with Sphynx ancestry be introduced into the Selkirk Rex breed. Selection for hairlessness contradicts the coat quality requirements for Rex cats. The product of any matings between Sphynx and Selkirk Rex will be registered on the Reference Register. They cannot be considered to be variants nor be used in any Selkirk Rex breeding programme and should be placed on the non-active register.

Breeders shall ensure that any Selkirk Rex or Selkirk Rex Variants from which they breed, shall be registered with the GCCF in accordance with the Rules in force at the time. It is recommended that the progeny from any matings that are not required for Selkirk Rex breeding, should be placed on the Non-Active Register to avoid the introduction of the Selkirk Rex gene into other varieties of pedigree cats.

The majority of matings are most likely to be between Selkirk Rex x Selkirk Rex and Selkirk Rex x Selkirk Rex Variant, but to ensure a healthy gene pool outcrosses are essential.

Breeds approved for use in outcrossing are: British Shorthair (including longhaired Variants), Persian, and Exotic. All other breeds are listed as non-approved. In addition, for cats bred outside the UK, American Shorthair was an approved outcross until 31.12.97 when it was discontinued.

All other breeds are listed as non-approved.

Breeders will be encouraged to take advantage of any relevant official scheme, which may be devised by the Selkirk Rex BAC to test the soundness of the Selkirk Rex breed.

Registration Policy for Selkirk Rex

Breeds approved for use in outcrossing are: British Shorthair (including longhaired Variants), Persian, and Exotic. Straight coated Selkirk Rex Variants are also allowed for breeding. In addition, American Shorthairs are permitted in the pedigrees of imported cats and their progeny.

All other breeds are listed non-approved.

Full Register

Selkirk Rex with Full or Provisional recognition which have in their pedigrees within the preceding three generations only Selkirk Rex.

Supplementary Register

Selkirk Rex with Full or Provisional recognition which have in their pedigrees within the preceding five generations only Selkirk Rex, Selkirk Rex Variants, British Shorthairs (including Variants), Persians or Exotics. American Shorthairs were an approved outcross until 31.12.97 and are permitted in the pedigrees of imported cats and their progeny.

Experimental Register

Selkirk Rex with Preliminary recognition which have in their pedigrees within the preceding five generations only Selkirk Rex, Selkirk Rex Variants, British Shorthairs (including Variants), Persians or Exotics. American Shorthairs were an approved outcross until 31.12.97 and are permitted in the pedigrees of imported cats and their progeny.

Reference Register

Selkirk Rex Variants (straight coated) with one or both parents Selkirk Rex, and which have in their pedigrees within the preceding five generations only Selkirk Rex, Selkirk Rex Variants, British Shorthairs (including Variants), Persians or Exotics, shall be registered on the Reference Register with a Selkirk Rex Variant breed number. American Shorthairs were an approved outcross until 31.12.97 and are permitted in the pedigrees of imported cats and their progeny.

Selkirk Rex and Selkirk Rex Variants which have within the preceding five generations any non-approved breeds, shall be registered on the Reference Register as normal or rex coated of Selkirk type.

NB

When kittens with one or both parents registered on the Reference Register are, under this Registration Policy, eligible to be registered on the Supplementary or Experimental Register it is recommended that the person registering these kittens requests such registration and encloses documentary evidence of the five generations required. If this is not done the kittens may be registered on the Reference Register.

Any cats of Selkirk Rex appearance, either Rex or normal coated, with non-pedigree cats within the preceding five generations will have no breed number and will be over-stamped ‘must not be used for Selkirk Rex breeding’. No progeny will ever be recognised or registered as Selkirk Rex or Selkirk Rex Variants.

Any cats of Selkirk Rex appearance, either Rex or normal coated, with Devon Rex, Cornish Rex, LaPerm or Sphynx ancestry will be registered on the Reference Register and be over-stamped ‘must not be used for Selkirk Rex breeding’. No progeny will ever be recognised or registered as Selkirk Rex or Selkirk Rex Variants.

PKD Screening Scheme

A. Active Register

Selkirk Rex and Selkirk Rex Variants may be registered on the Active Register, at the breeder’s request, only if:

• They have themselves been screened clear of PKD under a recognised scheme (FAB/PKD scheme in the UK). Official confirmation of the screening result is required.
• They are from parents deemed clear because of the results from the screening of cats (as in A.1) on every line of the pedigree in previous generations. Pedigree line in this case refers to both parents, or all 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, 16 great-great-grandparents and so on, or any combination of the same inclusive of both the sire’s and dam’s ancestors.

B. Genetic Register

Selkirk Rex and Selkirk Rex Variants which are not eligible for registration on the Active Register (because one or more lines of the pedigree have not been screened clear) shall be registered on the Genetic Register, or on the Non-Active Register if so requested by the breeder. Any such cats which are already registered on the Active Register shall be moved to the Genetic Register.

Selkirk Rex and Selkirk Rex Variants registered on the Genetic Register may be moved to the Active Register when they have been screened clear of PKD under a recognised scheme (FAB/PKD scheme in the UK). Official confirmation of the screening result is required.

Offspring of cats registered on the Genetic Register may only be registered on the Active Register if they have themselves been screened clear of PKD under a recognised scheme (FAB/PKD scheme in the UK). Official confirmation of the screening result is required.

NB

Cats registered on the Non-Active register may not be transferred to the Active Register via the Genetic Register, except at the request of the breeder and the current registered owner.