Kinky the Purple Cat: A Cornish Rex living in America

This little website is in memory of Kinky the Purple Cat.
She died October 18, 2005.
She was one tough kitty till the end.
It took me a long time to recover from the loss and to be able to come back on here and put this up.
I now have two new kitties I saved - Loki (from Maine) and Tanus (from Arizona).
I will be creating a new little website for them.

Cheerio! Here you will find all kinds of information about Cornish Rex cats which hail from England. Everything is from Kinky's point of view including her story. If you have any questions or comments, please ask your human to e-mail Kinky or Sign the Guestbook. Thank you!

History
My story starts in England with my ancestor, Kallibunker, and ends here in Maine, USA. My ancestor, Kallibunker, was born July 21, 1950 at Bodmin Moor - a rocky, windswept highland in Cornwall, England, Nina Ennismore's home. Supposedly, the first litter of Cornish Rex developed due to a mutated gene, which is recessive. Madame Ennismore bred Kallibunker to his mother, Serena and a litter of three from this union - a female and two males - was born in August 1952. The female was normal-coated, the males were both rex. One of those died at seven months; the other, named Poldhu, joined Kallibunker as one of the early fathers of the rex breed, which was called the Cornish rex after its place of origin.
Note: The Devon Rex are of a similar mutated gene, but were born in Devonshire, England, hence the name Devon Rex.

After Nina Ennismore had inbred her rex cats as far as prudently possible, she began to outcross to ordinary shorthair cats so as not to risk the rex cats' health or reproductive ability. As Ennismore's cat population grew - she had more than 40 cats at one point, a figure well above red line - she discovered that she wasn't able to sell enough kittens to defray expenses. She elected, therefore, to put a number of her cats to sleep in 1956. Kallibunker and Serena were among that unfortunate lot. Their son, Poldhu, suffered an untimely, though less decisive, fate when two veterinarians performed a testicular biopsy on him to determine whether he was a plain blue-tabby-and-white male or a rare, siring blue-cream-and-white. The vets had assured Ennismore that this procedure "would in no way affect" Poldhu's ability to reproduce, but the biopsy was the unkindest cut of all for he never sired again. And as though to add ineptitude to irony, the tissue sample taken from the unsuspecting cat was lost in the laboratory along with his virility. Nina Ennismore had stopped working with rex cats entirely by the late 1950s, but Brian Stirling-Webb was determined to see the rex established as a breed. As of 1960, however, only one rex male remained in Britain.

Before giving up her cats altogether, Nina Ennismore had sent several rex to breeders in the United States. A female named Lamora Cove (bred to her father, Poldhu, before his unfortunate biopsy) was sent to a breeder in California in 1957. Two of Lamora Cove's offspring - Diamond Lil of FanTCee and Marmaduke of DazZling - are cats from whom all Cornish rex in America descend.

The Cornish rex was a straightaway success in North America. In 1963 the breed was accepted for championship competition by the Canadian Cat Association and the American Cat Fanciers Association. Eventually all the other cat registries in North America recognized the Cornish rex as a separate breed. For a time, however, the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) did not acknowledge the difference between Cornish and Devon rex, despite genetic evidence to the contrary. CFA registered all rex as Cornish until 1979, when it finally agreed to create a separate breed designation for the Devon rex.

My parents are from the Chicago, IL area in the USA. I was at a cat show there, when I met my human "grandmother". She was my first human "mother". She took me home with her and I originally lived with her and 4 other cats in the Rockford, IL area, till my first human mother moved to Portland, Maine. When we got to Maine, my housemates included a little long-haired Chihuaha, Cujo, a German Rottweiler, Grizzly and another cat, Autumn. The dogs were the typical dogs. I had to smack them around a bit, when they got a little too close, but other than that, they were very amusing. I have found my humans to be very entertaining as well. My first human "mother" let me live with her son and his girlfriend. I went from a house with two dogs and another cat, to a home all my own! Man, did I have them whipped! They "spoiled" me, as they said, which is what they should do. We moved a bit, so I've had an opportunity to go walking out in the country and in town.

I now live with one of those humans, my "mom", who is now not only my handler but also my "owner"! She never stops taking photos of me! We live in a rural area so I get to go walking a lot in the summer. Now I live in a two-story house with stairs! I LOVE stairs. My human thinks it's funny how I run up and down the stairs. She says I sound like a horse when I come running downstairs. *sigh* I'm a cat, not a horse! It looks like I'm the only Cornish Rex around here. We've seen plenty of dogs and cats, but I'm definitely one of a kind in this part of Maine.

Description
**Note: The Cornish Rex may or may not be a cat for persons seeking a hypoallergenic pet. Some people who are allergic to cats can tolerate a Rex because its short coat doesn't hold dust, dander and saliva as well as a normal coat does, but others have a reaction to the rex coat. Anyone with allergy problems interested in any breed of cat should spend some time visiting with and handling that breed before deciding whether to not to take one home.**

A Cornish Rex is a small- to medium-sized cat with an extremely soft, wavy coat, fine bones and a race-car chassis. A Cornish Rex has a long, graceful neck that leads to a comparatively small, narrow, somewhat egg-shaped head. A rounded forehead, a distinctive Roman nose with a high, prominent bridge, a pronounced muzzle break, medium to large, oval-shaped eyes (a full eye's width apart), and large ears (erect, alert, and set high on the head) give the Cornish Rex a signature appearance.

Cornish Rex are known for their soft, wavy, curly hair; even the whiskers curl. The coat feels like crushed velvet to the touch. This is because Cornish Rex only have the base coat, with no guard hairs. Our coats have a relatively dense, tight, uniform marcel wave, lying close to the body and extending from the top of the head across the back, sides, hips and tail. Cornish Rex have a slender, fine-boned body standing on long legs with a naturally arched back, a narrow head, enormous "bat ears," and we have a commanding tuck up: The lower line of the abdomen curves upward toward the spine, which ends in a long, slender, tapering, extremely flexible, whippy tail.

Cornish Rexes require lots of vertical space to play in addition to plenty of running room. We have a very high activity level and love to play. We are a very endearing breed and are often referred to as "Velcro kitties" because we LOVE to snuggle and cling to our humans. We love to be where the action is, and that's usually where the people are; consequently, Cornish Rexes tend to follow their humans like puppies and involve themselves (uninvited) in whatever is going on. We are extremely intelligent and one can watch us and almost hear the wheels turning in our little heads. This has prompted another description for the Cornish Rex - con artists in fur.

Because the Cornish Rex breeding program is so varied in the United States, we have no known breed-related health problems. The Cornish Rex appetite is legendary. Since our activity level is so high, we require a large amount of fuel to sustain us. Many breeders permit their Rex to free feed without the cats ever having a weight problem. Other Rex view a bowl of food as a personal challenge to be vanquished, and will not stop eating until every crumb is gone. (That's me!) Nearly all are omnivores, each having a favorite vegetable (usually beans, peas, corn, or broccoli) and many have a penchant for fruit (usually apples and bananas). Myself, I LOVE oatmeal with blueberries and honey.

One might think the Cornish Rex high activity level and enormous appetite an indication that we burn out quickly, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Cornish Rex have long lifespans and are determined to crowd as much joy as possible into each moment. A Rex should live to 15 years and it isn't unusual at all for them to surpass 20. The Cornish Rex may grow old, but they never seem to grow up. Cats well into their teens often play like kittens several times each week. They never lose their zest for life. Anything not nailed or glued down is likely to become a Rex toy, and you'll recover said objects far from their previous locations and in the most unusual places. Usually a Rex doesn't tire of a particular toy; they just find something else more interesting. They may go through several of your possessions before it's time for the afternoon nap. Living with a Cornish Rex means child-proofing your home...all the way to the ceiling!

My human decided to do an official Christmas photo this year. She made me wear a stupid hat which I do NOT like at all! I look so undignified, as you can tell from my expression. Thank goodness the photos only took a couple of minutes. I couldn't take it anymore! Between the hat and my human's hair, I felt strangled. My human thinks it's cute, however I do not. The things humans do to us at Christmas.... geesh!

This winter, I spent most of my time burrowing in my human's bed. It was very cold this year. Some nights, my human even used a space heater! Those things are NICE. Now that it is Spring, I can venture outside. I talked my human into taking me out last weekend. It was beautiful! She got me this silly collar - purple with rhinestones. *sigh* She said to me, "Look sweetie! A pretty collar for a pretty kitty!" Even though it looks silly and itches like crazy, it IS rather pretty. I kind of like it now. I love that it has a bell and it drives my human nuts, especially at night when she's trying to sleep. :D

The computer monitors are a great place to sleep. May not be very comfy, but toasty warm!

I keep my humans in line - giving hugs and kisses before they leave the house and as soon as they walk in the door.

I've had 25 visitors for Tea & Biscuits Last Modified 29 Jun 2007 © Copyright 2003-2005 Kinky the Purple Cat

I've had 25 visitors for Tea & Biscuits
Last Modified 29 Jun 2007
© Copyright 2003-2005 Kinky the Purple Cat