History of the Selkirk Rex in the UK

History of the Selkirks arriving in the UK and our president Christiana Aichner- written by Linda Davison

Christiana bred the first three Selkirk Rex cats to come to the UK, when she lived in Vienna with her husband Karl, their British Shorthairs and Selkirk Rex. She made a tremendous contribution in the introduction of the breed to Britain, and her guidance was invaluable in the establishment of the Selkirk Rex.

The Courtlycats kittens

The UK founder breeders Angela Mann, Lisa Peterson and Linda Davison imported three cats in 2002, but long beforehand Christiana had played a very important role in enabling this to happen. She took a leap of faith in agreeing to allow three of her precious kittens to travel so far afield to people she hardly knew at that time.

The six month quarantine regulations had already been relaxed in England but to comply with the Pets Passport scheme which replaced it, the cats had to stay in mainland Europe until they were fully vaccinated and some months later tested to confirm they had adequate immunity to rabies. This meant the two girl cats , Courtlycats Call Me Madam and Courtlycats Cookies N Cream , stayed with Christiana until they were about ten months old and she undertook all the additional tasks that entailed. Angela’s husband was working in Germany and the third cat, Courtlycats Count Basie, the male lived with him there until he too met the criteria to come to Britain. Entirely of her own volition Christiana, accompanied by Karl, took the two girls to numerous TICA shows in Europe enabling them to gain titles before leaving for the UK.

Illustrating her dedication to their welfare, in February 2002 Christiana and Karl flew to London with GR CH Courtlycats Call Me Madam and CH Courtlycats Cookies N Cream, where they were eagerly met by Linda and Lisa respectively for their handover. All cat breeders will understand how heart-rending it can be parting with cats and kittens but especially older ones you have grown fond of.

Lisa with Christiana

Christiana has been happy to share with us her considerable knowledge and experience of registration, showing and breeding the Selkirk Rex in Europe. Directly due to her help and encouragement- in 2006 we established our own club dedicated to the Selkirk Rex in the UK which is now a member Club of the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy, and also the breed gained GCCF championship status from June 2009.

Christiana continues to be keenly interested in the progress of our Selkirk Rex in the UK and was tickled pink to be nominated as President of our club. We are honored to have you and to say thank you Christiana.

Linda Davison

The show history of the breed in the GCCF

The Selkirk was recognised as a breed by the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) in 2003 thus launching their UK show career. For the first part of their acceptance they could only be shown as an assessment breed, To gain Championship status the assessment breeds have to gain recognition through the merit status. The GCCF required that no less than 15 individual cats gained 4 merits each - cats and kittens did not have to compete against each other for these but only 2 merits as a kitten were allowed to count. Once 15 cats gained their 4 required merits a formal application was made to the GCCF Council for progressing the breed to the Intermediate stage.

Merit qualifying cats :-

Trueblu Daring Positively. Blue shorthair.
Catbalu Golly Gosh. Blue & White Shorthair.
Trueblu Enigma. Blue Shorthair.
Catbalu Homers Iliad. Blue & White Shorthair.
Trueblu Dashing. Black Shorthair.
Beaumaris Shockwaves. Blue Tortie Shorthair.
Catbalu Fleurie. Blue Shorthair.
Trueblu Glitter. Tortie Shorthair.
Beaumaris Bringon Thecurls. Blue Tortie Shorthair.
Trueblu Hollyhocks. Tortie Shorthair.
Trueblu Heavenly. Tortie Shorthair.
Trueblu Anns Owainglyndwr. Cream Shorthair.
Trueblu Glamour Girl. Tortie Shorthair.
Catbalu Aphrodite. Blue Longhair.
Trueblu Jetranger. Silver shaded Longhair.
Witchwillows Blue Moonligt. Blue & White Longhair.
Lelaurier Arkle. Black Smoke Longhair.
Lelaurier Abstractart. Golden Longhair.
Curlu Bodor. Black Longhair.
Curlu Bhrett. Red Shorthair.
Curlu Coco. Tortie Longhair.
Curlu Eve. Red Longhair.
Tollcross Deeply Dippy. Red Shorthair.

The proposal to raise the Selkirk Rex to Intermediate level was accepted by the GCCF in October 2006 which meant that Selkirks were then able to compete against each other for Intermediate Certificates (ICs) from June 2007. We then had to get enough cats with ICs in order to be able to apply for the final stage of Championship status. The requirement was for 20 cats to win 3 ICs each under different judges. By August 2008 we had 23 cats with the required 3 ICs making 23 qualifying cats - twelve months exactly after we had the 1st qualifying cat. This was in no small part due to the desire, hard work and co-ordination of entries by the Club and its members, who all worked as one towards a common goal.

Intermediate qualifying cats

1. TICA SGC Trueblu Daringpositively. Blue shorthair. Bred by: Mrs Lisa D Peterson. Owner: Miss Zoë L Amarilli

2. TICA SGA Trueblu Jetranger. Silver shaded Longhair. Bred by: Mrs Lisa D Peterson. Owner: Miss Zoë L Amarilli

3. TICA TGC Amazolou Rikki Tivvi Tavi. Brown Tabby Longhair. Bred by: Miss Zoë L Amarilli. Owner: Mrs Bernadette Matthews

4 .TICA GC Trueblu Rockabilly. Red Self Shorthair. Bred by Mrs Lisa D Peterson.Owner: Mrs Anne Minshall

5. TICA CHA Catbalu Quando. Black Self Shorthair. Bred by Mrs Dee Marsland-Round. Owner: Miss S L Walker

6. Curlu Fionn. Seal Tortie Colourpoint Shorthair. Bred by Mrs Pam Anderson.Owner: Mrs Pam Anderson

7. Curlu Flynn. Black Shorthair. Bred by Mrs Pam Anderson. Owner: Mrs Sue Lorton-Hobbs

8. Amazolou Mister Fantastic. Red Smoke Longhair. Bred by Zoë L Amarilli. Owner: Sarah L Walker

9 .Crinkles Jack Frost. Red Longhair. Bred by Kelly Dove. Owner: Carol Walker & Pat Creaton

10. Curlu Coco. Tortie Longhair. Bred by Pam Anderson. Owner: Zoë L Amarilli

11. Crinkles Hope. Tortie Longhair. Bred by Kelly Dove. Owner: Christine Weber

12 .Mewsos Romeo. Red Point Shorthair. Bred by Pam Beard-Smith. Owner: Pam Beard-Smith

13. Wyrewood Conqueror. Black Shorthair. Bred by Chris Hazel. Owner: Chris Hazel

14. Insider Manfred. Black Smoke Shorthair. Bred by Heike Patz. Owner: Zoë L Amarilli

15. Wyrewood Charlie Girl. Black Tortie Shorthair. Bred by Chris Hazel. Owner: Chris Hazel

16. Wyrewood Mr Christian. Black Shorthair. Bred by Chris Hazel. Owner :Chris Hazel

17. Tollcross Deeply Dippy. Red Shorthair. Bred by Emma Baker. Owner: Emma Baker

18. Tishkabar Fun Loving Simba. Chocolate colourpoint. Bred By Tricia Palmer. Owner : Jackie Cook

19. Curlu Finlay. Red Shorthair. Bred by Mrs Pam Anderson. Owner: Mrs Sue Lorton-Hobbs

20. Adsetsh Amazolou Willow. Black Shaded Longair. Bred by Zoe Amarilli. Owned by Mrs E Blagdon

20. Adsetsh Ddraig Goch. Red Shorthair. Bred by Nicola Faro. Owned by Gail Looker

20. Fanatikat Dare to Differ. Bred by Mrs E Machin. Owner Angie Morrison.

20. Toreska Little Acorn. Brown Tabby Shorthair. Bred and Owned By Linda Davison

The application for Championship status was hand delivered to the GCCF office personally by Anne Minshall and Zoe Amarilli and was approved by Executive in October 2008 so the Selkirks started competing at Championship level from June 2009. Following this the very first Selkriks to gain titles were:

UK Imp GR CH Wyrewood Conqueror - 1st Champion Male, Ist Grand Champion Male, 1st Imperial Male, 1st Uk Imperial Male.

GR CH Curlu Piper - 1st Champion Female, 1st Grand Champion Female

UK OB IMP GR PR Crinkles Jack Frost - 1st Premier Male Neuter, 1st Grand Premier Male Neuter

GR PR Curlu Coco - 1st Premier Female Neuter

UK, OG, IMP GR PR Curlu Neve - 1st Grand Premier Neuter, 1st Female Imperial Neuter, 1st Selkirk to achieve Olympian

IMP GR CH Crinkles Hope - 1st Imperial Female

IMP GR PR Curlu Oscar - 1st Imperial Male Neuter