German Rex

Breed Profile

In August 1951 Doctor Rose Scheuer-Karpin was working in a hospital in Berlin called the Hufeland Krankenhaus when she befriended a female black cat who she called Laemmchen, (which means Lambkin) because of her lamb-like curly coat. She had been living in the hospital grounds for about four years and was fed by the nurses who let her sleep in the basement where she also reared at least one litter of kittens.

Doctor Scheuer-Karpin adopted Laemmchen and let her continue having litters with her other cat, a straight haired male named Blackie, but at the time she could find no one interested in working on the breed with her. Then in 1953 she got in touch with a group of Cornish Rex breeders in England who gave her encouragement, but Laemmchen would not mate with any of her sons and only had eyes for Blackie.

It was not until 1956 that Blackie disappeared and Laemmchen mated with her son Friedolin. This mating produced three rexes and one straight coated and the breeding programme continued from there. One cat was sent to Britain, but died in quarantine and German Rexes have not yet made it back to our shores. Others went to the famous feline geneticist Professor Letard in Paris, who was the first person to show the German Rex at the Paris Cat Club in 1960. During the 60s American breeders Mr and Mrs Muckenhoupt imported cats to start their own breeding programme. Unfortunately the breed lost popularity to the other rexes but in 1968 the Barendsfield family started a new breeding programme with three cats called Brutus, Beatrix and Jeanette. The 1980s saw a resurgence of interest with numbers now increasing in Germany and other countries, and recognition granted by FIFe in 1982. German Rexes are medium cats with rounded heads. They have a similar ripple to their close cousins the Cornish rex, but have a thicker coat.

• German Rex Photo Gallery