All About Devon Rex Cats
The Devon Rex
The Devon Rex has been aptly described as a cross between a dog, a cat, a monkey and “Dennis the Menace”. A very unique looking cat, with features similar to the Alien movie star ET. A somewhat new arrival on the feline scene with a pixie like face and an elf ish, inquisitive nature to match.
A real in-your-face cat kinda cat. These cats are not for those who enjoy their own personal space. They will insist on sleeping with you, sitting on you, eating with you, working with you at home (mostly on top of your keyboard or paper you are writing on) and will follow you around the house like they are your new shadow. These cats are the best companion animals out there. They always want your attention and will never ever turn you down for some cuddle time.
HISTORY:
Sometime in the late 1950’s a curly coated tom cat that frequented an abandoned tin mine in Devon, sired a litter to a feral cat in the care of a Miss Cox. One of the kittens in the litter had a curly coat, elfin features and captivated his owner who named him Kirlee. From this one kitten developed the unique and wonderful breed of cats known today as the Devon Rex.
Considerable outcrossing was required to develop a breed from one kitten and this goes on today, usually with American and British Shorthairs in order to enlarge and strengthen the gene pool.
A Devon Rex mated to a shorthair produces what is known as Devon Rex variants which have normal straight coats but carry the recessive rex gene.
These are then mated back to a Devon Rex and approximately half will exhibit the characteristic curly or wavy coat.
APPEARANCE:
These cats are a slender, muscular cat of medium to small size with a short, wedge-shaped head and full cheeks.
The ears are large, low set and wide apart giving the cat the typical pixie face which makes them look a lot like an alien.
The coat is short and soft, wavy or curly and can be quite dense or very sparse.
The whiskers and eyebrows are crinkled and can be missing as they are brittle and can easily break or be chewed off.
They come in almost every colour and pattern imaginable and can be pointed as in the Siamese and Tonkinese breeds.
Coats are very variable including baldness, which is not a desirable trait.
Some are completely coated while others have barely any hair at all and they can be born with hair which they lose and then gradually regrow it and can stay in this suede phase until maturity. It is never a certainty as to how the coat will turn out but experienced breeders should have a fair idea.
They are medium to small sized cats with the males slightly larger than the females.
CHARACTERISTICS:
It is said that once you have a Devon Rex, you will never enjoy another breed of cat again. These cats will ruin it for all other breeds of cat with the incredibly high bar they set as far as being a companion goes.
Inquisitive and extremely friendly, they are highly active, great climbers and love to be with their people.
An in-your-face cat, fun loving and sociable they have their independent moments but are truly at home as close as they can get to you, in your jumper, on your head, anywhere you are just to be near.
Beware leaving food around as they just love eating and what’s yours is fair game as well! Low to non-shedding, Devon Rex cats are considered to be hypoallergenic to most cat allergy sufferers.
WHO SHOULD HAVE ONE:
They are great with pretty much all people and families as well as the other pets in the home. Devons have this magical gift to make everyone and everything fall madly in love with them within no time at all.
Not surprisingly they love warmth and so are great bed warmers.
One commonly held view is that they are ideal for people with allergies who long for a cat and for this reason have been used in schools throughout Australia in the “Cats in schools” programs which were designed to de-vilify cats as animals (due to the flak these remarkable animals often get when they do what comes naturally to the detriment of our native fauna).
VETERINARY PROBLEMS:
Like all specialised breeds from a limited gene pool hereditary defects can occur and that is why we at Majesticdevonrexcattery have been diligent to to full genetic screening and blood typing on all of our parents before breeding them.
They are generally very healthy, hardy cats but can suffer from cardiomyopathy (a heart condition), luxating patellas (slipping kneecaps), hip dysplasia (hip arthritis), hypotrichosis (hereditary baldness), and spasticity.
All in all a Devon Rex is delightful pet and everyone who owns one will agree that they are worth every penny and they wouldn’t entertain owning anything else.
What Type Of Food & Litter Do You Use?
We used our kittens Royal Canin Kitten food as well as soft food and a raw diet, which includes, tuna, salmon, scramble eggs, ground turkey, chicken and beef.
As for litter, we prefer to use wood pellets and I will tell you why;
1. They do not produce that large cloud of dust when you dump it in the bin which is really bad for you to breathe in and also for your cat to breathe in when using the litter box.
2. That brings me to my next point, the pellets do not produce a dust and debris that will get trapped in their paws and dragged all over the house.
3. The dust or debris will not get in their paws so when they are cleaning themselves, they are not ingesting a bunch of toxic substances that their little bodies are not able to metabolize
4. The wood pellets are bio-degradable and don’t just sit in a nasty clump in our landfills doing nothing. You can use them as compost if you wanted to.
5. When it’s time to clean the litter box, you simply empty the bin and put more in. There is no scraping disgusting clumps of nasty smelling pee and poo off the bottom of the pan. The pellets absorb the liquid and turn into a thick saw dust that dumps out easily.
6. The pellets absorbs the smell of ammonia. We have several cats in our home and you would never know when you walk in because we use pellets instead of clay or one of the other super expensive brands of litter.
7. It is very cost effective. $7 to $8 for 40 lbs...... that will last a regular litter user a long time.