German Rex

About the breed

The German Rex is a cat breed known for a coat that curls into fine waves instead of lying flat – the result of a natural mutation first noticed in Berlin in the mid-20th century. It is one of the rarest cat breeds in the world; cat federations estimate only a few hundred pedigreed individuals exist worldwide.

The name “Rex” was borrowed from curly-coated Rex rabbits, where a similar coat mutation had been described earlier. Today the breed is recognised solely by FIFe (the International Cat Federation), while other major registries such as the CFA do not (yet) list it as a separate breed.

A curly coat, and how it relates to the Cornish and Devon Rex

The German Rex's curl comes from a recessive mutation on the same gene responsible for curling in the Cornish Rex, which is why the two are often confused. They are, however, two separate lineages: the German Rex descends from a cat named Lämmchen, found in 1951 in the garden of Berlin's Hufeland hospital, while the Cornish Rex arose in Cornwall, England, around the same period but from entirely different founding stock. The German Rex coat has no coarse guard hairs, giving it a velvety feel that is softer than an ordinary short coat; its density and texture once earned the breed the German nickname “Pudel-Katze” (poodle cat). Body-wise, the breed is somewhat heavier and more compact than the slender Cornish Rex, closer in build to a European Shorthair.

A history that nearly ended in extinction

The first recorded curly cat from the area of present-day Germany was a tom named Munk, born around 1930 near what was then Königsberg, though German Rex pedigree researchers do not count him as an ancestor of the breed since he was never deliberately bred. The breed's real starting point came in 1951, when physician Rose Scheuer-Karpin noticed a black curly-coated cat in a Berlin hospital garden and named her Lämmchen (“little lamb”). In 1957, Lämmchen produced the first deliberately bred curly kittens; three of them carried the breed in different directions – one stayed in Germany, while the other two ended up in France and the United States, where they also contributed to the development of the Cornish Rex.

Because every German Rex alive today descends from that single queen, the breed has carried the risk of a genetic bottleneck throughout its history. According to pedigree researchers, by the late 1990s the breeding base had shrunk to just two fertile females and no fertile male – the breed was, quite literally, on the edge of extinction. In 2000, breeders saved the line with a controlled outcross to an Abyssinian cat, a move the German breed committee (DEKZV) retroactively approved in 2005. Because of that outcross, some pedigree researchers today openly question whether the modern German Rex still carries the original “gr” mutation at all, or whether the line is now genetically close to the Cornish Rex's “cr” mutation – a question that remains open among breed historians.

Temperament and everyday life

The German Rex is a sociable, playful cat that bonds strongly with people, likes to follow its owner around the home, and copes poorly with being left alone for long stretches. It typically gets along well with children and other pets if raised around them from kittenhood. Activity levels are above average but not extreme – the breed enjoys play and exploring, while just as happily settling into its owner's lap or a warm spot nearby.

Grooming and health

Surprisingly, the curly coat is low-maintenance – it is short, lacks thick guard hairs, and needs no frequent brushing or professional clipping. Regular ear and eye checks are worthwhile, along with the occasional bath if the coat gets greasy. Because the German Rex lacks a thick undercoat, it is somewhat more sensitive to cold than cats with a normal coat, so a warm spot indoors and limited time outside in cold weather are sensible. Given the breed's historically narrow gene pool, it is worth asking a breeder for the pedigree and health history of the line before buying a kitten – this is not a sign that any individual kitten is less healthy, just a reasonable precaution for such a small breed.

Who the German Rex suits

The German Rex suits owners looking for a sociable, relatively low-maintenance cat who accept that this is an exceptionally rare breed with a limited kitten supply in Europe and often long waiting lists at breeders. Because of its strong attachment to people, it is not the best fit for households where a cat would be left alone for most of the day; it does best where it has company, whether human or animal.

Pros & cons