Ural Rex

Galina Devyatkova, a World Cat Federation (WCF) breeder from Russia, proudly shows a live example of one of the WCFs newest breeds, a Ural Rex to the WCC 2007 seminar attendees

According to the observations of local inhabitants, the curly cats in Sverdlovsk region (now in Ekaterinburg) were first seen during the middle of the 20th century. As thers was no cat fancy in the Soviet Union time, these cats were considered curiosities and no one bred them.

The coat of the Ural Rex is not like the other rex breeds.

This dense coat, with its fine structure and double, close-lying waves was achieved by generations of inbreeding, moreover this structure is already apparent at a younger age than in most rex breeds. Ural Rex kittens at 3-4 months have well expressed, half-closed curls that later turn into even waves by the age of 6-7 months. As coat density improves, the presence of fine guard hairs became more noticeable. Evidently with this is connected the fact that the curl with all its even and dense structure has half-closed character until the age of 1.5 - 2 years, and even later in cats with a longer coat.

The development of the colour of the Ural rex is also very interesting. The kitten hair has a greyish hue; in the period of the first moult it is very important to groom the kittens well to ensure that all the old grey hair is removed. This is important as it could surely influences the quality of the curl and intensiveness of the colour. The coat of adult cats in black and black tabby colours tarnishes easily and after two years acquires a brown hue in a solid black and a bright golden on a dark background in black tabby cats. This must be taken into account during judging.

The breed type of the Ural Rex is easily recognized. The head is in the shape of a short wide equilateral wedge, slightly domed top of head with a definite gentle dip to the nose at the level of the lower eyelid. High cheek-bones with visible cheeks in adults. Small rounded muzzle with a slight pinch. Wide, straight nose with a dip on the level of the lower eyelid, the bridge of the nose is quite flat. Eyes are oval, large, open, set as wide as possible.

An example of a Ural Rex red and white - ©2007 Valeri & Nataliya Sinitsyn

Body is rather strong, with well-developed muscles on slim, strong legs with small paws.

Tail is thin, with a blunt end. The cat gives an impression of a strong, muscular animal on slim legs with a soft, dense coat. The eyes are large, rounded, widely open and slanting eyes and the head has soft, rounded lines with a well expressed muzzle.

Comparing Ural Rex to other rex breeds, we can see that the Cornish are of much more elegant build, with a wedge-shaped head, large ears, with a shorter softer coat devoid of guard hair. The Devon has more prominent contours on a short broad head, a very distinct profile with a nose break, very large ears and a shorter finer coat, with less regular waves. Compared with the German Rex, the Ural has a springier, flatter-lying wave, a more modified head wedge with a definite profile curve on the level of the lower eye lid, a flattened nose bridge, a well defined muzzle with a slight pinch, larger, wider set eyes.

We now have healthy animals of the same type with well-expressed breed features.

The founder of the breed was the curly black bi-color cat Vasiliy, which was born in 1988, in Zarechniy not far from Sverdlovsk.

He was mated to his mother, a shorthair black spotted tabby and white cat with the traditional name Mura. In 1994 a black bicolor, Bars and a black spotted named Murka were born. Later classic inbreeding programmes were used: Vasiliy x Murka, the female cats from this mating were then bred to Bars, Bars's daughters then bred back to Bars.

As a result two aims were achieved: on the one hand, the the Ural Rex cats were checked for any harmful anomalies, and, on the other hand, the better features of the ancestors and the stable growth of the population were fixed in the breed.

We find it very important that throughout all the years of close inbreeding no anomalies were found. The Urals Rex has excellent health. To broaden the gene pool, we have also used Celtic Shorthair.

The Ural Rex is seen more and more often in cat shows and charms everybody by its cheerful and balanced temperament, its fine curly hair and unique appearance.

In the 1990s test matings with both Cornish and Bohemian Rex cats were carried out. The kittens rsulting from these matings all had  normal, straight coats. This fact proves non-allelic mutation of the Ural and Cornish rexes.

Nowadays in Ekaterinburg and its region the basic work with Ural Rex is taking place in the club "Grace" in the catteries "Ural Rex", "Fairy Tale", "Emerald" and by owners of individual females.

In 1997 T.S.Emelyanova took to Moscow two female cats Merlusha and Bonny and a male cat, Clide.  These cats were the foundation of the breeding of the Ural Rex in Moscow.

E.Fedorenko
AB WCF judge, president of the club "Grace" Ekaterinburg