Cornish Rex

This elegant lady has been rather fabulously named ‘Quails Nest Kissing Time of Boska’, or Kissy III for short. The regal moniker is quite appropriate, really, for a kitty with such a beautiful, wavy fur coat – or, to be precise, undercoat. Unlike other cats, the Cornish Rex (for this is our next breed) lacks the two outer layers of hair, known as guard hair and awn hair, respectively. Instead, it’s only protected by a silky down layer. And the Cornish Rex, along with the Devon Rex, has much softer fur than other cats.

As well as their beautiful hair, Cornish Rexes also have other distinguishing features, such as high cheekbones, hollow cheeks, long ‘Roman’ noses, strong chins, small waists, and long legs. It sounds like they were made for the catwalk! And as if that weren’t enough, the breed also flaunts a stylish selection of colors, including lilac, cream, ‘smoke’, tortoiseshell, and ‘tuxedo’.

The ‘Rex’ part of this kitty’s name means ‘king’ in Latin, of course, although what you might not know is that this harks back to a time when King Albert I of Belgium entered some curly-haired rabbits into a show. Since then, it has become tradition to add ‘Rex’ to the moniker of breeds with curly or unusual fur. As the first part of its name implies, the Cornish Rex was first bred in Cornwall. The breed can be traced back to a male cat called Kallibunker; not quite ‘Quails Nest Kissing Time of Boska’, but a sweet name nevertheless.