Curly Cats – The LaPerm

Getting a perm in your fur sounds like a crazy idea to most cats but to the LaPerm, that’s just the way they look.  These naturally curly coated cats have a distinctive and slightly funny look as well as being very affectionate and loving cats that make great pets.

About the breed

The LaPerm first appeared back in the early 1980s when a spontaneous mutation was noted among a group of cats that were bred to work in pest control.  The owners were Linda and Richard Koehl from The Dalles, Oregon and their cat Speedy was the one to give birth to a curly coated cat, named Curly who is the ancestor of the modern breed.  The couple allowed their cats to breed freely and soon a colony of curly coated cats were roaming the premises.  After a period of about ten years, a formal breeding program was instituted and the name of the breed was chosen for the loose perm style hairdo that was popular at the time along with the Chinookan tradition of incorporating French words into a name, so LaPerm was created.

The LaPerm is classified as a rex breed though it is genetically unrelated to other rex breeds such as the Cornish or Devon Rex.  They have a dominant gene that causes the curly coat mutation and are often said to be ‘hypoallergenic cats’ producing less of an allergic reaction in some people, though this is so far untested.

Description

The LaPerm is a medium sized cat with longish legs and neck while its head is a modified wedge with a slightly broad muzzle.  They have slightly broad noses with flared ears and almond shaped, medium-large eyes.  All colours and patterns are accepted to the breed though the most common are tabbies, red and tortoiseshell colours.  Siamese associated colours such as lilac, chocolate and colourpoint patterns are also popular while ticked tabbies and shaded colours are becoming popular.

The coat is described as having a textured feel, not silky and having a texture a little like mohair.  The shorthair cats have more texture to their coats than the longhaired and both are notably springy, standing away from the body with no thick undercoat.  They do moult their coat seasonally.  Their coat is thickest in the around the ruff of the neck and there are tuft on the ears as well as longer, silky hairs on the back of the ears.  Longhaired have plumed tails and both have curly whiskers.

The breed has remained popular though not numerous in the US and has also spread around the world to the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Japan, Germany and Sweden to name a few.