Devon Rex Cat
Breed Profile and Cat Facts

The Devon Rex cat is an unusual cat breed. With its curly coat, large eyes and gigantic ears it has been described as having a 'pixie-look'.

The curly coated cat from Devon in England was the product of a mating between a curly coated feral tom cat and a stray female cat.

The curly coat is said to be caused by a simple recessive gene.

Chivell Anastacia of Fancy Face | Chocolate Calico Van | owners PC and Hanrie Bekker | Breeder Alex Chivell | ©Theresa Fouche

unusual features

The Devon Rex is a slender cat with a medium length body, strong muscles, fine bones and relatively broad chest.

Its legs are also long and slim with a fine bone structure and you guessed it, the tails is also long and slender and furnished with short hair.

The Devon's head is shaped like a small modified wedge, which essentially means that it is slightly longer than it is broad.

The front view of the cat's head is delineated by a series of three distinct convex curves starting with the outer edge of the ear lobes, followed by the cheekbones and then the whisker pads.

Imoya Armani | owned by M Heydenrych | bred by Danel Muller | ©Theresa Fouche

It has a well developed and strong chin, full cheeks, short muzzle and short nose. Whisker pads are prominent with curly harsh whiskers.

This curly coated cat has large, oval-shaped eyes. Any eye-color is acceptable, but generally, colorpoints will have blue eyes and aqua-color eyes are seen in mink color cats. The color should be luminous.

It has very distinctive ears - very large, cone shaped, very wide at the base and set low on the head and the tips are rounded. Ears are covered with fine hair with sparse hair inside the ear. Ears can have lynx tips.

a curly coat

The Devon Rex's coat is soft, fine, kinked or wavy and can be with or without guard hairs.

Its coat is not as neat as the Cornish Rex's coat and is described as looking more like a poodle or sheep's coat.

The coat is medium-short on the legs, tail, sides and back and very short elsewhere i.e. neck, chest and abdomen.

Sparse hair is seen on the temples. The coat will vary between individual cats, ranging from a shaggy mop of loose curls to a suede coat in others.

The coat grows slowly.

The Devon must be well covered in fur - balding in adults and kittens is not accepted for show cats, but the coat may vary during the cat's development or seasonally. Its coat reaches maturity at around 6 months.

Devon Rex colors: all coat patterns and all colors are accepted.

Imoya Elgan | black Devon Rex | owned by M Heydenrych | bred by Danel Muller | ©Theresa Fouche

devon rex information

ideal home | ideal family

Devon Rex are suited to indoor and apartment living as they are sensitive to cold. Any indoor cat should be supplied with sufficient toys and cat trees to keep them entertained.

These cats are perfect for any family.

Would they suit a home with children?

Yes, they adapt well to children provided they are handled gently.

Are they pet friendly?

Yes, they adapt well to other pets. New pets need to be introduced gradually and owners need to respect the rights of existing pets.