Tysk Rex kat

Tysk rex killing liggende på et blåt tæppe

History

An early rex type cat is documented in Kaliningrad, Russia (then Königsberg, German Reich) around 1930. A rex type cat called Munk was born to the Schneider family. Munk went on to spread his genes throughout the village’s cat population until he died around 1945. However German Rex researchers do not consider Munk to be related to the German Rex breed and state that he was never bred.

In the summer of 1951, a doctor in Berlin called Rose Scheuer-Karpin, noticed a black curly-coated cat in the hospital garden. She was told that the cat had been around since 1947. She decided to name the cat Lämmchen (German for "little lamb"). Lämmchen was the first breeder owned Rex-type cat and the matriarch that all current German Rex cats can trace their ancestry back to.

The first two German Rex deliberately bred were from a 1957 litter of four from Lämmchen and her straight-coated son “Fridolin” whom she had with a stray black tom called Blackie.

Lämmchen died on December 19, 1964. She left a number of Rex and crossbred descendants and the last of her offspring were born in 1962. Most of Lämmchen’s offspring were used to improve other breeds such as the Cornish Rex.

In 1968, the lineage hinged on the efforts of the German Democratic Republic cattery vom Grund who acquired the last 3 Rex offspring of Lämmchen to not be sold abroad. A stock was established in the West through the efforts of the Federal Republic Germany “von Zeitz” cattery in 1973 and after some years, the breed slowly became more plentiful.

Behaviour

The German rex shares many personality traits with the Cornish Rex. They are playful, inquisitive and thrive on attention. They will form a close bond with their owners and be grateful of any cuddles on offer.