'AMAZOLOU CATS & KITTENS'


The Home of British Shorthair & Selkirk Rex Cats


  • Home
  • About Amazolou
  • Selkirk Rex Cats
  • British Short-Hair Cats
  • Kitten Nursery
  • Hall of Fame
  • Gallery
  • Links
  • Articles
  • Show News
  • My Paintings

ARTICLES & MAGAZINES THAT OUR KITTIES HAVE APPEARED IN



Over the years we have been approached to support magazine articles or simply lucky enough to have our home bred cats appear in a magazine.



YOUR CAT MAGAZINE 'MY BEAUTIFUL CURL-FRIEND'



June 2014





The 'Amazolou' gang, including Jetranger, Goo-Goo Doll, Hero, Ruby and Manfred.
They say variety is the spice of life, and you could be spoilt for choice with the curly-coated Selkirk Rex, with a rainbow of colours to choose from as well as two coat lengths — long or shorthaired.Not surprisingly, they have proven to be friendly and affectionate family pets which is what made Zoe Amarilli, chairman of the Selkirk Rex Cat Club, fall in love with them: “Selkirk Rex cats have a special relationship to their humans they are very playful and intelligent, affectionate and uncomplicated in nature they literally wrap themselves around your finger and heart,” she says. Selkirks are what you might call the chameleons of the cat world because they easily adapt to their surroundings. Zoe says that they make excellent, undemanding indoor pets, but will also love the outdoor life too as they have delightfully inquisitive natures. “They adore company and love nothing more than a feline companion or two. They are hard to faze and even happy to bed down with the canine members of the family,” Zoe adds


ORIGINS. . . . . . . . . The Selkirk Rex originated from Sheridan in Montana, USA, in 1987 when Persian breeder Jeri Newman adopted a “strange looking” curly coated kitten from a local shelter. Jeri later bred this kitten, named Miss de Pesto of NoFace, to one of her Black Persian males and she gave birth to six kittens, three of which had a curly coat and the other three were straight-haired. Jeri selected one of her family names, ‘Selkirk’ (which coincidentally is also the name of a mountain range, so linking with the regional themes our own Cornish and Devon Rex have), and so the Selkirk Rex breed was established, gaining full championship status with The International Cat Association (TICA) in 1994. The first Selkirk Rex arrived in the UK 2002 and after years of promotion by Jeri and other dedicated breeders, the Selkirk Rex was given full GCCF Championship status in 2009. The only acceptable outcrosses for the Selkirk Rex with the GCCF are the British Shorthair and Longhair, Persians and Exotic Shorthairs.




YOUR CAT MAGAZINE 'NO LIKEY? NOT LIKELY!



APRIL 2012





A lovely article supported by several Selkirk Breeders at the time, featuring 'Amazolou Scooter Boy',


Let the curly see the wurly, as a certain TV host would say. The Selkirk Rex really does have the power in his paws, writes ANGELA LOWE.



The power to charm, captivate and make you fall head over heels that is! ‘Paddyisms’ aside, the Selkirk Rex is a real head turner – you can’t help but be drawn in by his curly coat and whiskers, and big ‘owl’ eyes. While we pride ourselves on the quality of our photographs here at Your Cat, and I am sure you will admit the Selkirk Rex cats on these pages are simply stunning, seeing really is believing with this breed! If there’s one thing you do this year, get yourself along to a cat show and experience the Selkirk Rex in all his curly-coated glory. They have so much to offer and so many good qualities it’s hard to pinpoint exactly why they are so special everyone has their own best bits! For Zoe Amarilli, chairman of the Selkirk Rex Cat Club, it’s their loving personality. In fact she recommends having more than one! “One of the most challenging aspects about the breed is leaving them as they love company – that and restricting yourself to just a couple.” Zoe says they are so addictive that if you have one Selkirk Rex you’ll want to make room for more.


CAT WORLD MAGAZINE - 'LET'S CELEBRATE'



2009





Zoe Amarilli, of 'Amazolou Cats', looks at two decades of the wonderful, ‘woolly ones’ and celebrates their success.

It’s been six years since the first Selkirk Rex cats entered the UK and what an impact they’ve made! Their popularity has increased year on year with the number of Selkirk kittens registered with the GCCF raising from 41 in 2004 to 245 in 2007. The numbers of breeders has also increased year on year with the increasing popularity of the breed and their stunning WOW factor on the show bench.


Background The Selkirk Rex originated in the USA. In 1987, a breeder in Sheridan, Montana, was asked to look at an unusual kitten that was in a local shelter. It had slight curls and waves in the coat. The breeder, Jeri Newman, was interested in feline genetics, so she adopted the kitten and later bred it to one of her Persians, ‘Photo Finish of Deekay’. On July 4, 1988, the stray, wavy kitten, now named ‘Miss DePesto of NoFace’ gave birth to six kittens. Three had a curly coat and three were straight coated. Jeri knew this 50 per cent ratio was exactly what would have been expected from a dominant gene for curl. She was fascinated with this concept and decided to explore the development of a new breed based on the curly coat. She gave the breed the name ‘Selkirk’ Rex after the Selkirk mountains near to her house to keep the same theme as the Cornish and Devon regional names. After several years of showing the Selkirk’s the breed was admitted to Championship status by TICA in 2004.






Selkirks in the UK February 8, 2002 was an exciting day! The first foundation Selkirk Rex imports arrived in the UK, accompanied by their breeder, Christiana Aichner of the Courtleycats prefix. The first breeders in the UK were Linda Davison (TORESKA) Angela Mann (KRESANT) and Lisa Peterson (TRUEBLU). Then, in 2003 Dee Marsland-Round (CATBALU) imported Dahozo Cody of Catbalu from the USA. A seminar presented the breed to the Cat Fancy and Selkirks began to be shown.
Showing The Selkirk Rex Cat Club was established in January 2006 with the main goals being to elevate the breed to championship status with the UK based GCCF as well as establishing the breed throughout the UK. With the assistance of the Rex Breed Advisory Committee the Selkirk Rex was soon established on the Preliminary show circuit with cats obtaining merits against the set standard of points. From June 2004 until June 2006 15 cats achieved four merits each, to go towards the progression of the breed to Intermediate status. The GCCF accepted the progression document in the October council meeting that year and announced that the Selkirk Rex breed would start competing against themselves for Intermediate Certificates from June 1, 2007. Fast forward to Summer 2008 and the curlies are proving a smash in full competition. Although the Intermediate status does not allow the Selkirk’s to gain GCCF titles they can still win best of Variety and Best in show when deemed worthy enough and that’s exactly what they’re doing with several Best in Variety wins and two Best in Show wins too date! The breed needs to obtain 20 cats who have been awarded three Intermediate Certificates by three different judges before the Club can apply for full Championship status. Amazingly this is exactly what’s been achieved! Twentythree Selkirk Rexs had been awarded three ICs by the second weekend in August, exactly 12 months from the day we obtained our first qualifying Selkirk Rex. The weekend of the 9th August saw four Selkirk Rex with two Intermediate Certificates each competing for their final certificates with 19 already achieving the status, with nails surely bitten to the quick’s with anticipation the news was heard that all four at the differing shows had been awarded.


Your Cat



March 2013





g-TinA short article on the character of the Selkirk Rex Breed.

The Look, The Personality, Buying a Kitten, Selkirk Rex Roots.

Featuring Amazolou Ting-Tings and Insiders Manfred




CAT WORLD MAGAZINE



Trueblu Daring Positively becomes the first Selkirk Rex in the UK to gain the four required Merits to start the breeds Championship recognition in the UK.



YOUR CAT MAY 2009



'Simple the Best', an article about Selkirk rex featuring, Amazolou Ting-Tings, Curlu Coco, Mewsos Vincent, SGC Trueblu Jetranger and many more.



WWW.AMAZOLOUCATS.COM



amazolou@gmail.com | Phone: (+44) 01564 826976