insider selkirk rex katzen

The History of our Cat Breeding Hobby

The story of our hobby cats actually goes as far back as 1995 when, in the summer of that year, our pet cat gave birth to a blue-and-white kitten. It looked so completely different from any I had seen before. And so it was that I picked up my first book on cats to see what breed of cat it was. After extensive study of the book I realised that it had to be a very special cat and that I would need a “blue-blooded” tomcat for her...

My sister liked the cat very much too and so we decided to look around for a tomcat.
We went to all sorts of people offering pure-bred cats near and far and just couldn’t get enough of all the sweet-looking cats we saw. A short time later we were the proud owners of several very special cats. Most of them admittedly were not really pure-bred cats. But at that time we didn’t have very much idea.

Autumn / Winter 1995

Our cats really fascinated us. We therefore began to collect a lot of literature and in this period we visited different breeders one after the other to get an overall picture of what cat breeding is all about.

In the process we learned a lot about proper (and poor) keeping of cats and got an initial insight into the rearing of young animals. In addition, we found out a lot about cat clubs and what the difference is between “breeders” and “black breeders” and the really black sheep.

We slowly also understood the supposed difference between cat and cat.

And so with a heavy heart we decided to pass on four of our cats when they were still young.

We put our ”Norwegian Mix", our "Persian" without papers, our "Fan/Birma" mix and also our blue-and-white pet cat in good homes. The new owners, like the cats themselves, were very happy. Then as now, it astonishes us again and again to see how the “right” cats end up with the right owners.

April 1996 Our first pure-bred cat Elise (without grand title) moved in with us	Elise, Kartäuser, blue, female

June 1996 Our first Persian tomcat moved in with us.	Magic Silver's Charming, Persian, silver shaded, mmale

September 1996

Together we started cat-breeding as a hobby under the name "insider" and became a member of TICA.

During the difficult search for a suitable club we read an interesting article in Katzen Extra on the first Austrian TICA Club. It promised “something different”, especially at shows.

We got to know this type of cat show when we visited a TICA show in Böblingen. We was very impressed by the good organization, the readiness to help and the unusually friendly way people treated each other. Thus we became members of TICA.

Autumn 1996 / Spring 1997

We had already got to know some breeders and breeding stations and now started a more targeted search for cats we considered suitable.

Heike preferred the coloured cats and, at this time, Monika was already very fond of the silver and golden Persians. And so the following cats among others moved in with us

No One's Black Jack Magic, Persian, male, chinchilla
Taffytail's Charity, Persian, female, chinchilla
Colanis Impression of Tom, Persian, male, blue point
An Bi's Crazzy Dasy, Exotic Shorthair, female, weis

From our first litters we kept:

insider Yvette, Exotic Shorthair, female, blue point
insider Cindy, Exotic Shorthair, female, golden tabby

October 1997

We created our first homepage under the address www.insider-cats.de.

The Internet has turned out to be the most important place for communicating and is essential as a forum for cat lovers as well.

Our homepage was one of the first on the subject of cats in German on the Internet.

At the beginning we took our data in person on a disk to the provider to have them put on line. For the proud sum of 400 German marks we had a website for three months.

Luckily the Internet has developed in leaps and bounds. Thus on 1.1.1998 we were able to switch to a better-priced provider where we had for the first time our own Internet site. It still however cost 90 marks a month plus the minutes online. Inconceivable nowadays.

Autumn 1997 / Spring 1998

Our first litters were born.

We got Persian cats in shaded silver and shaded golden as well as Persians and Exotic Shorthair cats in colourpoint, blue, white and tabby

May 1998

As we now owned severed breeding cats with CFA papers we also joined the CFA in May 1998.

August 1998

On 22.8.1998, TICA CH / GEC insider Leopold was born.

Leopold is a Persian in what is still today the very rare colour blue shaded golden.

His descendants are used worldwide for breeding blue shaded golden in the breeds Persian, Exotic Shorthair, British Shorthair and Selkirk Rex.

Up to 2002 Leopold provided excellent offspring for us. Since then he has been living with Claudia Beyer / Zwillingsburg, from there some of his children have come back to us.

Leopold has had a very successful show career. In addition to many Best in Variety, Best in Show and Best of Best titles he was also Best blue shaded golden Persian of the year at TICA in the years from 2000 to 2005.

TICA CH / GEC insider Leopold is the most successful and most important blue shaded golden breeding tomcat in the world. He is the progenitor of innumerable blue golden lines.

TICA CH / GEC insider Leopold
Persian, blue shaded golden, male

Leopold 12 weeks old

Spring 1999 We specialized in breeding the shaded variants and had several litters in shaded silver and chinchilla, shaded golden and blue shaded golden.

Oktober 1999 insider Moni and insider Hubert Hundert saw the light of day. These two cats are the offspring of a sister of TICA CH / EC insider Leopold and can still be found in many of our pedigrees today.	insider Hubert Hundert Persian, shaded silver, male insider Moni Persian, blue shaded golden, female

Autumn 1999 / Spring 2000

In the autumn of 1999 I saw by chance at a show my first Selkirk Rex cat. As I was maintaining a website on shaded cats with Monika at the time and as this was a Selkirk Rex in shaded silver, I got more involved with this new breed. I began to read up on them and discussed them with acquaintances.

In March 2000 the first detailed article on this new breed appeared in "Katzen Extra". This was crucial to our decision to start breeding Selkirk Rex. We were fascinated by the curly fur and by the particular disposition of these cats. Together with a female breeder friend we planned to buy a Selkirk Rex tomcat.

April 2000 At the beginning of the year 2000 our first Selkirk Rex tomcat moved in. With some of our Persians and Exotic tabby cats, Diamond Snowflake' Leopold sired some beautiful offspring. Unfortunately, he had in his pedigree some breeds (Ragdoll) which are not allowed in a Selkirk Rex. To keep animals which no longer have any cross-breeding forbidden in a Selkirk Rex in their pedigree and which have Championship Status at TICA, we kept on breeding over several generations at this point.	Diamond Snowflake' Leopold Selkirk Rex, blue shaded silver, male

June 2000 n June 2000 a very special litter was born on our premises. Three kittens whose father was TICA CH / EC insider Leopold. The two female kittens from this litter where to have a lasting effect on our breeding. insider Golden Girl gave birth to beautiful blue silver shaded and blue golden shaded offspring at Claudia Beyer / Zwillingsburg, from where some returned to us. insider Ice Flower became the mother of some of our most important Selkirk Rex breeding animals.	IC insider Golden Girl Persian, blue shaded golden, female insider Ice Flower Persian, blue tortie shaded silver, female

Juli 2000 Our first Selkirk Rex kittens were born. There were two curly haired tomcats in our first Selkirk Rex litter. The parents of the two were Little Beauty's Honey Moon and Diamond Snowflake' Leopold. insider Curly Coolmann was later sold to someone in Switzerland and produced very promising offspring for the breeders Daniela Rinner / Zampa d' Oro and Anita Adam / Adam's.	insider Curly Coolmann Selkirk Rex Longhair, blue silver tabby point, male insider Curly Crisou Selkirk Rex, blue tabby, male

August 2000 Our second Selkirk Rex litter was born. A total of seven Selkirk Rex kittens were born, of which two were curly haired. insider Curly Carlson and his curly haired sister stayed with us and both of them provided us with excellent offspring. Carlson was very successful for us at shows. He won several Best in Show awards and also won the title of International Premier. Carlson became the progenitor of our own Selkirk Rex line and is still to be found today in many of our pedigrees. Carlson is now living, castrated, with us.	IP insider Curly Carlson Selkirk Rex Longhair, blue, male insider First Lady Curly Selkirk Rex Longhair, blue tabby, female

November 2000 The first Selkirk Rex special show in Europe was held. Of the then around 10 active breeders of Selkirk Rex in Europe, six were present. Twelve curly-haired Selkirk Rex cats were presented, representing at the time around 80% of the Selkirk Rex population in Europe.	The photo shows the Selkirk Rex breeders who took part in the special show: Simone Höhne, Petra Eisele, Jürgen Konzelmann, Daniela Rinner, Monika Neumeister and Roland Fahlisch.

January 2001 Our second Selkirk Rex tomcat moved in with us. Zampa d' Oro Florian came to us from Switzerland. His father came from the best-known American Selkirk Rex breed at the time and brought to us in Europe a new line with no forbidden cross-breeding.	Zampa d' Oro Florian Selkirk Rex, black, m

July 2001 CFA GC insider Charlie Brown was born. CFA GC insider Charlie Brown lives at Anna Lui / Curly Burly in Hong Kong. Charlie caused quite a sensation there. He was the centre of attention in innumerable articles and television shows. Charlie Brown graces the cover of the first ever book to appear on the Selkirk Rex breed and has enjoyed a successful show career. At Anna Lui’s, CFA GC insider Charlie Brown is still siring excellent offspring.	CFA GC insider Charlie Brown Selkirk Rex Longhair, golden tabby, male Charlie 3 weeks old

August 2001 On 8.8.2001 TICA CH / EC insider Leopold became father to 11 blue shaded golden kittens. Ten Persian kittens and one Exotic Shorthair kitten saw the light of day. The mother insider Yvett and Little Beauty's Honey Moon shared the work and made solid adult cats out of the rascals. Two of the kittens were later sold for breeding and have also had beautiful offspring.

September 2001 Our first litter of Selkirk Rex x Selkirk Rex was born. We got seven curly haired babies in the colours blue point, seal point, black and blue tabby. Two of the kittens were pure-bred for Selkirk Rex gene. The parents of the kittens were insider First Lady Curly and Zampa d' Oro Florian.	insider Baby Curly Selkirk Rex - homozygot, blue tabby, female

September 2001 We took part in the first Selkirk Rex special show at TICA. All Selkirk Rex breeders in the Northern Europe TICA Region and many other invited Selkirk Rex breeders from other associations attended.	The photo shows the following Selkirk Rex breeders: Christiana Aichner, Petra Eisele, Charlotte Baroni, Lisa Peterson, Jim and Angelika Mann, Monika Neumeister, Heike Patz and Jacqueline Wiedemann.

June 2002 TICA RW, TICA TGCA, CH, PR insider Anton was born. Anton and his sister Olivia were born from the mating of insider Ice Flower with CFA GC insider Charlie Brown. Anton was a milestone in our history as cat breeders. He had had an excellent show career and he provided us with exceptionally good offspring. Among them are for example TICA RW / TICA SGCA insider Waldemar and TICA GRC insider Maja.	TICA RW, TICA TGCA, CH, PR insider Anton Selkirk Rex Longhair, golden tabby, male

September 2002 CH insider Annabelle was born. She is likewise a daughter of TICA CH / EC insider Leopold. Annabelle represents what is now the third generation of our shaded golden Persians. She inherited the wonderful colour of her fur and her striking green eyes from her mother and her grandmother. Annabelle later added these excellent qualities to our Selkirk Rex breed and she can still be found in our pedigrees. Annabelle now lives at Claudia Beyer / Zwillingsburg where she is providing excellent Persian offspring in shaded golden and blue shaded golden.	CH insider Annabelle Persian, shaded golden, female

2003 We got beautiful Persians and Selkirk Rex kittens in shaded silver, blue shaded silver, shaded golden and blue shaded golden. Our first Selkirk Rex Longhair in blue shaded golden was born. Moreover, we got Selkirk Rex kittens in solid, tabby and many other colours.	insider My Girl Selkirk Rex Longhair, blue shaded golden, female

January 2004 On 1.1.2004 our Annabelle give birth to a beautiful litter of Selkirk Rex. There were two curly haired and one straight haired kitten. This litter gave us our first Selkirk Rex Longhair in shaded golden, insider Augusta, who later likewise presented us with beautiful Selkirk Rex kittens.	insider Augusta Selkirk Rex Longhair, shaded golden, female

June 2004 On 1.6.2004 TICA RW/ TICA SGCA insider Waldemar was born. Our Waldemar is the "ideal” of a longhair Selkirk Rex cat. Waldemar is one of the most successful cats of his breed and has made a lasting impression on the image of the Selkirk Rex Longhair. To date he has enjoyed innumerable successes at shows. For example, he has been Regional Winner many times and has received many international TICA Awards.	TICA RW, TICA SGCA insider Waldemar Selkirk Rex Longhair, red tabby, male

July 2004 The first Selkirk Rex Longhair in chinchilla colour was born at our premises.	insider Candy Selkirk Rex Longhair, chinchilla, female

2005 / 2006 We again got beautiful litters in many different colours. We devoted ourselves more and more to the breeding of Selkirk Rex. Beautiful Selkirk Rex and Selkirk Rex Longhair cats in shaded silver, shaded golden and blue shaded golden saw the light of day. Selkirk Rex and Selkirk Rex Longhair cats in solid, tabby, smoke and many other colours were also born.	TICA DGC insider Alwin Selkirk Longhair, red shaded silver, male

April 2006 Annie Wong / La Chatamanc is the owner of CFA CH insider Wendelin, CFA CH insider Jolanda and insider Wendy. She spent a few days with us to get to know our cattery. We were delighted at her visit and had a lovely time together.

September 2006 2.-3. September 2006 - TICA Annual Show Hannover / Germany We would like to give a warm thank you to the organizer TicaCats e.V. for the absolute successful show and the enjoyable time. We are glad to have been present. We got to know many Selkirk Rex breeders, among them Arnold Farley (USA) and Pamela Anderson (United Kingdom). On the Friday evening there was a very nice early-check-in party. The TICA Annual Banquet was on the Saturday evening and a convivial dinner rounded off the Sunday. The guests included Arnold Farley, Monika Neumeister, Heike Patz, Maria Egorova, Ekaterina Kurchevskaya and Pamela Anderson. The weekend was an unforgettable experience. Following the TICA Annual Show, Arnold and his wife visited us in Bernsgrün and we had a lovely time with them.	Early Check In Party Show Hall TICA Annual Banquet 2006

2007 A lot of our cats were successful on exhibition and achieved international Awards in TICA,CFA and other associations. Cats bred by us are at home in many countries, among them Canada, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Great Britain, Australia, Russia and Israel. insider cats have helped to make Selkirk Rex well-known worldwide and innumerable Selkirk Rex pedigrees are inconceivable without them.	TICA CH insider Constantin Selkirk Rex Longhair, blue shaded golden, male insider Kasimir Selkirk Rex , red shaded silver, male