The LaPerm - a Breed history

by Linda Koehl & Peter Meisinger

The Columbia River Gorge is one of the most beautiful areas in the world. The area was home for many Indian tribes and is rich in culture and history. Ten thousand years ago as the Salmon "Noo-sok" made their trip up the "Big River" to spawn; the Indian people lived with and around the most powerful and beautiful River Gorge in North America. Many Indian names are still identifiable today such as Mah-no-ma, which interprets to Multnomah Falls, the areas tallest and one of the most gorgeous falls in North America. Many legends abound in the area as well, such as the legend of Fire Mountain, that of Multnomah Falls and of course the legend of the woman chief of the Wishram Indians, She Who Watches or "Tsagaglalal". This is an area covered with ancient Indian hunting and fishing grounds. In the midst of these hunting grounds, near The Dalles, Oregon and under the watchful eye of Tsagaglalal, the LaPerm came into existence in the spring of 1962.

The original mutation, which was the first LaPerm, sprang from strong, healthy, domestic "barn-cat" stock. The original cat was unique in a number of ways, other than just the lack of hair at birth. We have found that the body type and temperament are as much part of the breed as is the "Rex" gene.

A barn cat gave birth to a litter of six, one of which was born completely bald, looking nothing like her mother or litter mates. The kitten was, without a doubt, the ugliest kitten in the world having no hair, large wide spaced ears and a blueprint pattern on her skin that mimicked a classic tabby pattern.

Within eight weeks the kitten began to grow very soft, curly hair. By about three to four months of age the kitten, now known as "Curly", had a full coat of curly hair. Not being very knowledgeable about cats, owner Linda Koehl accepted the "mutant" as unique and thought nothing more of the matter.

As Curly grew her soft fur felt so inviting to the touch that Linda found herself constantly picking her up. Curly's temperament was different too, she was affectionate but not demanding, patiently waiting her turn; she was gentle and trusting with her affection.

As a working barn cat Curly had a brush with death that could have prevented the creation of the breed. One morning she climbed into the fan housing of a pickup to get warm. When the truck was started Curly was pinned between the blade and the housing. Her yowl alerted Linda to the fact that she was under the hood. As the blade was manually reversed, Curly fell to the ground giving the appearance that she was beyond help. When an attempt was made to pick her up she revived and quickly scurried from the scene as fast as she could. Once away from the truck she calmed down enough to allow inspection of her injuries and was taken to a veterinarian. Curly had sustained serious gashes on two legs and across her nose. She fortunately had no broken bones or internal injuries.

During her recovery, Curly was the perfect patient displaying many of the qualities we have come to expect from this unique breed. She was very patient, made no attempt to disturb her dressings and seemed to thrive on the extra attention she was receiving. Removing the tape and taking hair with it seemed to be no problem for Curly either. She handled the situation like a trooper, making no attempt to escape, bite or scratch. Having strong work ethics, this convalescence period was about the longest period of time Curly ever cared to spend in the house. After the ordeal was over she would come in and visit on a regular basis but was essentially an outdoor cat. Curly's first litter was occasion for her second brush with death. However, fate and Linda intervened.

Apparently taken by surprise by the onset of labour and instead of seeking shelter in a barn, Curly gave birth to her five kittens under a tree in the orchard during a rainstorm. The frantic barking of dogs awakened Linda causing her enough concern that she put on coat and boots, grabbed a flashlight and went outside to investigate. Following the sound of the dogs, Linda found Curly straddling her newborn babies and holding the dogs off. Linda chased the dogs away, picked up the kittens putting them in her coat pockets and then tucked Curly under her coat and took the entire brood into the barn making a nest in a bale of hay. The next morning Linda discovered that there were five kittens, all male and all bald as Curly had been at birth. This intrigued Linda and she began to do research on cats thereby deciding she had some sort of "Rex" mutation. Linda found this a "novel" situation but beyond that, never gave it another thought. Curly's future litters provided only occasional hairless kittens of both sexes. Curly's insistence at being an outdoor cat eventually led to her disappearance. Linda never found out what had happened to her as she just stopped showing up for her morning visits. Curly left behind a number of kittens who had all inherited her soft, curly coat and marvellous disposition.

During the next ten years no attempt was made to breed selectively but as the frequency of bald kittens increased Linda began to seek additional information about unusual cats. Linda had no knowledge of genetics or breeding and thus allowed them to roam free through the barns and orchard for several years. They were excellent mousers and kept the property rodent free as a result.

As she became aware of how truly unique these cats were, Linda started to confine and control the breeding. It appeared that the curly gene was dominant and carried by both males and females. An occasional "boo-boo" led to enlarging the gene pool but at the same time maintained the same physical and personality characteristics.

Upon the advice of a friend, Linda then decided to enter her cats for exhibition at a show to get "the experts" opinion of what she had. But she was totally unprepared for the interest and excitement generated by the cats she brought to these shows. In order to show her cats Linda had to come up with a name for her genetically unique felines. She came up with the name "LaPerm", which means wavy or rippled in several languages. One of the first to see the cats and encourage Linda to work with this breed was a noted CFA judge, Kim Everett. It was through the encouragement of Mrs Everett and others that Linda decided to approach the idea of having the breed recognised. And thus a new breed was born.

Description

The curly or wavy fur is the major trait that sets the LaPerm apart from other breeds. It can sport anything from a wavy coat to ringlet type curls that are anywhere from tight ringlets to long corkscrew curls. The tightest curls occur on the underside of the cat, on the throat and at the base of the ears. The longhair is generally blessed with a curly plumed tail and often a full curly ruff. The coat is moderately soft in texture, yet each cat's coat is distinctly unique. The shorthaired has more texture to the coat than does the longhaired variety. It does not have the ruff, has a "bottle-brush" type tail and the coat generally stands away from the body.

Some kittens are born hairless, but most have short wavy hair at birth. Often they will go almost totally bald beginning with a spot on top of their heads. This process generally starts when the kittens are about two weeks old and they can be in varying stages of baldness during the first four months or so. The coat will generally come back but the cat can lose it again and again. Although not common, they can also be born with straight hair and then lose that with the hair coming back in curly. For the first six months it's pretty much a guessing game as to what you have.

The breed is "low maintenance" requiring a minimum of grooming because the coat does not easily matt. LaPerms' curls hold the hair, much like that of a poodle, therefore shedding is minimal. Bathing and towel drying is all that is required to maintain the curl. Blow-drying tends to make the hair frizz. After the coat is totally dry, spritzing with a fine mist of plain water works well to achieve more curls.

The coat on both varieties (long and short) may vary in length and fullness depending upon the season and the maturity of the cat. Both males and females of the longhair variety may have a full ruff on the neck at maturity. Both varieties will have a saddle of shorter hair over their shoulders although this is much more apparent on the longhair.

The face and head of the LaPerm is somewhat triangular in shape with fairly wide set ears, relatively full whisker pads and large expressive eyes. They boast a splendid set of curly whiskers.

The males tend to weigh 7 - 10 pounds while the females grow to be between 5 and 8 pounds. The breed comes in both long and short hair.

Temperament

Although the look of each kitten may vary, one thing always remains the same: the great personality of this new breed. Even the occasional straight-haired kitten is blessed with it, which makes finding good homes for them very easy.

LaPerms are very gentle and affectionate. They seek human contact and purr as soon as they become aware of your presence. These cats are face lovers, they will reach for your face with their paws and rub their faces against your head, neck and face. They love being kissed and will kiss back. They beg to be held, draped over a shoulder or cradled in your arms while resting on their backs.

They are inquisitive by nature, always wanting to know what is going on around them. Kittens have been known to stop nursing and seek out the source of a human voice before their eyes open.

They are generally quiet voiced but may be vocal when wanting attention. Being a working cat on the farm, they are excellent hunters, as well as gentle companions. They adapt well to apartment living because of their strong bonding instincts.

Linda believes that LaPerms are truly different from any other breed of cat because of their unique combination of appearance and people orientated personalities. The cats have captivated nearly everyone who has had the opportunity of seeing one.

Our thanks to Linda Koehl & Peter Meisinger for supplying this article, and for the permission to publish it.