The Selkirk Rex originated in Montana, USA in 1987, with a litter born to a rescued cat.

[3] The only unusually coated kitten in the litter was ultimately placed with breeder Jeri Newman, who named her Miss DiPesto (after a curly-haired character in the TV series Moonlighting played by Allyce Beasley).

This foundation cat was bred to a black Persian tomcat, producing three Selkirk Rex and three straight-haired kittens.

The breed is accepted in all colors, including the pointed, sepia, and mink varieties of albinism; bicolors; cinnamon; silver/smoke; and the chocolate and lilac series.

Homozygous cats (with two copies of the dominant Selkirk Rex gene) may have a tendency towards excessive greasiness of the coat, requiring increased frequency of bathing.

Other health problems may be inherited from the outcross breeds used, including polycystic kidney disease from Persians and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy from British Shorthairs.

An allele of this gene is also responsible for the hairless (hr) Sphynx and the Devon Rex (re) hair.