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LaPerm
The Laperm is a medium-sized cat with an elongated body and curly
coat.
The body has medium strong bones. The legs are medium in length, and
like the body also medium strong. Hind legs are slightly longer than
front legs. The paws are rounded.
The tail is about as long as the body and tapers only slightly to its
tip.
The head of the Laperm forms a wedge with softly rounded sides. The
forehead is flat. The muzzle is broad.
The ears are medium to large in size and continue the wedge-shaped
head.
The eyes are almond-shaped and set slightly oblique to the base of the
ears. They are very expressive and may have any color. Eye color has
no relation to coat color.
The nose is medium long, broad and straight. The upper part is gently
curved.
Whisker pads are noticeably prominent.
The coat is curled or wavy, but the waves are not so prominent like
in other Rex breeds. The coat does not lie close to body, it stands
up. Loose, airy waves are preferred. Coat length may differ between
individual cats, sometimes it is softer, sometimes harder to touch.
LaPerm may be longhaired and shorthaired.
Longhair
The coat is medium long, not very dense, but airy. The tail looks
like a plume.
Only the tips of the coat are curled. |
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Shorthair
The coat is not as short as usually in other shorthaired breeds,
it is medium long. The tail looks like a bottle brush, but also
shows the wavy coat. |
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All colors and all patterns
The LaPerm comes in all colors and patterns genetically possible:
 | white |
| black, blue chocolate, lilac, red, cream, cinnamon, fawn |
| tortie, blue-cream, chocolate tortie, lilac tortie,
fawn tortie |
| in all tabby patterns, for example: black spotted, red mackerel,
blue-cream tabby, etc. |
| with silver or as Golden, for example: blue smoke, tortie
smoke, blue-cream smoke, black golden shaded, blue golden mackerel,
red silver tabby, chocolate tortie silver spotted, cream
silver mackerel, etc. |
| with white (Bicolor, Van, etc.), for example: black-white Bicolour,
red-white Van, tortie mackerel Bicolour, cream smoke with white,
black silver tabby Bicolour, etc. |
| also in Colourpoint, with white and without white, silver- or
Golden-pointed, tabby pointed, etc. |
Origin
The first Laperm, named Curly, was born in spring 1982 as natural mutation in
a litter of six of a barn cat, named Speedy, which roamed freely on the farm of Linda
and Richard Koehl in The Dalles, Oregon.
The Dalles is a very historical region located at the Gorge River, the sacred
fishing ground of the Wishram Indians, a tribe speaking the language of the
Chinooks. The Wishram Indians made their living from hunting salmon in the
Columbia River. There are many Indian sagas connected with the Gorge River and
many places have Indian names, like the Multnomah Falls (Mah-no ma),
or the legend of the Fire Mountain, or the Woman Chief Tsagaglalal (She
Who Watches).
The LaPerm was born under the watching eyes of Tsagaglalal.
It is quite interesting that Curly was born naked
and developed her curled coat with an age of 8 weeks. Curly's first litter were
5 'naked' boys which developed the same curled coat like their mother.
During the next ten years the freely roaming cat colony of the LaPerm cats with
that exceptionally curled coat developed and bred without any distinct breeding
program. Amongst them were also chocolate and pointed LaPerm cats.
At least Linda Koehl realized that she might have some very special rex cats and
started to breed the cats with a distinct breeding program.
The name of the breed was chosen by Linda Koehl
herself to follow the tradition of the Chinooks, who adopted many French words
in their language. Thus to the word Perm the article was added (La
Perm), following the tradition of the Indians and giving the breed a very unique
breed.
Many LaPerm cats follow that Indian tradition and carry Indian names.
The LaPerm was first recognized by TICA in 1995.
Genetics
The Rex coat of the LaPerm is inherited dominantly.
For breeding still domestic cats are used, consequently one may have also have
kittens with straight hairs (LaPerm Straight).
© katzenzeitung 4/2008 |
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