Tennessee Rex Cats and Kittens are here in the UpperValley Cattery

Here at UpperValley we started working with the Tennessee Rex back in 2008. After two successful litters and showing to the TICA Board of Directors I ended up with no right hip. It just disappeared without any trauma to the area. After a long hospital stay and total hip installation we had to suspend breeding. Years passed and it appeared that the founder of the breed had not carried on with the advancement of the breed. We moved from Experimental to Registration Only at that board meeting. and now the two year wait to continue advancement to Preliminary New Breed has passed.

I received three Tennessee Rex and TR outcross cats from Dr. Pflueger, the TICA Genetics Committee chair who had kept cats for preservation of the breed. We are continuing with the breeding here in Vermont. We sent the full curly hair male to the other breeder in Kentucky and have continued working with the other cats and their outcross offspring.

Since the gene that causes the unusual fur is recessive kittens from this outcross breeding will not express the curly fur but will all carry the gene. With enough diverse outcross litters we can then breed the kittens from the outcrosses together and statistically have one in four fully rexed (curly fur) kittens in the resulting litters. There's a long row to hoe to achieve enough diversity to have a breed that will not require additional new blood and additional outcrossed litters.

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To continue advancement to the next stage of recognition in the cat fancy we need additional breeders to meet the TICA requirements. At least two new breeders are needed who can locate a suitable long hair whole female for breeding to one of our two males that will remain here at UpperValley. The breeders will handle raising the litters and in selection of suitable offspring to be used in the next generation of breeding.

All the kittens will carry one TR gene and the kittens that will not be used need to be neutered or spayed and then made available as household pets. I have been asking about $80 for these kittens that are raised just as I would a Persian or Siberian to cover the basic costs for the litter.

Kittens that are kept in the program will be mated with other outcross kittens from other breeders increasing the diversity. Statistically one in four of the results of these matings will be true curly hair TR kittens. Then the process starts again. By the start of the next round the breed should be in Preliminary New Breed and working toward Advanced New Breed.

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The commitment to this program is not light. It will require at least two years of your time and resources. There is a breed standard that was developed jointly with the founder and Dr. Pflueger during the research of the TR gene. Whole female kittens are not easily found except by looking at the "free kittens" classifieds or word of mouth. The female breeders (Queens) should be about a year old before they are bred. We always wsait until at least their second "heat" before attempting a breeding.

Gestation is about 65 days. I weigh the queen daily through birth and her offspring daily. It's a good indication that all is going well. From many observations it appears twat the queen will loose just a slight amount of weight three days before birthing then gain it back before delivery.

The kittens are weaned at about a month and receive their immunizations at 8 and 12 weeks. This is something that the breeder can handle without taking them to a vet.The immunizations are injections just under the skin at the nap of the neck. Kittens are ready to go at 10 - 12 weeks. By then the selection of kittens for the program can be made.

Become a part of the development of a breed that did not exist 10 years ago.

Here in the Northeast contact me at email

In the western US and Canada contact