- All colour varieties and patterns are recognised, including those with white.
Permissible
- Any amount of white
No breeder is on record here yet. Portugal’s FIFe member club does not list this breed in its breeder directory at all, so an absence here says nothing about whether anyone breeds it in Portugal.
Medium-sized, elegant cat with distinctive wavy coat, long legs, and arched back. Known for its playful, kitten-like personality throughout life.
Originated in Cornwall, England in 1950 from a spontaneous mutation in a barn cat litter. The wavy coat is caused by a recessive gene. Named after Rex rabbits with similar wavy fur.
Generally described as affectionate, intelligent, active, curious, playful and social.
That is the breed in general, not a promise about one animal. Ask the breeder what their own line is like, and meet the parents before you decide.
Breed reference from The Cat API.
Drawn from sources, not opinion: The Cat API; Anderson et al. 2022, PLOS Genetics (Table 2 and S4 Table, Cornish Rex rows). An empty column means we hold nothing for that side, not that there is nothing to say.
The Cornish Rex standard is published by the FIFe (Fédération Internationale Féline), the international federation of pedigree-cat clubs, and it is what show judges apply. This section sums up what it says about coat and colour. It does not assess any one animal: use it to know what to ask the breeder.
Short, not shaggy, but slightly plush and dense, close lying to the body, without guard hairs.
Wavy, particularly on the back and sides.
Permissible
Shortened from FIFe standard CRX — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source. FIFe lists this standard’s last modification as 2024. Text read on 31 Aug 2026.
The colour varieties FIFe recognises for this breed are listed, with their EMS codes, in the table at the end of its standard. FIFe describes each colour group in the General Part of its standards.
The colours and patterns the standard admits, and what it prefers, discourages or disqualifies in each. An accepted colour says nothing about health. Quotations from the FIFe are in English, as the standard publishes them; the headings are ours.
Known hereditary risks for the Cornish Rex breed, and the specific documentation to request from any breeder before paying a deposit. A responsible breeder will have these readily available; deflection is a red flag.
2 conditions documentedThis is breed-level literature, not veterinary advice about an individual animal — your vet knows the animal.
Health checklist (PDF)Found in more than about one in twenty of the breed's dogs screened, or described as common in the sources.
Breed-level information from The Cat API. It describes the Cornish Rex in general; any individual animal can differ.
An inherited, slowly progressive disease of the retina that ends in blindness. Affected kittens see normally at first; in affected Abyssinians the retina is already working less well by eight months, changes can be seen at the back of the eye at one to two years, and sight is impaired by five to six years. It is recessive, so a kitten is affected only if it inherits a copy from each parent. The mutation is common in the Cornish Rex: a 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats found 31 of 106 Cornish Rexes carrying it, roughly three in ten (29 with one copy and 2 with two copies); most of the Cornish Rexes screened came from Finland. A 2010 survey of North American cats found 1 carrier among 20 Cornish Rexes, and its authors name the Siamese as the likely source. No published study has examined the eyes of a Cornish Rex with two copies, so how the disease runs in this breed has not been described; in Siamese-group cats with two copies it looked like the Abyssinian disease.
What to ask for
UC Davis VGL PRA rdAc (CEP290) DNA test result, on both parents
Cornish Rex is named by UC Davis VGL as one of the breeds with a high frequency of the blood type B allele. A type B queen mated to a type A or AB tom risks kittens developing neonatal isoerythrolysis after nursing colostrum containing anti-A antibodies. A 2022 screen found type B blood in 33.0% of 106 Cornish Rexes, about one in three.
What to ask for
AB blood typing test (UC Davis VGL and other labs). Both breeding partners should be blood-typed before pairing.
An inherited, slowly progressive disease of the retina that ends in blindness. Affected kittens see normally at first; in affected Abyssinians the retina is already working less well by eight months, changes can be seen at the back of the eye at one to two years, and sight is impaired by five to six years. It is recessive, so a kitten is affected only if it inherits a copy from each parent. The mutation is common in the Cornish Rex: a 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats found 31 of 106 Cornish Rexes carrying it, roughly three in ten (29 with one copy and 2 with two copies); most of the Cornish Rexes screened came from Finland. A 2010 survey of North American cats found 1 carrier among 20 Cornish Rexes, and its authors name the Siamese as the likely source. No published study has examined the eyes of a Cornish Rex with two copies, so how the disease runs in this breed has not been described; in Siamese-group cats with two copies it looked like the Abyssinian disease.
What to ask for
UC Davis VGL PRA rdAc (CEP290) DNA test result, on both parents
Cornish Rex is named by UC Davis VGL as one of the breeds with a high frequency of the blood type B allele. A type B queen mated to a type A or AB tom risks kittens developing neonatal isoerythrolysis after nursing colostrum containing anti-A antibodies. A 2022 screen found type B blood in 33.0% of 106 Cornish Rexes, about one in three.
What to ask for
AB blood typing test (UC Davis VGL and other labs). Both breeding partners should be blood-typed before pairing.