Pictures of 'Poodle Cat' kittens

These are really nice pictures of cats; specifically pictures of "Poodle Cat" kittens. There are a few things to say about them. Firstly, they are an excellent example of the Selkirk Rex, which is how they should be referred to. It's an important point because journalists and people outside the cat fancy or cat world tend to refer to Selkirk Rex cats as 'Poodle Cats', which creates a bit of confusion because there just so happens to be a super-rare cat breed which you probably can't buy because there may be none left named the, guess what, Poodle Cat. 

It is also a curly-haired domestic cat looking quite similar to the Selkirk Rex but it is not. It is a distinct cat breed with a genuine name.

Selkirk Rex kitten, AKA Poodle Cat. Picture in the public domain.

Some people refer to the Selkirk Rex as a "cat in sheep's clothing". That's another way to describe this breed but 'Poodle Cat' caught the imagination and it sort of stuck. Despite a certain amount of celebrity being acquired by that interesting name, the Selkirk Rex is relatively unpopular in comparison to the other mainstream cat breeds. 

I'm not sure why because I think it's a beautiful cat. You probably know that the curly hair is caused by a genetic mutation. Quite a lot of breeds have been started that way because genetic mutations happen spontaneously and they often cause the cats to look interestingly different. Their anatomy is altered in a way which interests people.

Selkirk Rex kittens AKA Poodle Cat kittens. Picture in the public domain.

A classic example of course is the Sphynx cat which is hairless. Another is the Manx cat which is tailless. You can see that genetic mutations can sometimes remove an item of a cat's anatomy. In doing this they have lost a part of themselves which nature gave to them. Both the tail and the coat of a cat are important. Arguably, their behaviour is altered by losing these items of their anatomy. 

You might say that it is unfair on them that cat breeders created a breed out of what we have to regard as a defect. This is my beef with some of the cat breeds. They are built on a deficiency or a defect. This is not something that we would do with our fellow humans. It's quite the opposite. We try and avoid humans being born with anatomical defects due to genetic mutation for obvious reasons. Why then do we promote and become excited about the same thing when it concerns a cat? That is the beginning of a very deep and I would argue slightly unpleasant philosophical argument which I won't get into.