A family-run cattery raising kittens with love

Eight years of breeding Selkirk Rex from our home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Every kitten raised underfoot with our family.

Years Breeding

Cats In Our Program

States We Ship To

TICA

Registered Cattery

Our Selkirk Rex cats gathering at feeding time in our home in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Our story

Selkirkish started 8 years ago in our home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We had no prior breeding experience. We had one Selkirk Rex who became the heart of our family, and we fell completely in love with the breed.

Her name was Pearl. We had been looking for a calm, affectionate cat that would tolerate our kids and be content in the chaos of family life. We found her through a breeder out of state and the moment she arrived we knew this was the right breed for us. She slept on the kids' beds. She let our youngest carry her around. She purred so loud you could hear it from another room. We had never met a cat like her.

The curls. The patient personality. The way they tolerate kids, follow you around the house, and turn into a purring loaf the moment you sit down. Once we knew the breed, we wanted to share it with other families. We spent the next year researching breeding, connecting with experienced Selkirk Rex catteries, and learning what it meant to be an ethical breeder. We did not rush.

Eight years later we are still a family operation. Six cats in our breeding program. Every kitten raised in our living room, not a cattery. We are not trying to be the biggest. We are trying to be the kind of breeder we wished existed when we were looking for our first Selkirk Rex. Honest, available, transparent, and genuinely invested in where our kittens end up.

What we stand for

The reasons families choose Selkirkish. The reasons we have been doing this for 8 years and counting.

Pet homes only

We do not sell to breeders or resellers. Every kitten goes to a family that will raise them as a beloved pet. That is the only outcome that matters to us. We screen every buyer, ask questions about your home, and turn away anyone who feels off. It is not personal. It is how we protect our kittens.

Health over volume

Both parents are tested for PKD, HCM, FIV, and FeLV before they breed. We turn down breeding pairs that do not pass. Quality over quantity is not a slogan, it is how we operate. We average a small number of carefully planned litters per year. We could double our output if we wanted to. We choose not to because it would compromise the welfare of our cats.

A family, not a business

We are not a kitten mill or a flipping operation. We are a family with 6 cats and kids who grew up around them. Every kitten leaves our home knowing what a real family feels like. When you message us you are talking to the same family that bottle-fed your kitten, not a call center or a sales rep. That continuity matters.

Raised underfoot, not in a cage

Every Selkirkish kitten is born and raised in our living room. They grow up around our children, our other cats, household noise, vacuum cleaners, deliveries, and visitors. By the time they go home with you, they have already lived a full family life.

From the day they open their eyes our kittens are exposed to normal household sights and sounds. The TV is on. The kids are home from school. The doorbell rings. Other adult cats walk past. Our older cats teach them how to be cats, which is something a sterile cattery environment can never replicate. Mother cats are with their kittens until they go home at 12 weeks.

This is why our kittens are so calm and confident. They are not bred in isolated cattery rooms and pulled out for photos. They are raised the way they will live, on couches and laps and warm sunny windowsills, with a family. When they arrive at your home, the transition is short because they already know what family life feels like.

It is also why we cap our breeding program at 6 cats. Any more and we could not give each litter the attention they deserve. We have kids ourselves and the cats are part of how we live, not a side operation. Meet our breeding cats and see how we run our home.

Three Selkirk Rex kittens sleeping together in our family home

How we operate

The practical details that separate us from kitten flippers. The way we run our cattery, day to day.

Planned litters only

Every litter is planned months in advance. We map out which mother cat is ready, which father is the best genetic match, and when the timing makes sense for the cat. No accidental litters, no rushed pairings, no pressure on a queen who is not ready.

Mother cat recovery

Our queens get full recovery time between litters. They are not bred back to back. They retire from the program when they have given enough, and they stay in our home as family pets for the rest of their lives. They are not sold off when they stop producing.

Lifetime communication

We respond to messages from our families for as long as you have the cat. Eight years in, we still get texts from families about kittens we placed in our first year. That is how we know we are doing this right.

Our promise

"Once a Selkirkish kitten, always a Selkirkish family."

Every family who adopts from us gets lifetime breeder support. Text us at 1 in the morning with a kitten question and we will answer. That is what 8 years of breeding has taught us. The kitten is just the start.

Become part of our family

Browse available kittens or reach out with any question. We are happy to talk to anyone considering a Selkirk Rex.

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