These are some of the questions we are
regularly asked; if you have other queries that have
not been
answered on this site, please email us.
Do Devons shed? Devons have very minimal shedding and certainly shed far less than other breeds. They tend to shed most when stressed. Is it true that Devons are hypoallergenic? "Hypo" means "low", and it can be said that some people with allergies are able to live comfortably with a Devon ~ but Devons are not NON-allergenic. They do shed very little, so there isn't hair floating about spreading allergens into the environment. Therefore there are many people who are allergic to cats who actually have no reaction to a Devon, but there are also many people who do. We have placed cats in both situations. The only way to know if a person can live in comfort with a Devon is for them to be around them for an extended period of time (hours in some cases - longer in others). A cattery
setting is not always the best place to try this out
because, while a person
may be fine around just one or two
Devons, the number of cats at a cattery can cause
an "overload".
Also, many breeder homes include another
breed of cat and/or
a dog. Although
we have heard that a Devon with a sparse coat
may be better tolerated
than one with a thicker coat, we have no first hand knowledge about
this one way or the other. Are the curls in a Devon's coat natural? Definitely! Devons are born with their unique curls and feather soft coat, which is caused by a lack of guard hairs and as a result of a natural mutation. The ripple/wave that this mutation creates is a distinguishing characteristic of the breed. Do you cut their whiskers? No. Kittens have stubby whiskers that grow (and curl) as they mature. However, the whiskers tend to be brittle and break off when the cat eats, grooms, or plays. Why do some of the Devons have a lot of fur and others have sparse coats, or even may appear to be bald? Kittens often (though not always) molt their fur, which grows back in as they mature. Also, because the Devon is a fairly new breed, their overall type is not yet consistent. What are the physical differences between a Cornish and a Devon Rex? Although both cats have curly coats and huge ears, there are definite differences in the two breeds. Firstly, the shape of the head differs. Devons have a shorter face than the Cornish Rex, and a shorter, less straight nose with a stop in it. The Cornish have a long, Roman nose. A Devon's ears are set low on the head, as opposed to the higher set ears of the Cornish. The Cornish have finer bones than the Devon, who don't have the arch in the back that the Cornish do. There is also a slight difference in the coats : the curls in a Devon's coat are not as defined as the curls on a Cornish Rex, and tend to have curl types, while the Cornish have predictable tight curls. Devons have guard hairs in their coats whilst Cornish Rex have smooth, uninterrupted down hair; also the tips of the ears of the Cornish don't have the tufts found in the Devons. Compare the pictures of the Cornish Rex with the Devon Rex, below.
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