Cat breed · United States
The LaPerm is a breed of cat. A LaPerm's fur is curly (hence the name "perm"), with the tightest curls being on the throat and on the base of the ears. LaPerms come in many colors and patterns. LaPerms generally have a very affectionate personality.
Description: The LaPerm is described as a moderate breed with no extreme features, while retaining its original type. The coat, however, is distinctive. The breed standard describes a medium-sized, muscular foreign-type body with relatively long legs and neck. The head is a modified wedge with rounded contours and a muzzle slightly broader than the wedge. In profile, the nose is straight, with a break between the eyes leading to a slightly flat forehead. LaPerms also have a broad nose, flared ears, and medium to large almond-shaped eyes.
Like other rex breeds, all colors and patterns are acceptable. Tabbies, reds, and tortoiseshell patterns are common, reflecting the breed's origins. Some less common colors seen in the breed's early days were later selected for, including lilac, chocolate, and colorpoint. Recognized patterns include ticked tabby, shaded patterns, and pointed varieties; the LaPerm is also showable in the Karpati pattern.
The coat is described as having a textured feel rather than a silky one, with a slight “drag” to the touch, similar to mohair. It is usually soft, although shorthairs tend to have a crisper texture than longhairs. The coat is loose and springy and stands away from the body, without a thick undercoat. Coat length and fullness can vary with the season and the maturity of the cat, but the coat is essentially wavy or curly, with the longest and most defined curls often seen in the ruff and around the neck. There may also be longer curly fur inside the ears, tufts at the ear tips, and longer, silky hair on the backs of the ears (“ear muffs”). Longhairs have a curly, plumed tail, while shorthairs have tails sometimes described as bottlebrush-like, and both have long, curled whiskers. The coat may also form a natural parting along the back.
History: The LaPerm originated in the early 1980s from a spontaneous mutation among farm cats. The breed founders were Linda and Richard Koehl of The Dalles, Oregon. Their cat Speedy gave birth to a curly-coated kitten named Curly, the foundation cat to which all LaPerms trace their lineage. Over the following decade, a largely free-breeding colony of curly-coated cats developed on the property before the Koehls contacted members of the cat fancy and began a formal breeding program. The breed was named after its curly coat, which resembles a shaggy perm. The name follows the Chinookan tradition of adopting French words while incorporating the definite article to create a new word; for example, in Chinook Wawa 'pipe' is lapeep and 'apple' is lapom (la pipe and la pomme, respectively, in French).
