The Devon Rex's distinctive curly coat is governed by a recessive allele (re) at the Rex locus, which is non-allelic to the Cornish Rex gene (r) — crosses between the two produce straight-coated offspring (re/r) — a critical distinction in feline genetics programs involving either Rex breed. The pigmentation genetics of the Devon Rex are entirely unrestricted under FIFe standard, accepting all base colors at the B locus, the full colourpoint series, all tabby patterns, and all O-locus combinations, making EMS color calculator use essential for managing the full combinatorial space. Given the DRX's history of outcrossing to BSH, SIA, and other breeds, alleles for chocolate (b), cinnamon (bl), colourpoint (cs), and dilution (d) are all distributed widely in the population.
Common recessive carriers
The re allele (Devon Rex coat gene) is recessive; heterozygous animals (Re/re) are straight-coated and cannot be distinguished from wild-type without test mating or genetic testing. All color-locus recessives (b, bl, d, cs) are present in DRX populations. Colourpoint (cs/cs) Devon Rex are fully accepted. Inhibitor (I) locus silver, smoke, and shaded phenotypes are accepted.
Breed-specific restrictions
No color or pattern restrictions apply to the Devon Rex under FIFe standard. The re allele must be differentiated from the Cornish Rex (r) allele — they are non-allelic and crosses produce wavy-coated rather than curly-coated offspring. The Sphynx hairless allele (hr) is also non-allelic to re; SPH × DRX outcrosses have been used historically but re/hr compound heterozygotes are straight-coated.
Pattern quirks
All tabby patterns (22, 23, 24, 25) are accepted. The Devon Rex coat texture may modify the visual appearance of tabby pattern contrast and white-spotting boundaries due to the reduced guard-hair structure, but EMS coding follows standard phenotypic assessment rules. Colourpoint DRX are valid and their cs/cs genotype must be registered correctly in EMS.
DRX nBlack (solid)DRX b 24Chocolate Spotted TabbyDRX a 33Blue ColourpointDRX f 22Black Tortie Classic TabbyDRX ns 23Black Silver Mackerel TabbyDRX cLilac (solid)Free online tool to predict kitten coat colors based on Mendelian genetics. Select the breed and appearance of sire and dam to see color probabilities.
Enter the appearance of both parents to calculate color predictions.