The lineage of all Selkirk Rexes can be traced back to Miss DePesto, the first-ever Selkirk Rex kitten. She was named after Jeri Newman’s stepfather, her breeder.

When Newman from the Noface Cattery in Livington, Montana realized that DePesto carried “the dominant curly-coat gene, but also the recessive gene for long hair,” he was quite surprised, according to Pet Finder. In order to produce a long-haired offspring, both parents must possess at least one copy of the long hair gene, and that’s exactly what happened.

The breed was presented to TICA’s board of directors back in 1990 and became a new addition to the New Breed and Color class. Two years later, the breed was registered in the miscellaneous class by the CFA. Selkirk Rex is one of the most-loved and unique cat breeds to have emerged in recent decades. It even achieved the CFA championship status in 2000.

While these days most Selkirk Rexes are born with curls, some of them are also born with straight hair. Their waves tend to become much more defined as they get older. Many people call them “teddy bears” since they are super soft to the touch.

These four adorable kittens are melting hearts all over social media.

They have more than 111k followers on Instagram who enjoy seeing their updates regularly.