Short Answer: The Whiskers Announce Her
A healthy newborn Selkirk Rex can be picked out of her own litter within hours of birth, because the curly-coated kittens are born with curled, kinked whiskers while their straight-coated littermates have ordinary smooth ones. Her coat, too, is already distinct — soft waves and loose curls that feel plush and springy under a fingertip rather than sleek. Everything else about her reads as textbook healthy newborn: warm and pink-skinned, plump and firm in the palm, eyes sealed, ears folded, nursing strongly in bursts and sleeping deeply between them. A Selkirk litter commonly contains both curly and straight kittens, and both are equally healthy; the difference is purely the coat gene at work.
Coat Development: Expect a Year of Changes
The newborn Selkirk Rex's curls are only the first chapter of a long coat story, and owners who know that avoid needless worry. The birth curls typically loosen and may nearly vanish over the first weeks, leaving a wavy or almost straight kitten coat, before the true adult curl re-emerges and matures gradually over many months. Density and curl pattern vary kitten to kitten and keep developing well into the Selkirk's slow maturation, so a patchy-looking phase in a youngster with good weight gain and bright behaviour is a grooming observation, not a health flag. What should not change is the whiskers' message at birth and the coat's soft, plush handle — a dry, brittle, thinning coat in a kitten who is also gaining poorly belongs in a vet conversation about nutrition and health rather than coat expectations.
The Standard Newborn Health Checks
Beneath the remarkable coat, a healthy newborn Selkirk Rex passes the same checks as any kitten. She stays warm within the nest heap, her body firm rather than floppy when briefly cupped in your palm, her skin elastic over the shoulders. She roots decisively, suckles with strong rhythmic effort, and finishes feeds with a rounded belly and instant sleep. Her umbilical cord dries and shrivels over the first days with flat, calm skin around it. Breathing is silent and easy, crying is purposeful and stops when she is fed and warmed, and her mother stimulates her to toilet after feeds — in hand-rearing, a warm damp cloth does that job after every meal without exception.
Growth Through the First Two Weeks
A healthy newborn Selkirk Rex gains weight every day, and daily weighing is the habit that proves the whole system is working — milk in, growth out. This is a medium-to-large, solidly built breed in adulthood, and its kittens should show that steady, substantial early gain rather than the fragile increments of a kitten in difficulty. Through the first week her curled body strengthens: she pushes up, wriggles with direction, and holds her own at the teat against littermates. Ears unfold and eyes open towards the end of the second week, and from then on the breed's patient, teddy-bear temperament begins to show around the edges of the nursing-and-sleeping cycle.
When the Picture Changes
Seek veterinary help the same day for a newborn Selkirk Rex who feels cool despite the warm nest, cries continuously, suckles weakly or not at all, loses weight, breathes with effort, or lies limp and separate from the litter's warmth. Also act if the cord site turns red or swollen, or if she fails to toilet with stimulation. In a breed whose coat disguises body condition even in adults, founders of good habits start now: weigh daily, record each kitten individually, and never let a plush outline reassure you against a falling number. KinsLe Family Sharing keeps those first weights, coat-change photos, and milestone notes on one profile the whole family can follow, so a newborn Selkirk Rex's remarkable first weeks are documented for everyone who loves her.