The coat is short, fine and soft. The coat does not have too much undercoat. The very specific feature of the Rex-coat are the waves. When the coat is smoothed with the hand, a rippled wave effect is apparent. Along the neck and on the under parts the coat is very thin. The coat can have any colour, any pattern, the colours may appear with white or without white, there are also existing Colourpoints which are called Si-Rex.
The tail is long and tapered. The wavy coat can also be seen on the tail and the legs.
The eye brows and the whiskers are very stiff and are crinkled. It is important that Devon Rex display whiskers.

The first Devon Rex was born in 1960 in Buckfastleigh, Devon. Miss Beryl Cox lived near an old abandoned tin mill, and took care of feral stray cats. One wild living male, a curly coated tomcat, mated one of her feral cats, a tortie and white female, which Mrs. Cox had sheltered. The female gave birth to a litter, where one brownish-black male had lots of curls, she named him Kirlee.
Ten years earlier, another curly kitten had been found in Cornwall, England. This kitten was named "Kallibunker". A group of interested breeders had started a breeding program with Kallibunker. The first litter, born after Kallibunker, resulted in all straight haired kittens. When breeding them back to Kallibunker, 50% of the kittens had a curly coat. The breeders advertised one of their curly kittens, named Du-Bu Lambtex (out of Du Bu cattery of Mrs. Alice Watts), as the only rexed cat in the Daily Mirror. When Mrs. Cox read the article the made contact with the breeders, informing them that she had another rexed cat, Kirlee. When Mrs. Watss and her daughter Susan visited Mr. Cox, they convinced her to sell Kirlee to Mr. Brian Stirling-Webb, a well known rex breeder, Kirlee was to be integrated into the Rex breeding program. Kirlee was mated with several Rex queens, but all litter had straight hairs. Thus it turned out that the genetic make up of Kallibunker and Kirlee must be different. The first was called Rex Gene I, the ancestors of the Cornish Rex, and the second after Kirlee was called Rex Gene II, the ancestor of today's Devon Rex. Mrs. P. Hughes had kept one of the straight-coated females, named Broughton Golden Rain, which was bred back to Kirlee. In the litter was a little curled bluecream female. Thus it was prooved that the Cornwall Rexes (after Kallibunker) were genetically different from the Devonshire Rexes (born after Kirlee). In 1962 Mrs. Alison Ashford (Annelida Cattery) brought the first Devon Rex, named Broughm from England to America.
In 1967 the Devon Rex was accepted for competition  by the GCCF. The first North American breeding program of Devon Rex was established in 1968 in Canada importing cats from Annelida cattery (Mrs. Alison Ashford's cattery). In 1972 ACFA was the first North American registry to recognize the Devon Rex as a separate breed. In CFA the Devon Rex was grouped amongst the Cornish Rex. It took a long time, until CFA recognized the Devon in 1979 as a separate breed.

The Devon Rex is alert and active and shows great interest in its surrounding. The breed is inquisitive and very people oriented, they demand to cuddle on your laps purring loud, they like to sleep under the cover in your bed. They are always around you and will meet you at the door when you come home, wagging their tail. The Devon Rex is an outgoing breed always seeking your attention.

Devon Rex usually need little grooming, because their coat does not shed. The skin of the Devon produces a natural oil which makes the hairs lay down and curl. Every Devon is different, thus if one produces too much oil or dirty hair, it will result in a coat that separates and looks dull, it would be wise to give it a bath with a baby shampoo of good quality or with a special shampoo for cats.
The cats may feel warmer and love a cozy and warm environment. One really likes to touch them, it is extremely pleasant to run your hand over the soft and curled coat.