the breed began in lakewood, california in a natural birth of kittens, but with a genetic mutation. in june 1981, two stray kittens were found and taken in by the ruga family. the kittens were both longhaired, one black and the other black and white. the family named the black cat shulamith. the black and white was named panda. several weeks later, panda went missing. this left shulamith to be the first female of the american curl breed.