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Breed Profile

Size: Medium
Origin: Scotland
Colour: White, Black, Blue, Red, Cream, Silver, Brown, Golden, Grey

A recently discovered mutation with a unique ear shape.

Owner's Guide

Domestic Breed. A recently discovered mutation with a unique ear shape.

Appearance: The small ears are folded downwards and forwards, giving the animal's head a smoothly rounded silhouette. The appeal of this shape is clearly that it gives the breed a more humanoid look. A stocky cat with a wide face and large round eyes, the Scottish Fold can exist in any colour and with either a short or a long coat.

The ear-shape starts to develop at about 25 days. This is the point at which the cartilage in a normal kitten's ears start to harden and the ears stand upright. With the Scottish Fold, this change does not occur. Today there are variations in the degree of this folding, some individuals having a single fold, while others have a double fold. With the double fold, the ear tips almost touch the fur of the head.

There is also a long-haired version of this breed (see Longhair Fold Cat, Highland Fold Cat, or Coupari.)

History: The first Scottish Fold appeared on a farm in Perthshire, Scotland, near the village of Coupar Angus (thirteen miles NE of Perth), in 1961. A local shepherd noticed that a short-haired white female cat, playing in an nearby farmyard, had strangely folded ears. He pointed this out to the cat's owners, Mr and Mrs McRae. They very little about the animal's ancestry, but it seemed fairly certain that the other kittens in her litter had been perfectly normal. The conclusion was that the strange one must be an isolated, spontaneous mutation. The McRaes promised the shepherd a kitten from any litter she might produce in the future.

Two years later, this cat, now called Susie, herself gave birth and produced two more folded-eared kittens. One, a male, was given to a neighbour who had it neutered and kept it as a pet. The other was a white female, looking exactly like its mother, and this one was given to the shepherd and his wife - William and Mary Ross.

Within three months, Susie herself was dead, killed by a car on the road near her home, and the survival of the breed now rested entirely with the Rosses. Fortunately, they had a special interest in pedigree cats and already owned a fine Siamese. They were fascinated by the potential of their new kitten. They named her Snooks, bred from her and began to think seriously about developing their 'new breed', which at this stage they were referring to as 'Lop-eared Cats'.

A cat show judge suggested that they should contact a London breeder by the name of Pat Turner, who was interested in feline genetics. This they did in 1967 and Turner visited them at their Scottish home. She borrowed a male called Snowdrift, took him back to London, and began a serious experimental breeding programme. It was she who persuaded the Rosses to change the name of the breed from Lop-eared to Fold, pointing out that the pendulous ears of the Lop-eared Rabbit were anatomically very different from the folded-over ears of the cat, and that the name was therefore misleading.

Snowdrift was destined to become the founding father of the breed, with 76 descendants in three years, 42 of which had the typical folded ears. He soon became famous, appearing on television and creating something of a controversy. Many experts condemned the new breed as a deformity and before long the feline authorities formally decreed that: 'no applications for registration or show entries may be accepted for the Lop-eared (Fold eared) cats.'

With opposition continuing in England, three of Snowdrift's descendants crossed the Atlantic and, in 1970, became the focus of a special study by geneticist Neil Todd in Newtontown, Massachusetts. When he eventually lost interest, a Pennsylvania breeder called Sally Wolfe Peters took on the task of developing the breed. As a result of her programme, the first Scottish Fold Cat was registered in the United States in 1973. In 1974 she formed 'The International Scottish Fold Association' and by 1978 the breed had gained championship status at American Cat Shows. By the 1990s, despite the disapproval it still attracts elsewhere, it ranked among the top ten most popular pedigree breeds in America.

It has been claimed that cats with folded ears have also been observed in both Germany and Belgium, but it seems that in neither country has this mutant form been developed.

Abnormalities: Sadly, the gene that causes the folded ears of this attractive breed appears to be linked to certain physical abnormalities. It is a single dominant gene that causes problems when it is present in double strength (that is, in the homozygous condition). If one Scottish Fold is mated to another Scottish Fold, the kittens all have folded ears, but they are also liable to suffer from two serious defects:

(1) Thickened tail caused by the fusing of the tail vertebrae.
(2) Thickened legs, with cartilage growing around the paws, making walking difficult.

As a result of this unfortunate genetic link, Scottish Fold breeders only ever put their animals with non-folded mates. The kittens resulting from such a cross have the ear-folding gene only in single strength (the heterozygous condition),and they are then free from these defects. So Scottish Fold breeders must always out-breed if they are to succeed with this unusual form of cat. Some have bred with short-haired mates and some have preferred long-haired ones, giving rise to two basic types of Scottish Fold Cat.

Because of the ever-present threat of physical abnormalities, should two folded cats get together and mate, there has been strong resistance to this breed on the part of certain feline authorities and it is banned altogether, by law, in Germany.

In England the main authority, the GCCF, has refused to accept the breed for competition. The GCCF's formal objection was worded as follows: The ear configuration 'will almost certainly lead to an increased incidence of ear disease on account of the poor natural ventilation of the ear canal and difficulty in cleaning and applying any medication.' Supporters of the breed felt that this sounded like a lame excuse for opposing the new breed. They insisted that the Scottish Fold is no more prone to ear disease than any other breed and that their ears are just as easy to keep clean. One British organization eventually agreed with them and in 1983, the GCCF's rival, the Cat Association, eventually recognized the breed, and it is now seen regularly at their cat shows.

As with Manx Cats, and other controversial breeds, careful attention to the problems of genetically linked abnormalities by responsible breeders can avoid most of the difficulties . Outright banning of these unusual and intriguing breeds seems a rather heavy-handed response, although it is easy to understand the caution of the authorities concerned. (See entry for 'Abnormal Breeds')

An additional defect from which this breed has been said to suffer is deafness. This problem does not, however, have any connection with the folded ear gene. The deafness is genetically linked, not to the ear shape but to the pure white coats of some of the Scottish Fold individuals.

Personality: Terms used in connection with this breed include the following: affectionate, alert, intelligent, optimistic, sensible, perceptive, good-tempered, undemanding, placid, courteous, reserved, sweet, gentle, peaceable, well-balanced, soft-voiced, slow-moving, persistent, resilient, nosy and rugged.

Colour forms:

CFA: White; Black; Blue; Red; Cream; Chinchilla Silver; Shaded Silver; Shell Cameo (= Red Chinchilla); Shaded Cameo (= Red Shaded); Black Smoke; Blue Smoke; Cameo Smoke (= Red Smoke); Classic Tabby; Mackerel Tabby; Patched Tabby (= Torbie); Spotted Tabby; Silver Tabby; Blue Silver Tabby (= Pewter); Red Tabby; Brown Tabby; Blue Tabby; Cream Tabby; Cameo Tabby; Tortoiseshell; Calico, Dilute Calico, Blue-Cream; Bi-colour (= Black and White; Blue and White; Red and White; or Cream and White).

Other colours recorded include: Black Smoke and White; Blue-Cream and White; and Tortie and White.

Bibliography:

1993. Maggitti, P. Scottish Fold Cats. Barron's, Hauppauge, N.Y.

Breed Club:

Scottish Fold Association. Publishes a magazine: International Scottish Fold. Address: 12500, Skyline Drive, Burnsville, MN 55337-2920, USA.