Published on 05/15/2008

The Scottish Fold cat is a breed with naturally occurring mutation to its ears. The ear cartilage contains a fold so the ears bend forward and down towards the front of the head.

Adopting Kittens: Scottish Fold Appearance and Personality

The Scottish Fold cat is a breed with naturally occurring mutation to its ears. The ear cartilage contains a fold so the ears bend forward and down towards the front of the head.

The original Scottish Fold was a long-haired, white barn cat named Susie who was found at a farm near Coupar Angus in Perthshire, Scottland in 1961. When Susie had kittens, two of them were born with folded ears. One of these was acquired by William Ross, a neighbor farmer and cat fancier. Ross registered the breed with the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy in Great Britain and started to raise Scottish Fold kittens with the help of his partner, Pat Turner, a geneticist. Their breeding program produced 76 kittens in the first three years. 42 of these had folded ears and 34 had straight ears. They concluded that the ear mutation is due to a simple dominant gene. If one parent provides the gene for straight ears, and one parent provides the gene for folded ears, the kittens will be Folds.

The Scottish Folds were imported to the United States and the breed continued to be established using crosses with British Shorthair and the American Shorthair.

There is one medical problem that has been found to be related to Scottish Fold breeding. If both parents have folded ears, their kittens will be very likely to develop a painful degenerative joint disease that fuses the tail, ankles and knees.

The following appearance description is offered to help you decide if the Scottish Fold is right for you, your family and lifestyle.

Appearance Description

• All aspects of the Scottish Fold are round with the head appearing even rounder because of the caplike fit of the forward-folding ears
• The tips of the ears are gently rounded
• The neck is short and blends into a round, well-padded body
• The cat stands firmly on strong legs with a wide stance
• Chest is deep
• The body is the same width from shoulder to hips
• The legs are straight and strong
• Rounded paws
• Sweet, open expression on the Fold’s face
• Eyes are large and round
• Not all kittens will grow up with folded ears, there are a straight-eared variety
• Chubby body

The following personality description is offered to help you decide if the Scottish Fold is right for you, your family and lifestyle.

Personality Description

• Playful, friendly companion that thrives on attention and love
• Never haughty or standoffish
• Sometimes reserved and careful how it shares its love
• Enjoys the company of humans and will bond with all family members
• Does not take to rough handling or rude remarks about the unusual ears
• Can adapt well to other family pets
• Adventurous

Grooming Tips

• Long hair variety will obviously require more grooming
• Ear cleaning
• Nail clipping

Follow the link in the resource box of this article to find pictures and more information about many different breeds of cats.

Written by: Connie Limon. Visit “Adopting Kittens” at http://smalldogs2.com/AdoptingKittens to find a complete online reference for choosing and caring for the perfect kitten, which matches you and your lifestyle. Learn about litter box training at http://smalldogs2.com/LitterBoxTraining

This article is FREE to publish with the resource box.