Scottish Fold
The folded ear comes from a cartilage mutation, and every kitten is born with straight ears that fold at about three weeks. The breed traces to one barn cat.
Photo by Vladimir Pustovit, CC BY 2.0
Overview
The Scottish Fold descends from a single white barn cat called Susie, found in Tayside in 1961 with ears that folded forward. Kittens are born with straight ears and the fold appears at about three weeks.
The fold is caused by a dominant variant in TRPV4, and TRPV4 codes for a channel involved in cartilage development throughout the body. The gene that folds the ear is the gene that affects the skeleton, and they cannot be separated.
Temperament
Placid, affectionate and quiet. Folds are gentle, undemanding cats that like company, sit in laps and are patient with children and other animals.
They are famous for sitting in odd positions, upright with the legs out, and it is worth knowing that this is sometimes read by veterinary specialists as a comfort posture rather than a quirk.
Care and grooming
A weekly brush for the shorthair and twice weekly for the longhair, plus regular gentle ear cleaning, since a folded ear ventilates poorly and collects wax.
The joints are what actually need monitoring. Scottish fold osteochondrodysplasia produces misshapen toes and small feet, thickened inflexible tails and accelerated progressive osteoarthritis, and a single copy of the variant is enough to cause it.
Living and exercise
A calm indoor household with soft surfaces, easy access to everything, and no requirement to jump.
The honest position on this breed is that its defining feature is a skeletal disorder. Any cat carrying the ear folding variant can develop the joint disease, breeding two folds together is unacceptable, and some countries have moved to restrict breeding it at all. Anyone buying one should go in knowing that, and should budget for pain management later in life.
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