Scottish Fold Kittens are basically a breed which has a dominant gene mutation, which makes its ear cartilage contain a fold; because of this fold, the ears can bend downwards and forwards to the front of their head region. This gives the Scottish Fold Kittens an owl-like appearance.
The name of the breed was coined in 1966, taking into consideration their folded ears. There were some slang names that were also given to these Scottish Fold Kittens such as lop-eared, lops, Highland fold, Longhair fold and Coupari. These slang names have also been saved in many of the registries in order to identify the Scottish Fold Kittens.
The basic origin of the Scottish Fold Kittens was from a white barn cat that was named Susie. The cat was found at a farm near the Coupar Angus in Perthshire, Scotland. It was in 1961 when this incidental finding took place. Susie’s ears had unusual folds in their middle, which made it resemble like an owl. When Susie had her kittens born, both of them had folded ears. They were then registered in the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy in Great Britain in 1966 and hence they had started to breed the Scottish Fold Kittens with the assistance of geneticist Pat Turner. In the breeding program, 76 kittens were produced in the first three years and 42 of them were with folded ears and 34 with straight ears.
Hence, the conclusion on these Scottish Fold Kittens was that the ear mutation was due to a dominant gene that was present in Susie and hence was passed on to the kittens. All the Scottish Fold Kittens hence share a common ancestry to Susie, which was later killed by a car.
Ear folds – Special Characteristics
The Ear folds of Scottish Fold Kittens show particular unique characteristics. Firstly, the Scottish Fold Kittens are born with straight and unfolded ears but those kittens having the fold gene dominant within them start to show these folds by the end of the 3rd week of their birth. Originally, the cats used to have just one fold but due to highly selective breeding between the Scottish Fold cats, breeders have increased the chances of having ear folds that lie completely flat against the head to double or triple times.
In the case of Scottish Fold Kittens, the cartilage of the ear is affected, which causes the ears to droop forwards. They give a cap-like appearance to the head and the large round eyes of these kittens; the rounded cheeks and whisker pads add to the overall rounded appearance of the Scottish fold cat.
The best characteristics of these folded ears are that they can swivel to listen, lie back when the Scottish Fold Kittens get angry or prick up in cases of unaccepted sounds that they might hear. Moreover, these cats are known for their unique sleeping manner; they sleep on their backs. Scottish Fold Kittens usually have a lifespan of 15 years.
Cristian Gonzalez
Howdy! I created this website to learn all about the amazing creatures that are the animals. I have two cats called Santiago and Valentina.