Facts About Scottish Fold Cats

Types of Scottish Breeds

As a result of selection work, it turned out that only mating between fold-eared and straight-eared Scots gives a full-fledged and viable offspring, although not all kittens inherit folded ears. In the offspring of cats of the Scottish breed, at best, half of the kittens have a coveted trait. As you know, all Scots are born with the same ears, but by day 21, someone becomes a fold, and someone becomes a straight. It may happen that everyone in the litter will be straight. Scottish fold cat can have different degrees of “fold”: single, double and even triple. And it depends on genetics. The fact is that the edges of the ear are bent so because of the excessive weakness of the cartilage, it simply cannot keep the ear in a straight state. Three months later, it is already possible to determine whether a cat belongs to a certain class – show (show), tribal (breed) or domestic (pet). Representatives of cats with lowered ears belong to the exhibition type, which everyone dreams of getting.

Today, when crossing folds with straights, four types of kittens can appear:

• Highland fold (fold longhair) SFL
• Highland Straight (Straight-Eared Semi-Longhair) SFL
• Scottish Straight (Straight-eared Shorthair) SFS

Appearance of Scottish FOLD Cat

The body is dense, of medium size and length. The paws are rounded, of medium length and thickness, with tightly clenched toes. The average weight of an adult animal is 3-5.5 kilograms (6.5-12lbs). The head and muzzle are round, the chin and mustache pads are also rounded. Cheeks are full. The nose is short, wide, straight with a slight deflection. The eyes are wide open, large, round, wide set. The look is cute, like an owl. The color should be in harmony with the color of the coat. The tail is medium or long in proportion to the body and must be flexible.

Highland Fold and Scottish Folds are lop-eared cats, this is their unique trait. The ears are small, set close to the head, with slightly rounded tips, ideally facing the outer corner of the eye. The ears are almost invisible in the Highland Fold due to the long coat. Particularly prized are folds whose ears are as small as possible and folded as tightly as possible. An exhibition copy is when the ears are so close to the head that they practically do not go beyond its contour. Highland Straight and Scottish Straight are straight-eared cats. The ears of the straights are small or medium in size, erect with slightly pointed tips, set wide and high. The inclination of the ear is almost absent. The ends are slightly flared. The outer surfaces of the ears are well furred. Inside are dense and lush brushes.

Highland Fold and Highland Straight are semi-longhair cats. Their coat is thick, with an undercoat, with a distinct color tail and hind area, has a silk texture, does not require special care. It is shorter on the belly, body and legs. Scottish Fold and Scottish Straight are shorthair cats. Their coat is double textured, with a pronounced undercoat lying close to the body. Their coat is like plush fur, which the cat itself takes excellent care of.

There are a lot of colors of fur: lilac, white, brindle, marble, golden, spotted, black, blue, red – and so on.  All colors are accepted.

Scottish Fold Body Language

• Squinting eyes – the cat is calm, she wants to sleep.
• Rubs his head on your knees – an expression of love, devotion, a thirst for affection.
• Ears upright – a sure sign of extreme curiosity.
• Ears pressed to the head – ready to attack.
• Dilated pupils – the cat is in great fear.
• Careful licking of wool, the cat turns its head around – feigned calmness, something is on its mind.
• Purring – peace and carelessness.
• Trombone rumbling – discontent, warning.
• Howling – anger, annoyance that he cannot achieve what he wants.
• A short meow, sometimes a squeal – a “conversation” with another animal.
• Hiss – the last warning, a threat.
• Nervous twitching of the tail – anger
• Loudly scratching with claws – a desire to attract attention.
• Arched back – a frightening posture for the enemy.
• Lowered tail – usually means tired.
• Tail frozen in the lower position and slightly curled under the stomach – disappointment, disgust.
• Light movement of the tip of the tail – interest.
• A sharp bend in the tail – distrust of a person.
• Tail pulled back – ready to attack.
• Tail raised up – complete satisfaction.
• Tail raised up with a smoothly moving tip – you are welcome.

Scottish Folds and Humans

• Despite their independent nature, cats are good companions for children and the elderly
• “Sociable” cats follow you from room to room to control your actions.
• The more you talk to cats, the more they talk to you.
• If a cat is near you and its tail is shaking, this is the greatest feeling of love that it can express. When the tail begins to fall, it means that the mood has changed – you can move away, she will not be offended.
• Cats rub against humans to eliminate other people’s smells. The smell comes from the glands that are located between the eye and ear and at the base of the tail.
• The cat shows a special interest in your things in which you usually leave, tries to hide your shoes, takes away the glove – they are just trying to prevent you from leaving.
• A cat that wants to settle down on the bed next to you for the night shows boundless trust and love.
• The Egyptians shaved their eyebrows as a sign of mourning when they lost their beloved cat.
• When we pet a cat, our heart rate and blood pressure decrease. And people with heart disease have a chance of living longer if they have a cat, unlike those who don’t have a cat or dog.
• Purring cats is similar to treating humans with acoustic vibrations and can help slow osteoporosis and even regrowth of bones in the elderly.
• According to scientific research, the cat’s biofield has a positive effect on the human nervous system, normalizes blood pressure, stabilizes the work of the heart, relieves joint and headaches, stimulates the rapid healing of injuries, and treats internal inflammatory diseases.
• When we stroke a cat, our heart rate and blood pressure decrease. And people with heart disease have a chance of living longer if they have a cat, unlike those who don’t have a cat or dog.
• Every year, Americans spend four billion dollars on cat food. That’s one billion dollars more than they spend on baby food.
• Never feed your cat dog food. Cats have five times the protein requirement of dogs.

Character of Scottish Cats

The muzzle of the Scots, open with wide-open eyes, corresponds to the character of this animal. The Scottish Fold is a companion cat, docile and intelligent creature. Through careful selection, cowardly and aggressive individuals were bred from breeding. Therefore, complaisance and positive temperament are at the gene level. Scottish kitties get along well with all family members, including children and other animals. Therefore, they can be considered ideal family pets. Because of their uniqueness and difficulty in breeding, many people think that the Scots require some special care. In fact, they are practically no different from an ordinary cat. These cats can stand on their hind legs, sit on their butts and sleep on their backs. Rumor has it that cats standing up in a “column” knead their spine in this way.

Two Varieties of Scottish FOLD

It is also necessary to know that there are two genetic lines of the Scottish Fold cat: European and American. In Europe, the breeding of folds was built on crossing with representatives of the British Shorthair breed. As a result, Scottish Folds of the European line of breeding have a strong skeleton and loosely pressed, big ears, and their brothers Scottish Fold Straights until recently were generally registered as British.

Since 2004, Scottish Straights (straight-eared Scottish) were registered as a breed of “Scottish Shorthair” with the right to participate in the championship. Therefore, in the pedigrees under the symbol BRI (British) until 2004 there could be both a British and a Scottish Fold Straight. Many buyers prefer European bred Scottish Folds as they are large and plush, like the British, but with hanging ears. The Scottish Straights are no different from the British at all and sometimes you can find a Scottish Fold Straight much larger than a purebred British; it is considered the “British Scottish Fold”. The American breeding system had slightly different objectives. The American Scottish Fold was conceived as not a large, not heavy animal with a long and flexible tail. At first, they crossed with the American Shorthair cat, but later American geneticists began to cross lop-eared kittens with straight-eared kittens, which they began to call “Scottish Straights”. With the help of straights, it was possible to improve the shape and fit of the ears of the folds, as well as to lengthen the tail. The tail, long and tapered towards the end, led to an elongation of the entire body. That is why, in accordance with American standards, the Scottish Fold is an animal of medium size, with rounded lines with strong, but not massive bones. American Scottish folds have ears tightly pressed to the head, the tail is longer than that of the British.

Pedigree

A Scottish Fold cat can be considered PEDIGREE only if it has a metric indicating that specific breed. In this case, depending on the selected variety of Scot, the metric should indicate “SFL”, “SFS” or “SCL”. If there are no documents, and the cat is similar to this breed, then this is only a phenotypic similarity, nothing more.

Why should you buy a kitten only in a specialized cattery with documents? These documents will allow you to be sure that the kitten is genetically healthy, that the breeder approached his birth responsibly, that the mating was between genetically healthy animals, and genetically suitable.

If you are not a breeder, and if you are not going to participate in exhibitions, then it is of paramount importance for you whether your kitten’s ears are tight or not very tight and whether his tail is long or slightly shorter?  

The main thing you need to pay attention to when buying a Scottish Fold Kitten is:

• is your kitten healthy?
• what is his character?
• in what conditions does the kitten live with the breeder,?
• are they active?
• do they have a wrinkled tail?

Scottish Straights have an outward resemblance to the British Shorthair, but are not its twin breed. And even more so, there is no breed “lop-eared Brit”! The main difference is the shape of the ears. The British have small, erect ears with slightly rounded tips. The Scots are also small in size, but folded down and forward, the body is smaller and more graceful, the head is also smaller and rounder. Crossing these two lines is bad for both breeds, so it is unacceptable.

Scottish Fold Anatomy

• Cats smell 14 times more than humans!
• In addition to the nose, cats can pick up odors with the help of the so-called “Jacobson’s tube”, located on the upper palate behind the front incisors. The cat uses it when it fully focuses on some particularly interesting smell, drawing in air, slightly raising its upper lip and nose.
• The surface pattern of a cat’s nose is as unique as a human fingerprint.
• The cat’s ear rotates 180 degrees. Cats have 32 muscles in each ear, and they use twelve or more muscles to control the ear.
• Cats are 3 times more sensitive to sound volume than humans! (If we listen to loud music or the TV rattles in the room, then we should give the cat the opportunity to go to another room!)
• Cats perceive sound frequencies in the range of 50 to 60 kHz. The dog responds to sound with a frequency of about 40 kHz. A person is able to pick up sounds with a frequency of 20 kHz.
• A cat’s nervous state is betrayed by its ears – they twitch finely, although the cat itself can sit quietly and watch. You can even, touching the cat in this state, get her to hiss and hit with her paw.
• When attacked by someone, cats tightly press their ears to their heads. This is to protect against the teeth and claws of the enemy.
• Cat fights are short but very fierce. Their main weapon in fights is their teeth.
• The cat’s lower jaw trembles and teeth chatter, only if the prey is unattainable.
• If the pupils are dilated despite bright lighting, the cat is very interested in something or in a playful mood.
• For cats to see, 1/6th of the light needed by a person is enough. Their night vision is amazing! In the dark, the cat’s eye even uses the light reflected from the retina.
• Cats, unlike dogs, cannot focus on close objects, that is, cats are farsighted, and dogs are nearsighted. In fact, a cat sees best at a distance of 75 cm to 2-6 meters.
• Cats can make about 100 different sounds. For comparison, there are only about 10 dogs.
• Cats never meow to each other. This sound is for humans.
• The scientific name for mustaches is vibrissae, which is why they are often called simply vibrissae in Russian-language literature. The mustache really vibrates.
• A cat has an average of 12 mobile whiskers on each side of the muzzle. At the base of the whiskers there are a large number of nerve endings, so the cat receives information about everything that surrounds it with the help of them – about objects, about wind, about temperature, etc. If a cat’s whiskers are removed, it may have poor orientation in space, for example, hunt poorly and generally feel insecure.If a cat’s whiskers look forward, it is very interested in something. Or in skirmishes he wants to scare the opponent. If the whiskers look back, the cat is scared, she avoids touching.
• The whiskers help the cat determine if it will fit through the hole!
• Cats wag their tails when faced with a choice, one desire blocking another. For example, if a cat is standing in a doorway and wants to get out, and it is raining outside, the tail will wiggle due to internal conflict. The cat wants to go out, but doesn’t want to get wet. As soon as she makes a decision (to stay at home, or go out into the rain), the tail will immediately stop swinging.
• Domestic cats are the only feline species capable of holding their tail upright when walking. All wild cats keep their tails horizontal or between their legs when walking.
• Your cat is not necessarily right-handed or left-handed. 40% of cats use two paws, while the other 60% prefer the right or left paw.
• Only the paw pads sweat in a cat. Perhaps you noticed wet prints on the table after the examination or veterinary examination when you took the cat?
• From pleasure, cats extend and retract their claws, spreading their fingers.
• If your cat is tearing up furniture, try giving the area a lemon or orange scent. Cats hate these smells.
• Cats, when awake, groom themselves 30% of the time.
• Hair care soothes, neutralizes infecting aggressiveness. If the cat cannot decide which path to take, it should consider its behavior.
• The toilet should be in a private area where the cat is not shy, and away from the food bowl, as cats don’t like to get dirty near where they eat.
• Cats love heights. Leopards and jaguars, which sleep in trees, also love the height.
• If a cat falls, its inner ear, which controls balance, helps it land on its paws.
• The most fantastic record was set in Argentina by a cat named Mincho, who climbed a tree and didn’t come down until she died six years later. During this time, she managed to bring three litters with the same climbing cats.
• A falling cat always acts the same way. First, the head is leveled, then the back, then the legs, and at the end the back arches to soften the landing.