Scottish fold cat

Scottish fold cat
young Scottish Fold tomcat, which is characterized by his typical folding ears and his gray, thick fur Scottish Fold in the color Red Tabby Scottish Fold in the color Blue-Silver Tabby
Origin:	United Kingdom
Alternative names:	Scottish Fold, Highland Fold
Fur length:	Shorthair cat
Weight:	Male : 2.6–6 kg female: 2.6–6 kg
generally recognized colors:	Black, Blue, Red Black Classic Tabby, Silver Mackerel Tabby, Tortie, Blue Tortie with white
permitted coat pattern:	Tabby, Mackerel, Tortie
List of cat breeds

The Scottish Fold ( Scottish Fold ) is a shorthair cat , whose main feature to the front hanging ears, so-called folded ears are. This trait is the result of a stable and inheritable mutation . The Scottish Fold cat breed emerged from breeding efforts in Great Britain in the early 1960s . It is now mainly bred in the United States today due to the varying degrees of recognition from breed associations around the world .

history

Highland Fold

Cats with the genetic anomaly "fold ears" were described in China as early as the 19th century and in England at the beginning of the 20th century . The history of the Scottish Fold as a cat breed began in 1963 with the litter of five fold-eared kittens from a mating of a fold-eared male and a British shorthair cat. The cat's parents were normal house cats with no known genetic abnormalities.

Manifestations

In addition to the short-haired Scottish Fold, there is also the semi-long-haired variant, which is called Highland Fold or Coupari. Since the breed is mated with British Shorthair cats (BKH) and British Longhair cats (Highlander), all colors are allowed that are also recognized by the British. Around 50% kittens with folded ears and 50% kittens with upright ears are included in the litters. These are then called Scottish Straight and may be used for breeding with Scottish Fold. In appearance, the Scottish Straight resembles the BKH, but the standing ears are often slightly larger.

Description, genetics

The typical folded ears of the Scottish Fold cat are hereditary. The kittens are born with normal ears, which after four weeks no longer grow tall but bent forward. Together with the round head and eyes, this gives the cat its special facial expression. The body is stocky with stocky legs and a thick tail.

The folded ears are inherited as an incomplete dominant (symbol Fd). This cat is usually heterozygous (Fdfd); the homozygous cat (FdFd) has a high probability of a genetic defect in the development of the epiphyseal plate , the growth zone of the bones. This leads to joint deformations and, as a result, painful movement disorders. These problems exist in heterozygous Scottish Fold cats as well as in homozygous Scottish Fold cats.

breed

The breeding work of the Scottish Fold began with the first litter of fold-eared kittens. The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) recognized Scottish Fold as a new breed in 1966, but closed the studbook for the time being in 1971 because it was unclear to what extent the folding ear feature promotes health problems such as mite infestation or hearing problems. Then the breed of the Scottish Fold moved to the USA. In 1974, recognition was applied for from the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA), which was granted in 1978. The TICA also recognizes the breed, but not predominantly European breed associations such as the Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFe) or GCCF. Today the Scottish Folds are especially popular in the US, but are also bred in Europe (Germany), Russia, and Australia.

Problems in breeding Scottish Fold Ears (SF)

After the appearance of the natural mutation of the folding ears, critical voices were soon heard calling for a ban on breeding, as the folded ears would lead to ear mite infestation and deafness. The GCCF deleted the cat from the stud book, so that breeding was banned in England from 1973. Although in most cases deafness has to do with the color of the coat (in fact the first SF cats were pure white) and the ear mite infestation is a question of the state of care. Paradoxically, there is a real problem with continuing to breed. A breeder noticed skeletal changes (shortened caudal vertebrae, thickened bones) in some young animals. The geneticist O. Jackson received a kitten for examination, who bred the defective cat and carried out inbreeding attempts. These morally and scientifically questionable attempts were published in 1975 in a study that is still cited uncritically today. Jackson found out that the Fd gene is inherited as an autosomal dominant trait. Interestingly, he by no means recommended the outlawing of breeding, but only the breeding of folded-eared and straight-eared cats.

In 1974 the International Scottish Fold Association ISFA was founded in the USA, which coordinates the breeding of the SF, the recognition of the SF by the Cat Fanciers Association followed a little later.

After it became known that homozygous (Fd / Fd) cats were particularly affected by skeletal abnormalities, it was decided to stabilize the health of the SF through regular cross-breeding. Today, British Shorthair cats in particular are used for breeding with folding-eared cats, and folding of folding-eared cats is not mated with one another. In "Robinsons Genetics for Cat Breeders" it is then logically described that the bone defects have decreased significantly through selective breeding in SFs. However, this formulation from 1999 alone shows that there have always been massive health problems in the breeding of folding cats, and that these problems still exist in spite of the "selective" breeding. A fact that is underpinned by more and more recent publications. These show that massive joint problems in the form of osteochondrodysplasia are also regularly encountered in heterozygous, i.e. mixed-breed animals, and the call for a ban on breeding is getting louder and louder.

In his work, Aydin examines various therapeutic approaches for the treatment of osteochondrodysplasia in 11 Scottish Fold cats and confirms that heterozygous animals also get the disease, albeit later and with milder symptoms than homozygous animals. At the same time, he states that the disease can neither be cured surgically nor through conservative medicinal measures. Thus, any form of therapy for the cat only means a temporary, temporary improvement in the quality of life.

In Japan, Takanosu recognized by means of pedigree analyzes and crossbreeding experiments that all cats he assessed with Scottish Fold reference and folded ears, including the heterozygous ones, developed various degrees of severity of osteochondrodysplasia. In this study, too, homozygous animals fell ill earlier and more severely, heterozygous animals later and more easily. Hubler describes a palliative treatment using X-rays in a three-year-old SF cat with osteochondrodysplasia, which was largely symptom-free again after the treatment. Chang describes three cases in South Korea and recommends chondroprotective substances such as glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate for arthritis and joint pain in animals. Malik describes six cases in an Australian SF cattery who were 14 months to 6 years old and who all had skeletal abnormalities. However, most of the animals here were related to each other. In addition, the number of animals in Australia is so small that inbreeding cases or impermissible matings are likely to play a role. At a genetics conference in 2000, his results aroused opposition.

Although the GCCF and Federation International Feline continue to refuse to register as a breed due to the bone defects, it is still extremely popular.

Possibility of torture breeding

An expert opinion commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to interpret Section 11b of the Animal Welfare Act (prohibition of torture breeding ) recommends the prohibition of breeding, but without clear evidence that folded ears lead to bone defects. It is also disputed that the animals are restricted in their social contact due to their folded ears. Others comment on the report:

If one takes a closer look at this topic, one comes to the opinion that the authors acted arbitrarily and with prejudice against certain races. The source study is extremely superficial, the information is z. Sometimes researched sparsely and the information content is outdated or incorrect, completely inadequate for a scientific work that is presented as an expert opinion.

A literature study on torture breeding came to the conclusion in 2001 that the breeding program should be controlled but not banned.

Among other things, it is criticized that the exact inheritance path of SF is still not known and that DNA screening is essential to identify genetic disorders. In the literature study, the existence of a genetic predisposition for cartilage and bone damage is doubted. A link between the folding ears and a gene that is supposed to inherit skeletal defects has not been proven.

SF breeders do not describe any increased health problems in the folding cats compared to others.

In 2001 a sample of the health status of Scottish Fold / Highland Fold cats was carried out:

For this purpose, more than 50 cats were examined, partly by radiological measures, partly by veterinarians or show doctors or assessments by qualified judges. The average age of the animals was three years, the oldest cat was 15 years old. No cat was found negative in 1000 examinations; H. Bone or other defects. In the summary of the study, the head of Ortrun Wagner writes:

“56 cats / litters of the Scottish Fold breed from 22 breedings from 5 countries were examined by veterinarians and breeding judges from 11 countries. The result was a total of 1000 times: The Scottish Fold have excellent health, a species-specific physique, in particular full mobility of the limbs and the tail and do not have any characteristics of torture breeding in the sense of Section 11b of the Animal Welfare Act. "

literature

• Candida Frith-Macdonald: The cat. Parragon Books, Bath 2007, ISBN 978-1-4075-6235-3 .
• Alex Gough, Alison Thomas: Breed Dispositions in Dogs and Cats. Elsevier, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-437-58390-2 .
• Roy Robinson: Genetics for Cat Breeders. 2nd Edition. Pergamon Press, Oxford 1983, ISBN 3-924975-00-0 .

Web links

Commons : Scottish Fold  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Description at fanciers.com (English)
• Breeding standard for Highland Fold at aaceinc.org (English)
• Breeding standard for Scottish Fold at aaceinc.org (English)
• Pictures of the breed (German)
• Breed portrait & description of the Scottish Fold Cat

References and comments

1. ↑ Candida Frith-Macdonald: The cat. 2007, p. 346.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Ortrun Wagner: Scottish-Fold-Katzen as well as Scottish-Fold-Langhaar, Scottish-Straight and Scottish-Straight-Langhaar. Purchase - attitude - care. Parey, Hamburg et al. 1991, ISBN 3-490-43412-9 .
3. ↑ OV Jackson: Congenital bone lesions in cats with folded ears. In: The Bulletin of the Feline Advisory Bureau. Vol. 14, 1975, ZDB -ID 286168-9 , pp. 2-4.
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Masamine Takanosu, T. Takanosu, Hiroetsu Suzuki, Katsushi Suzuki: Incomplete dominant osteochondrodysplasia in heterozygous Scottish Fold cats. In: The Journal of Small Animal Practice. Vol. 49, No. 4, 2008, ISSN  0022-4510 , pp. 197-199, doi : 10.1111 / j.1748-5827.2008.00561.x .
5. ^ ^{A b c} R. Malik, GS Allan, CR Howlett, DE Thompson, G. James, C. McWhirter, K. Kendall: Osteochondrodysplasia in Scottish Fold cats. In: Australian Veterinary Journal. Vol. 77, No. 2, 1999, ISSN  0005-0423 , pp. 85-92, doi : 10.1111 / j.1751-0813.1999.tb11672.x .
6. ^ ^{A b c d} Madeleine Hubler, Mathias Volkert, Barbara Kaser-Hotz, Susi Arnold: Palliative irradiation of Scottish Fold osteochondrodysplasia. In: Veterinary Radiology & Ultrasound. Vol. 45, No. 6, 2004, ISSN  1058-8183 , pp. 582-585, doi : 10.1111 / j.1740-8261.2004.04101.x .
7. ↑ Neil B. Todd: Folded-ear cats: further observations. In: Carnivore Genetics Newsletter. Vol. 2, No. 3, 1972, ISSN  0008-6711 , pp. 64-65.
8. ↑ Carolyn M. Vella, Lorraine M. Shelton, John J. McHonagle, Terry W. Stanglein: Robinson's Genetics for Cat Breeders & Veterinarians. 4th edition. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford 1999, ISBN 0-7506-4069-3 .
9. ↑ ^{a b} Didar Aydin et al .: Hereditary Osteochondrodysplasia in Scottish Fold Cats. In: Kafkas Üniversitesi veterinarian Fakultesi Dergisi . DOI: 10.9775 / kvfd.2014.12555, January 2015.
10. ↑ ^{a b} Jinhwa Chang, Joohyun Jung, Sunkyoung Oh, Sungok Lee, Gyeongmin Kim, Haksang Kim, Ohkyeong Kweon, Junghee Yoon, Mincheol Choi: Osteochondrodysplasia in three Scottish Fold cats. In: Journal of Veterinary Science. Vol. 8, No. 3, 2007, ISSN  1229-845X , pp. 307-309, doi : 10.4142 / jvs.2007.8.3.307 .
11. ^ ^{A b c d} Margarete Klotz: Literature study on the subject of torture breeding. 2001 (German) (online)
12. ↑ Danièlle Gunn-Moore, Claire Bessant, Richard Malik: Breed related disorders of cats. In: The Journal of Small Animal Practice. Vol. 49, No. 4, 2008, pp. 167-168, doi : 10.1111 / j.1748-5827.2008.00572.x .
13. ↑ A. Herzog, Th. Bartels, M. Dayen, K. Loeffler, L. Reetz, B. Rusche, J. Unshelm: Expert opinion on the interpretation of Section 11b of the Animal Welfare Act (prohibition of torture breeding).
14. ↑ eurocatfancy.de
15. ↑ ^{a b} paw blow. Demanding things for cat lovers - the bookazine. 3/2012, ZDB -ID 2640782-6 , p. 37.
16. ↑ ^{a b} membres.multimania.fr ( Memento of the original from February 17, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.