Native country : Scotland
History
A roly-poly guy with little ears set in a caplike fashion, flat against the headIn his 1897 Treatise on Animal Breeding, Professor Cornevin indicated a breed of shorthaired cat with pendulous ears that was fattened for eating in its native China. A spontaneous mutation by a dominant gene that caused the ear flap to fold forward was first observed in Scotland in 1961. William Ross, a shepherd in Tayside, and his wife Mary noticed a white female cat named Susie with folded ears who lived at the McRae family’s neighboring farm. Susie gave birth to Snooks, a white female with the same type of ears. When crossed with a British Shorthair, she gave birth to a white male named Snowball.This new breed was named after the “folded ear” mutation. Unfortunately, limb, tail, and joint deformities linked to the dominant Fd gene appeared, to such an extent that the G.C.C.F. discontinued registration of the breed in 1973.In 1971, Mary Ross sent some Scottish Folds to Neil Todd, an American geneticist in Massachusetts who set about breeding the cats again. Crosses were made with British Shorthairs, Exotic Shorthairs, and American Shorthairs in order to prevent severe joint disorders.The C.F.A. and then T.I.C.A. recognized the breed, which was highly successful in the United States. A return to Europe began in 1980, with the first Scottish Fold born in France in 1982. Recognized neither by the F.I.Fe. nor the G.C.C.F., the Scottish Fold is relatively rare throughout Europe.In the United States, a Scottish Fold was crossed with a Persian to produce a new, longhaired version called the Highland Fold or Longhaired Scottish Fold, which is recognized by T.I.C.A.A cross with rexes made in Germany in 1987 gave rise to the Pudelkatze or Poodle Cat, a curly-coated feline with pendulous ears. With a very limited population, the Pudelkatze is not yet recognized as a new breed.
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