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American Curl

11th September 2018

American Curl

The American Curl is named after its characteristic ear shape. It comes in all colours and patterns of coat which can be short or long.

Health and welfare of cats with folded or curled ears

There are several breeds of cat with ears that do not stand up in the normal way – some folding downwards and some curling backwards. The most well known is the Scottish Fold cat where the Scottish Fold gene mutation detrimentally affects cartilage, most obviously seen making the ear cartilage fold (click here for more information). However, the cartilage defect affects their joints as well as the ear cartilage and folds can suffer from severe and painful degenerative joint disease throughout their lives. As the disease progresses the joints stiffen, bones fuse and movement becomes more difficult and extremely painful. Folded or curled ears can also make it difficult for the cat to clean its ears, so owners may need to remove any wax or dirt accumulation from the ear to help prevent discomfort and infection.

We do not have enough information to know whether gene mutations resulting in curled (rather than the folded) ears causes similar problems in cartilage at other sites (such as joints), but there are comments from breeders of these cats that the ears are fragile and may be easily damaged when handled and there is anecdotal mention of narrowed ear canals.

Unfortunately, these breeds are now being crossed with other breeds with different genetic mutations with very little concern for the cat.

International Cat Care’s position on breeding cats is that first no harm should be done. If in getting this curled ear effect there is even a small chance of wider deformities or abnormalities of the ear that compromise its health, we should not breed these cats.

Health and welfare issues – other

Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) has been identified in the breed.


Important

We have limited the information about inherited disorders to those conditions that are known and proven to exist within a breed. For many breeders and many conditions, insufficient information may be available at this time to know whether any particular breed is necessarily free of any particular condition.

In general, pedigree breeds use a much smaller gene pool for breeding than domestic cats and therefore have a higher risk of developing inherited disorders. In addition, a number of ‘newer’ pedigree breeds are derived from matings between one or more ‘older’ breeds, and in these situations, perpetuation of inherited problems that were seen in older breeds is likely within the newer breeds.

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