Search

Our Other Sites

Scottish Fold disease – osteochondrodysplasia

05th September 2018

Scottish Fold disease – osteochondrodysplasia

The Scottish Fold breed of cat has a genetic mutation that affects the development of cartilage. The most obvious outward manifestation of this is making the ear cartilage fold so the ears bend forward, giving the cat its characteristic appearance.

Unfortunately, the genetic defect that causes abnormality of the ear cartilage also causes severe abnormalities of the cartilage of bones – there will be defective bone development and severe bone and cartilage abnormalities in all cats with folded ears. This is known as osteochondrodysplasia – a general term for a disorder of the development of bone and cartilage. These bone and cartilage abnormalities lead to severe and painful arthritis.


Bone abnormalities in Scottish Fold cats: ‘A’ shows a severely affected cat and ‘B’ a mildly affected cat (photo courtesy of Richard Malik) 

The genetics of osteochondrodysplasia

The mutation causing osteochondrodysplasia results from a single autosomal dominant gene, although the gene may have incomplete penetrance, and thus the abnormalities may vary in severity between one cat and another.

All Scottish Fold cats suffer from variable degrees of painful degenerative joint disease, which can result in fusing of the tail, tarsi (ankles) and stifles (knees). This is apparent clinically as a reluctance to move, and abnormal posture and gait, lameness and short misshapen limbs.


A severely affected Scottish Fold Cat

International Cat Care believe that it is simply unethical to continue to breed cats with a genetic mutation that is known to cause significant painful disease – the rationale for breeding these cats was purely human pleasure, as some people believe the folded ears look appealing. This is an unnatural appearance for a cat though, and the underlying genetic defect has far reaching and severe consequences for the health of the cat.

For information on the scientific evidence for the suffering of Scottish Folds, read this article in our online magazine Intelligent Cat Care.

International Cat Care has joined forces with the British Veterinary Association (BVA) to raise awareness on the suffering of Scottish Fold cats because of the way they have been bred to look.

More information is needed about other breeds of cats with folded or curly ears before we can be certain that they too do not have defects that may cause other problems.

Join the iCatCare Community

Sign up to our monthly newsletter and free e-magazine Intelligent Cat Care

Sign Up