Zijer Mao: Will They Spend Their Entire Lives in Pain?
I always encounter Scottish Fold cat owners on WeChat, and I often hear new owners say: 'I wish I hadn't gotten a Scottish Fold. The group of Scottish Fold cat owners is like a walled garden, and the more deeply you connect with the cat, the more acutely you can sense its pain. Newcomers want to come in because they find them super cute. But with so many new pet owners joining every day, this group remains vast.
I want to say: If you don't want to, don't get one. If you do, absolutely don't breed them. Euthanize them as soon as possible.
Let me explain why in detail. I also welcome Scottish Fold cat owners to add their thoughts.
Purebred Scottish Folds typically refer to Scottish Folds, but any cat with the Fold gene also commonly called Scottish Folds. When it comes to the origin of Scottish Folds, it originated from an accident in 1961 when a hunter's mother cat gave birth to a litter of kittens, and one of the white kittens had bent ears, which looked very cute. Later, his neighbor asked to take it, and this white folded cat gave birth to more kittens, and one of them had bent ears. Subsequently, the descendants of this cat also appeared folded ears, so people named this cat Scottish Fold.
However, people later discovered that folding is a genetic defect, and cats with this defect will live in pain for their entire lives, until 1971, this cat came to the United States, and an American geneticist started breeding this breed. After crossing with American Shorthairs, British Shorthairs, and Abyssinian Shorthairs, the breed was gradually made healthier, and this geneticist also summarized a set of healthy breeding rules for Scottish Folds, but even so, it cannot guarantee that all kittens born will be healthy.
Fold cats flowed into China, and some people who didn't understand breeding just to make money, randomly breeding Scottish Folds with Scottish Folds, resulting in a higher probability of disease appearing, and the disease appeared earlier,
The diseases suffered by Scottish Folds belong to hereditary skeletal dysplasia, and the ears are made of cartilage, so they are bent. And once it develops, it cannot be cured, only controlled.
The way the cat walks when it's sick,
Generally, cats don't develop symptoms until they are two years old, and even if they do develop symptoms later, they are not very serious. The peak period of illness is between 6 months and 1.5 years old, but some cats start to have symptoms as early as 3 months old, and the earlier the symptoms appear, the more likely it is that it was randomly bred by cat dealers.
These diseases are only discovered when the cat is sick, and veterinarians can only relieve the symptoms with medication. Severely ill cats need to take medication for life. It is recommended to give cats bone supplements from an early age to delay the onset of the disease and effectively alleviate the symptoms of skeletal dysplasia.
But Scottish Folds are usually docile and attached to their owners.
But I suggest that you don't get a Scottish Fold, and if you do, don't breed them. If you insist on raising them, please choose regular breeding institutions to understand their parents' condition.
Finally, humans are just gluttons, knowing that this cat has a genetic defect, and still specialize in breeding them, calling it 'breeding healthy Scottish Fold breeds.' But in fact, it's just for personal gain or for appreciation or for money.
I'm Wei, I've studied pet feeding, disease, and pet food for six years, public account: Hao, welcome to ask questions for one-on-one answers
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