I understand there are many Scottish Fold lovers out there, but I do not understand why there is so much demand for a cat who is certain to have a painful genetic condition. There is much info about how creating homozygous folds is detrimental, but ALL Scottish folds, even heterozygous, have osteochondrodysplasia to some degree:
http://web.archive.org/web/20060827095454/http://www.ava.com.au/avj/9902/99020085.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18339089
Even if a cat does not display symptoms, the x-ray can show the deformities in the skeleton, and we all know how good cats are at hiding their pain. The supposed docile and relaxed nature of Scottish folds is likely because they are in chronic pain. Breeding is supposed to reduce the risk of unhealthy genetic deformities, not cause them. I am baffled why these problems are not more widely known, and saddened that cats are being doomed to a life of pain for aesthetic reasons.
The FIFe decided to remove Scottish folds as a recognized breed for this reason: http://www.kolumbus.fi/minna.peltonen/fifenpts.htm
I'm sorry my tone is not very diplomatic, but I am emotional about this topic. I believe this is a huge ethical problem in the cat world that needs to be addressed, and I decided to finally make a post addressing it on this site.
http://web.archive.org/web/20060827095454/http://www.ava.com.au/avj/9902/99020085.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18339089
Even if a cat does not display symptoms, the x-ray can show the deformities in the skeleton, and we all know how good cats are at hiding their pain. The supposed docile and relaxed nature of Scottish folds is likely because they are in chronic pain. Breeding is supposed to reduce the risk of unhealthy genetic deformities, not cause them. I am baffled why these problems are not more widely known, and saddened that cats are being doomed to a life of pain for aesthetic reasons.
The FIFe decided to remove Scottish folds as a recognized breed for this reason: http://www.kolumbus.fi/minna.peltonen/fifenpts.htm
I'm sorry my tone is not very diplomatic, but I am emotional about this topic. I believe this is a huge ethical problem in the cat world that needs to be addressed, and I decided to finally make a post addressing it on this site.