Beware Scottish fold

Palisade CO

Description

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.