The fold is caused by a cartilage mutation; ask about joint health.
Medium-sized round cat with distinctive folded ears that give an owl-like appearance. Known for sweet, gentle personality.
Originated in 1961 from a white barn cat named Susie found in Scotland with naturally folded ears. Fold is caused by cartilage gene that can also affect joints. Breeding regulations vary by country.
Generally described as affectionate, intelligent, loyal, playful, social, sweet, loving and gentle.
That is the breed in general, not a promise about one animal. Ask the breeder what their own line is like, and meet the parents before you decide.
Breed reference from The Cat API.
In Portugal and in Spain, this breed is not recognised.
This breed is not on FIFe’s list of recognised breeds.
The rule
FIFe “will not register or recognise any breed of cats showing as a breed characteristic” osteochondrodysplasia, “an autosomal dominant gene causing progressive joint, bone and cartilage deformity (for example the Scottish Fold)” (§ 3.5.2).
FIFe, Health & Welfare Rules, § 3.5.2 and § 3.6 (the page gives no edition date)
Here, recognised means recognised by FIFe, the federation CPF (Portugal) and ASFE (Spain) belong to as member clubs. We use FIFe’s list for both countries. Recognition depends on each country’s registry, so the same breed can have a different status elsewhere. It is a fact about the breed. It says nothing about the health of a particular cat, or about the breeder.
This breed is in TICA’s index, a North American registry. That does not make it recognised by FIFe.
What we already flag about this breed: The fold is caused by a cartilage mutation; ask about joint health.
Which registry the litter is entered in, and how the breed appears on the pedigree. FIFe writes “non” in the code of breeds it does not recognise.
Source: FIFe’s EMS breed table, edition 01.07.26, transcribed on 18 Sept 2026.
Drawn from sources, not opinion: The Cat API; UC Davis VGL — Scottish Fold. An empty column means we hold nothing for that side, not that there is nothing to say.
Breed-level information from The Cat API. It describes the Scottish Fold in general; any individual animal can differ.
Known hereditary risks for the Scottish Fold breed, and the specific documentation to request from any breeder before paying a deposit. A responsible breeder will have these readily available; deflection is a red flag.
2 conditions documentedThis is breed-level literature, not veterinary advice about an individual animal — your vet knows the animal.
Health checklist (PDF)Documented in this breed, but no source says how many of its dogs carry or have them. That is a gap in the evidence, not a sign they are rare.
The TRPV4 mutation that folds a Scottish Fold's ears also disrupts cartilage growth throughout the skeleton, and can cause shortened or misshapen limb bones, a thickened and inflexible tail, and progressive, often painful degenerative joint disease. A cat needs only one copy of the mutation to have folded ears and be at risk; two copies bring more severe skeletal disease. How often one copy causes clinical disease is not settled: in one small study only 1 of 12 one-copy Folds showed signs. Because a folded ear cannot exist without at least one copy of the mutation, the appearance and the disease risk cannot be separated by any test. The reverse does not hold: in a 2026 Japanese study about one in eight cats with one copy had ears that straightened as they grew, so a straight-eared cat from fold lines can still carry it.
What to ask for
TRPV4 Scottish Fold genotyping result for both parents (UC Davis VGL), confirming N/SF rather than SF/SF, plus a veterinary orthopaedic assessment of the individual cat — genotyping rules out the more severely affected homozygous form but cannot rule out the disease itself in a fold-eared cat. A straight-eared parent from fold lines needs a TRPV4 result too, since some carriers have straight ears
The TRPV4 mutation that folds a Scottish Fold's ears also disrupts cartilage growth throughout the skeleton, and can cause shortened or misshapen limb bones, a thickened and inflexible tail, and progressive, often painful degenerative joint disease. A cat needs only one copy of the mutation to have folded ears and be at risk; two copies bring more severe skeletal disease. How often one copy causes clinical disease is not settled: in one small study only 1 of 12 one-copy Folds showed signs. Because a folded ear cannot exist without at least one copy of the mutation, the appearance and the disease risk cannot be separated by any test. The reverse does not hold: in a 2026 Japanese study about one in eight cats with one copy had ears that straightened as they grew, so a straight-eared cat from fold lines can still carry it.
What to ask for
TRPV4 Scottish Fold genotyping result for both parents (UC Davis VGL), confirming N/SF rather than SF/SF, plus a veterinary orthopaedic assessment of the individual cat — genotyping rules out the more severely affected homozygous form but cannot rule out the disease itself in a fold-eared cat. A straight-eared parent from fold lines needs a TRPV4 result too, since some carriers have straight ears
Found in roughly one in a hundred to one in twenty of the breed's dogs screened.
An inherited kidney disease in which fluid-filled cysts form in both kidneys and enlarge over the years, often leading to kidney failure in middle or later life. It is dominant: one copy of the PKD1 mutation is enough to cause cysts. It is a separate gene from the one that folds the ears, so a fold result says nothing about it. The largest figures come from Japan: of 16,451 Scottish Fold kittens tested there, 355 carried the mutation, about one in thirty of those born in 2019 and about one in sixty of those born in 2022, falling as breeders tested. A Tokyo university clinic found it in 6 of 87 Scottish Folds, four of them with cysts confirmed on ultrasound. Outside Japan the screens are small: 2 of 90 Scottish Folds in a 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats, most from North America, and 1 of 22 healthy Scottish Folds in Turkey.
What to ask for
PKD1 DNA test on both parents
An inherited kidney disease in which fluid-filled cysts form in both kidneys and enlarge over the years, often leading to kidney failure in middle or later life. It is dominant: one copy of the PKD1 mutation is enough to cause cysts. It is a separate gene from the one that folds the ears, so a fold result says nothing about it. The largest figures come from Japan: of 16,451 Scottish Fold kittens tested there, 355 carried the mutation, about one in thirty of those born in 2019 and about one in sixty of those born in 2022, falling as breeders tested. A Tokyo university clinic found it in 6 of 87 Scottish Folds, four of them with cysts confirmed on ultrasound. Outside Japan the screens are small: 2 of 90 Scottish Folds in a 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats, most from North America, and 1 of 22 healthy Scottish Folds in Turkey.
What to ask for
PKD1 DNA test on both parents