The Scottish Fold- a cruel breed?
The first Scottish Fold cats came 1983 to Germany and introduced in the breeding book of the German Breeding Cats Union. After the first cats got awards on exhibitions the media reported also about this new breed. Some time the Folds were well liked on exhibitions and did attract a lot of people. However this has changed during the past years. In 2001 a review about cruel breeds was written, that recommended a discontinuation of the breeding. The reviewer state that also heterozygous cats (Fd/fd) can develop diseases and have problems with communication with other cats. Both arguments are in the scientific literature not documented and lack sincere background. However there are reports about Scottish Folds with severe bone problems, due to the vast amount of Folds these reports are in minority.
Actually there is no study that shows that OCD (osteochondrodysplasia) is affecting every Scottish Fold. Research of a german breeder (O.Wagner) showed that Folds in exhibitions had no problems with their bones. However of course, breeders who take their Fold to an exhibition will anyway only take their healthy animal with them... To clarifiy this, a s-ray study should be done with at leats 50-100 animals to see if really all Folds are somehow affected.
The review about the cruel breeds in Germany was not at all very well written and researched. A breeder said about it:
"Beschäftigt man sich mit diesem Thema intensiver, so kommt man zu der Auffassung,
daß die Verfasser willkürlich und voreingenommen gegenüber bestimmten Rassen gehandelt haben. Das Quellenstudium ist äußerst oberflächlich,
die Angaben sind z. T. spärlich recherchiert und bezüglich des Informationsgehaltes
überholt bzw. fehlerhaft, für eine wissenschaftliche Arbeit, die sich als Gutachten präsentiert, völlig unzureichend." (Dr.Klotz, 2001)
Translated: "... the reviewer were arbitrary and biased on special breeds... the sources are superficial and badly investigated....The information is old and full of errors, for a scientific work that should be a review absolutely insufficient."(Dr.Klotz, 2001)
Unfortunately this review was uncritical used now in Germany so that in many federal states the Scottish Fold breeding is now banned. However one can still find a lot of breeders in small advertisments in different newspapers or online.