New Arrival: Hedwig
This is 3 year old Hedwig. Hedwig was originally an owned pet however due to personal circumstances the owner was unable to keep him.
Unfortunately Hedwig will need a lot of Veterinary support throughout his life because he is a Scottish Fold.!This is an absolutely unnecessary and cruel breed.
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.
Not only is osteochondrodysplasia a guaranteed condition of this breed they are also very prone to Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) and Cardiomyopathy, a form of heart disease.
It is important to realise that the folded ears many find ‘cute’ in Scottish Fold cats, are highly unnatural for the animals themselves (the result of a random and unfortunate mutation) and that the underlying condition responsible for this appearance has profound detrimental effects on their welfare.
