Jan 31, 2009

Feral Cat Photo Of The Day: Scottish Fold Tom

This feral cat is a tom and one of only two in the feral colony that has the semi-floppy ears of the Scottish Fold breed.
Feral cat photo scottish fold flop eared tom cat

I guess this gene is rather weak or it would show up more. This guy is cute but very timid.

5 comments:

  1. Hi.
    I think it's fascinating that there are floppy-eared cats in a feral population. Do you think this is the Scottish fold gene in the feral cats, or something else? Are the ears folded rigidly or do they actually hang down floppily like a dog? Do you think the cats might be inbred?

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  2. I've wondered about that. There used to be one other flop-eared cat in the feral colonies but it disappeared over a year ago, so Punk is the only one. They seem to be fixed in the position you see them. Although there is inbreeding with ferals, for sure, I don't think that is what is going on here - because it's he's the only one. It's either due to Scottish fold genes (which apparently are recessive since he hasn't produced any flop-eared offspring) or it is due to a fighting injury.

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  3. Well the Scottish Fold gene is dominant, so then it probably isn't that.
    So it is probably either an injury or something bent it in that direction when the cartilage was still developing. Or, there is the slight possibilty that a new mutation has cropped up in these cats!

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  4. Actually- not sure if you'd be interested in this- but you might want to have a cat breeder take a look at him. A big problem in the Scottish Fold breed is due to the fact that the dominant mutation causes skeletal problems in its homozygous form- this problem would probably not be present in a recessive mutation. On the off chance that the folded ears are due to a novel mutation, you would be doing a great service to the Scottish Fold breed (eliminating the common skeletal problems and eliminating the need for straight-eared SFs, which are less likely to be adopted). Again, it is unlikely that this is a novel mutation (it is possible that it is the Scottish Fold gene and it just hasn't showed up in his offspring by chance), but I would say it is definitely worth looking into.
    Just my two cents :)

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  5. Punk tom has been rather resistant to being trapped; I DO set live traps regularly but he seems wary enough to stay out of them so far. But if I do manage to trap him I will definitely look into that when he is at the vet. Thanks!

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Comments are welcome! I always answer questions if I can.