Cats With Folded Ears
It can also occur due to damage caused by longterm exposure to the sun.
Cats with folded ears. This breed has the smallest ears of any domestic cat breed that exists today. 1 This gives them a very cute appearance that most people love. But the folded ears that this breed is named for are caused by a bone and cartilage distorting gene mutation that results in these cats often having crippling and debilitating pain and arthritis.
Scottish Fold cats have really small ears that bend forward and down towards the front of their head with rounded ear tips. These cats are not bred due to ethical concerns. Drooping ears are most commonly due to hematoma low potassium or dehydration.
There is one exception. Some feline ear abnormalities are genetically transferred from parents to offspring. Some of the various names of folded ear cats are Highland Fold Scottish Fold and the Coupari.
Folded ear tips in cats are usually associated with the longterm use of anti-inflammatory steroid drugs usually in the form of daily eye or ear medications. Their ears will simply fold forwards. The latter are the defining feature of the breed.
Cats that have two copies of the gene that produces folded ears can have severe health problems including crippling arthritis at a young age. Cats with folded ears have been reported in the Hebrides Germany and Belgium but were apparently regarded as no more than isolated curiosities and not bred. This gives them a big floppy look.
Among these is an inherited condition known as fold-ears in which the tip of a cats pinna is bent sharply either toward or away from the skull. This breed of cat was named Scottish Folded in the year 1966. The cat most well-known for folded ears is the Scottish Fold which originated in Scotland in the 1960s.