Folded ear cats can live about 10-15 years, each cat's life expectancy is different, the onset of symptoms vary in severity; mainly affected by the mating genes; if it is a purebred the life expectancy is even shorter, the symptoms are more severe, generally only 10-12 years, or lower; if it is a heterozygous, it can live for 12-15 years.

If it is a heterozygous folding ear, the symptoms may not be so serious, usually around the age of 3-7 years old onset, appear in the spine and joints and other parts of the spine, varying degrees of hyperplasia, inflammation, bone warts, and cause severe pain. While the more serious pure merino folded ear, the onset of symptoms earlier and more serious, may be less than 1 year old onset of serious joint deformation, and cause thoracic and lumbar spine bone spurs and other symptoms.

Expanded Information

Origin of the Folded Ear Cat

The origin of the Scottish Folded Ear Cat goes back half a century to 1961, when the first white cat with folded ears, named Susie, appeared on a farm in Scotland. Shepherd William loved the cat, and when Susie gave birth to two kittens the following year, he asked the farm owner for one of the female kittens with folded ears, named Snooks, and brought it home to William to try and start breeding the breed.

Folded ear cats are born with a hereditary bone disease, an abnormality in the development of cartilage ossification, which may not occur in every folded ear cat, but there is a certain risk. 1975, a study by Dr. O'Jackson in the United Kingdom pointed out that the cause of this hereditary disease was due to the mating of two cats with folded ears. He believed that mating a cat with folded ears with a cat without folded ears would prevent the birth of kittens with the genetic disease.

However, according to a 1999 study by Dr. Richard Malik of the University of Sydney, Australia, all cats with the folded ear gene have a chance of developing some degree of bone and joint disease. The only way to avoid this genetic disease is to give up breeding folded ears cats. In addition, the current cases show that kittens born to cats with folded ears and non-folded ears will also get this genetic disease.