Fold-eared cats

What are the common diseases of folded-eared cats? Hereditary skeletal diseases of folded-eared cats! For folded-eared cats, our impression is that their ears droop on their heads, making them The shape is very unique. In fact, the folded-eared cat is a unique breed. It has advantages and disadvantages. There are rumors on the Internet that folded-eared cats are born with skeletal genetic diseases, which require owners to spend a lot of money to treat them. Once they are not cured, they will suffer lifelong pain. So , is that so?

Actually, why do cats with folded ears fold their ears? Mainly because its genes cause abnormal cartilage growth. Scientists have discovered that there is a gene called "Fd" that determines the state of a cat's ears. This gene is related to the cartilage growth of cats. When a cat carries the Fd dominant gene , the growth of cartilage may become abnormal, and the most direct manifestation is that the cat's ears cannot stand up. The Fd gene is located on the cat's autosomal chromosome (which means that the transmission of this gene has nothing to do with gender). Both alleles of normal cats are recessive. The genotype of this cat is written as fdfd, and its ears must be normally upright.

The most terrible thing is that this disease is caused by a genetic defect in the cat itself. There is no cure at all. The only way to relieve the cat's pain is through medical treatment.

Now, although people can get healthier fold-eared cats by mating them with other breeds such as American shorthair cats or British shorthair cats, these cats carrying the Fd gene still exist There are no small health risks. Some studies have shown that as long as the cat carries the dominant Fd gene, the risk of bone disease will increase in cats. However, compared with cats with FdFd type, the severity of the disease is milder and the age of onset is older.

Some other rumors:

1. People born with disabilities have hidden factors in their bodies.

This is pretty good. , but any person or organism has various recessive inferior genes in the body, so inbreeding is not possible. Therefore, the factor of potential disability is not a problem, it must be a potential mate. But on the original basis This result is caused by the matching of folded ears and folded ears. As long as the one you buy is not a combination of folded ears and folded ears, the problem of genetic defects is as high as the chance of deformity when a person is born. Folded-eared cats are demonized These are all created by unscrupulous breeders, in order to increase the probability of folded ears and sell them at a good price. Only kittens will have such results, so friends who want to buy a folded-eared cat, please be sure to do so when you buy it. If you want to see the cat's father and mother, and if you really want to be safe, buy a cat with pricked ears to see if the mother cat has milk. The chance of being cheated is very small.

2. The breeding of fold-eared cats has long been banned in the UK

This is completely unreasonable. The CFA World Cat Lovers Association recognized this breed as early as 1977. The only cat breed that has not been recognized so far is the Bengal. Leopard cats, if Fold-eared cats are really not bred in the UK because they have disease-carrying genes, I don’t think the CFA will admit it.

Judgment that Fold-eared cats have bonesMethods for genetic diseases?

First, the tails of folded-eared cats with skeletal genetic diseases will be relatively thick and short, stiff and inflexible, and cannot bend and swing. In addition, in some cases with severe disease, the tails cannot swing at will. .

Second, the cat’s limb joints are swollen, and the hind limbs will appear shorter and unusually bent, accompanied by growths or masses. In addition, a similar situation will occur on the cat's forelimbs, but the condition is less severe than the hind limbs.

Third, the nails of folded-eared cats will grow abnormally, and the hind paws will be abnormally thick. If the owner observes carefully, he will find that when the folded-eared cat sits upright, the pillow meat of the rear paws cannot be touched. Ground.

For the skeletal genetic disease in cats with folded ears, doctors can only use drugs to relieve the condition, help the cat reduce pain and slow down the deterioration. Cats also have to spend their lives in pain and taking medicine. In some severely ill cats, bone lesions will slowly spread to the spine, paralyzing the cat and causing great pain. When the cat cannot bear the pain, the owner must endure the pain and let the cat euthanize.