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The following story and photographs are from the book entitled The Scottish Fold 1961 - 1991 ©, edited by Louise Becker*. We would like to thank Louise, Karen Votava, and Salle Wolfe Peters for their contributions not only to the book, but to the wonderful world of Scottish Folds.

The Scottish Fold's inception and early history can be traced back to events that occurred in the 1960s.

The story began in 1961, at Coupar Angus, in the Tayside region of Scotland, Northwest of Dundee. William Ross, a shepherd, returning from his day's work, passed by the neighboring McRae's farm and noticed a white cat playing in the front yard. Its ears were folded forward and downward.

Knowing his wife, Mary, had an interest in cats, William told her what he had seen. Mary, very intrigued, decided to ask the McRaes about the cat.

The cat's name was Susie and her parents were barn cats. Her mother was killed in a farm accident. No one knew about the father. There was another folded ear male in Susie's litter; but, he had disappeared.

Susie

The Rosses were promised a folded ear kitten from Susie's next litter. Two years later, in 1963, they received a white folded ear female. They named the kitten Snooks, who became the beginning lineage of the Scottish Fold.

Mary and Snooks

Snooks was first bred to an unknown red tabby male. In the litter, only one male kitten had folded ears. This white male, named Snowball, was later mated with Lady May, a white British Shorthair. Five folded ear kittens were produced.

Snooks was next bred to Ryelands Regal Gent, a blue British Shorthair. In 1969, two folded ear kittens were born in this second litter - Denisla Hester and Denisla Hector, which, along with Snowball and Lady May's kittens, became the foundation for the future.

Denisla Hector

Securing the help of English geneticists to start a breeding program, and using farm cats and British Shorthairs, the Rosses produced several kittens. These first folded ear cats were known as "lops", after the lop-eared rabbits. By 1966, there were renamed "Scottish Folds".

The breed was accepted by the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy in England; but, in 1971, registration was closed. The reasoning given was that it was too difficult to keep Folds free of ear mite infestation (which was later proven false), and because several blue-eyed white cats that were used in breeding produced too many kittens that were born deaf.

The Scottish Fold was bred in Europe for over 10 years with one goal in mind - to preserve a rare mutation. Several other breeders became involved with the breed.

In 1970, Dr. Neil Todd, a New England Geneticist, brought three of Snook's daughters to America for study. Dr. Todd soon lost interest in the Fold research and found home for the Folds. One (Hector) went to Lynn Lamoreux, and later to Salle Wolfe Peters.

Salle, a well-known Manx breeder, became the first "breeder" in the United States to work with the Scottish Folds.

In August 1972, Briony Sivewright, from Scotland, and her husband were transferred to Hill AFB in Utah. She received a blue cream and white Fold, which she showed to Ann Kimball and Karen Votava. The cat was bred to one of Ann's American Shorthairs and produced three folded ear kittens. One remained with Ann, another went to Karen Votava, and the third went to Salle.

The rest is history………………………..

*Written permission to use the above was obtained from Mrs. Becker per the copyright instructions and is on file. All photos have been registered and are protected by Digimarc ©.