The Scottish Straight cat breed belongs to the Scottish Fold cat family, characterized by a unique appearance that was first observed in 1961 by a shepherd named William Ross. It all started when he came across an intriguing white barn cat named Susie, with ears that folded downwards. Fascinated by this feature, Ross requested one of Susie's kittens from the owners and thus began the breeding of Scottish Folds with British Shorthair cats, leading to the expansion of the breed. To diversify the gene pool, Scottish Folds were later crossed with Persians, American Shorthairs, Exotics, and Burmese, in addition to British Shorthairs.
In the early 1970s, Scottish Folds made their way to the United States, where they soon received recognition from major cat associations like the CFA (Cat Fanciers Association) and TICA (The International Cat Association). A unique aspect of the Scottish Fold breed is that both Scottish Fold and Scottish Straight cats can be born in the same litter. The key distinguishing factor between the two lies in the ears of the kittens, which become evident around 3 weeks old. The Scottish Fold kittens will either have ears that fold down and remain so or ears that stay permanently upright. In contrast, Scottish Straight kittens are those whose ears have stayed upright.
