The mother of all Scottish Folds was Susie, who was born in 1961 near
the village of Coupar Angus in east Central Scotland.  Her parents were
both straight-eared farm cats and her folded ears had been produced
by a spontaneous mutation.  She was owned by a family named McCrae
and admired by a neighboring family named Ross.  When Susie had her
own folded ear kittens, the McCrae's gave one to the Rosse's.  The
Rosse's purchased a British short hair to mate with Snowball and the pair
produced more folds.  They began to visit cat shows to see if anyone
else would be interested in these unusual cats.  An English woman
named Pat Turner who was interested in both cats and genetics did
some experimental breeding and discovered that the gene responsible
for folded ears is an incomplete dominant which means if a kitten has one
gene for folded ears and one gene for straight ears, it will always develop
folded ears.  Over the years, it has been determined that the healthiest
breeding program is to cross a folded ear with a straight ear.  Breeding
fold to fold may produce short, inflexible tails and hocks that curve like
the rockers on a rocking chair.  While this is not a life threatening
problem, why consciously breed for a possible defect?

Scottish fold kittens are born with straight ears, which fold over after
three weeks (actually, less than half of the kittens develop the folded ears,
but even those who don't are nonetheless considered to be true
Scottish folds).

Folds are truly neat to look at - a good fold will have ears folded tight to
the head - making for a very rounded look.  They have short necks adding
to the roundness with rounded whisker pads and whiskers that are full
and bend forward.  Their eyes are interesting in that they dilate the
pupils most of the time, making an owl-like, round look.  This gives them
a sweet, innocent appearance.  They have plush, very soft coats and
come in all colors, with long or short hair.  They are quiet cats that have
very small voices and more often than not will only squeak when their tails
get stepped on. They frequently resemble prairie dogs when they sit up on
their haunches to look at something that intrigues them.  They also leap
into the air when in a playful mood which is often.  They love catnip toys,
bags and boxes of all kinds.  They are very accepting of additional cats to
the family and are not afraid of strangers who visit the home.