Greetings Steemians! I'm sure by now you all know i'm big into cats, so much so that I have 12 cats! Each of them having a very special place in my heart. You might remember my last catroduction was of my white snowball princess, Furby and her cat logics. If you missed that, you can check it out HERE.
One of my other cat daughters has been anxiously waiting to be introduced to everyone here, so today is her day. Introducing.. my very special scottish fold cat called Amber, she's about two years old now, and has very odd ears. With her folded ears and round very round face, doesn't she remind you of an owl?
 |
Two years ago, there were virtually no Scottish Fold's in London, Amber actually came all the way from Latvia in a car in a journey so long that it would have seemed like a holiday to her. How lucky I was to meet her and take her home. At the time she was just 13 weeks old. The first time she glanced at me, I saw her big round eyes look deep into mine, as if she was trying to speak to me. I think it was her way of trying to communicate with me and learn about me. When I held her, I could feel her fur coat differ to other cats right away. It's very dense, and yet at the same time soft and silky smooth. Her body is very round and she has lots of bubbly bits. When you poke her, her meaty bits wobble around like Jelly, it's simply too adorable it makes my heart melt!
At first, Amber was very shy when interacting with me, she would often disappear out of sight for most of the day, or hide behind other cats. As time went by, she made a complete reversal and now she's really close to me. We're like best friends now. I'm so glad to have Amber in the family, she's so smart and cute and moreover has a very good relationships with me. She really enjoys playing with her toys, and just can't stay away from anything red. Wave anything red infront of her and she goes absolutely crazy!
Scottish Folds cats stand out
Origins of the Scottish Fold
The first scottish fold cat was a white cat named Susie born in 1961 at a farm in Scotland. She had very peculiar ears that folded forwards. Strangely enough, when she had kittens, two of them also had the folded ears. A neighbour of Susie called William Ross acquired one of the kittens and decided together with a geneticist to develop the breed further. In 1966, he registered the breed with GCCF, however today, only TICA and CFA accept scottish folds as an official breed.
Why their ears fold
Scottish folds have a dominant-gene mutation which causes their cartilage to develop differently. The mutation causes the ears to fold forward.
A typical breeding fold will have 1 copy of the folding gene (Fd) making it heterozygous. When combined with a straight ear's normal gene (fd) you should have a 50% chance of having folded ears in the the litter.
This year, Amber had her first litter of kittens, below you can see pictures of her babies. Two of them as expected were Folded Ears, and the other three are straight ears. When they were first born, the kitten's ears are all straight, after three or four weeks, the kittens carrying the mutated gene (Fd) will slowly develop folded ears.
 One day old kittens |
 Group picture of the kittens |
The truth about Scottish Folds
Because of their genetic mutation, Scottish Fold's are susceptible to developing Osteochondrodysplasia (OCD) which affects their cartilage and bone. Careful and selective breeding have greatly reduced these mutations from appearing within the breed, but it's important to make sure when consdering a Scottish fold, that you check it's family tree as well as physically examine it's hind legs and tail for stiffness. Amber comes from a very long lineage of healthy cats, infact her grandfather has won many championships at cat shows. Here's a picture of her and her family tree, as well as her EU passport!
Amber is actually an Instagram Cat Celebrity, earlier this year, she was voted on instagram for having the "best meow"!!
Five moments that prove Amber more human than cat
Amber's arrival really changed my view on cats, as a scottish fold, she really is quite different to other cats.
Same expressions and body language
She has the same surprise expression as me..
She sit's the same way as me..
Like a human lying on her back
Eating the same food as humans
Amber like me is a big foodie, she'll eat almost anything, whether it's ice-cream, Salmon sashimi, Peppers, Rice or Salad, she's up for trying anything!
 Amber eating salmon |
She likes to dance like humans..
 Amber's sexy dance |
Sometimes she likes to cosplay
亲爱的Steemit朋友们你们好，今天终于要进行这个有趣的话题。你们大概都知道我是一个喵人，我非常热爱我12只神奇的猫咪。上一篇喵文章给大家分享了我的白色雪球小公主Furby的喵逻辑，你们可以在这里看到。
今天我的另外一个女儿有些着急要和大家认识啦，好吧，那我就向你们介绍一下她吧。她是我最特别的喵喵——快要2岁的折耳猫，她的名字叫Amber。她有一对神奇的耳朵，配上可爱肥嘟嘟的圆脸庞就像小精灵一样。
2年前的伦敦几乎没有折耳猫，Amber来自遥远的拉托维亚（在俄罗斯附近），她大概是坐了很久很久的车，长途旅行才来到了伦敦，被我带回了家，那个时候的她才13周大，她用炯炯有神的大圆眼睛看着我观察着我，估计是想要快速的认识我了解我。我抱着她的时候，就感觉她的毛和别的猫咪不一样，她的毛浓密而有弹性，
她的身体肥肥的，特别浑圆，轻轻一碰她的肉就像果冻一样会动，我被她的可爱融化了。
刚开始与她相处的那段时间她有点害羞，经常喜欢躲在隐蔽的地方或者别的猫猫身后，后来她渐渐显露出与人非常亲近的性格，我们成为了最好的朋友，互相陪伴。我非常感激遇到Amber，她聪明可爱，特别粘人，她对她喜欢的玩具爱的不得了，她最喜欢红色，只要看见红色的逗猫棒她就疯掉了。
折耳猫是一种与众不同的喵
折耳猫的来历
苏格兰折耳猫来源于一只1961年生于苏格兰的小白猫Susie，她的耳朵是向前搭拉的，后来发现她产下的孩子中也有2只是耳朵向前折的，当地的爱猫人士Ross得到了其中一只并繁育出“苏格兰折耳猫“这个品种，它在纯种猫大家族中是属于比较年轻的品种。
折耳的原因
折耳猫的出现是因为基因发生了少有的突变，导致软骨的生长不正常，最直接的表现就是猫的耳朵立不起来。Amber在今年2月第一次生了宝宝，下面是他们的第一张合照。2只浅色斑纹的是苏格兰折耳喵，3只黑色斑纹的是苏格兰直耳喵。刚生出来时他们的耳朵都是直的，大约3到4周大的时候，有基因突变的喵喵耳朵才开始慢慢下折。
折耳猫的真相
因为折耳猫有天生的“基因缺陷”，所以只能和立耳猫交配，折耳和折耳繁育出来的小猫一出生就有可能带有遗传病，一旦发作会导致终身疼痛，造成行动不便，会让猫猫非常的痛苦。当然如果你决定养折耳猫，一定要认真的挑选，并确认她是健康的折耳猫之后再带她回家，这时候，查看喵喵的家族谱是非常必要的。这是Amber的证书、家族谱和她的欧洲护照，从她的家族谱上看到Amber的爷爷还得过选美大赛的冠军。
她现在是Instagram的小小网红猫，今年年初的时候Amber还被选为Instagram的Best Meow！！
Amber作为一只苏格兰折耳猫确实有很多地方和一般的喵喵不一样，她的行为举止几乎改变了我对喵世界的全部认识。
五个重要的瞬间证明Amber绝对是喵人类
像人类一样的表情和动作/像人类一样仰着睡觉/ 和人类吃一样的食物/她喜欢像人类一样跳舞/有时候她也喜欢cosplay
If you are interested in my other blogs related to my CATS please check out these other blogs below
The internet was designed to disseminate pictures of cats... and I'm a cat woman！
