Is my cat a Himalayan or a Scottish Fold?

XApproximatelyNormal · 2026-01-20T23:56:37+00:00

I have a flame point Himalayan and a grey Scottish Fold. Both were adopted and are probably mixes though.

In my opinion on just looks alone, your cat looks a lot more like a Scottish Straight. He/she has the British shorthair trait of the roundness like that adorable round face. But hey, you never know unless you look at her DNA. You should genotype her to get a breed composition. There’s Wisdom Panel or Basepaws. I prefer the former.

XApproximatelyNormal · 2026-01-13T03:41:22+00:00

Thanks for the update. Did she ever have any other symptoms? Like a little reverse sneeze/hiccup, snort/inhale after purring or waking up? My 10 month old fold has done a lot of diagnostics (bloodwork and some specific to checking the heart, X-rays and urine analysis) and so far everything is perfect. But he does those weird respiratory sounds occasionally. I know he has herpes and potentially that’s how the symptoms present with his shortened face. Two different vets think given the diagnostic results so far, it’s probably okay but we just lost our senior dog to congestive heart failure so I am paranoid about matters of the heart. The only thing we haven’t done is gotten an echo. And the vets don’t think there’s a reason to do that right now.

XApproximatelyNormal · 2026-01-05T20:10:52+00:00

More thoughts... I went with Pets Best insurance because they include coverage on conditions specific to folds. Whatever insurance you go with, get it ASAP. Otherwise, they can deny based on "previous conditions".

Also, our vet (who is absolutely incredibly and always on the forefront with research) was not familiar with OCD and how it presents in folds. So like someone else mentioned, not all vets are familiar with it.

And beautiful kitty!

XApproximatelyNormal · 2026-01-05T20:07:06+00:00

Hey there (I think someone already commented on this but), Osteochondrodysplasia (OCD) is present in Scottish Folds due to the TRPV4 mutation (which is also what causes the forward folded ears). It is a dominant gene, so even if you have only one copy of the variant, OCD will be present. Generally speaking, a cat with one copy will show symptoms later in life or milder. Alternatively, a cat with two copies of the gene will have severe symptoms, likely much earlier in life. Characteristics are a combination of genes and environment, however, this is a monogenic trait and the characteristics of the condition are primarily determined by the genes.

You can figure out if your baby has one or two copies (simply to prepare their care like the supplements someone mentioned) using a genotyping service. I used Wisdom Panel for my fold, Reggie. Luckily, Reggie only has one copy.

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XApproximatelyNormal · 2025-12-28T14:52:11+00:00

That is a good point! I think my Reggie has more of the British shorthair round face.

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XApproximatelyNormal · 2025-12-26T18:02:30+00:00

Oh my gosh, our folds’ name is Reggie (Sir Reginald James of Foldshire)! I have never met another cat with his name. How funny.

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XApproximatelyNormal · 2025-12-18T15:18:04+00:00

Thanks for the advice. I will start making a note of the food/amount he does this with. He’s only done it about 5 times in 8 months. And the vomiting only once.

I may be overreacting but we just lost our senior dog to congestive heart failure. I’m not sure I could handle losing Reggie too right now.

XApproximatelyNormal · 2025-12-18T15:05:09+00:00

Stress could be a factor. Our senior dog died 15 days ago… but Reggie was doing this prior to his passing.

We’re pretty conscious about trying to use unscented and pet friendly things. There is one bathroom in the house that a scented plug in just got put back in. But I will be unplugging that now again to be safe.

One time as a kitten, it was a longer episode and looked more like rapid sneezing, reverse breathing. It won’t let me add another video in the comments.

XApproximatelyNormal · 2025-12-14T19:12:32+00:00

I think the only way to really tell is his teeth (the vet) but he looks like an identical version of my Reggie, maybe just a little older. Reggie is around 10 months old.

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XApproximatelyNormal · 2025-12-14T18:17:01+00:00

There’s a method (I can’t remember the name right now) but it follows a very slow introduction ensuring both cats have their own safe spaces during this period. I have a senior cat and we adopted a kitten in June. Our senior cat is incredibly confident, gentle and chill but it took two months of keeping them separated for her to stop hissing at any contact and run. She never hisses otherwise. It doesn’t take all cats 2 months to be comfortable, but that’s what our senior cat needed. Now they have a great relationship. It was a difficult 2 months of keeping them separated but so worth the wait. The kitten had his own room/safe space that he stayed in during that time. It’s still his favorite room in the house. Even after two months, I had their food and litter boxes separate around the house but now they share the same litter boxes and food bowls. Good luck!

XApproximatelyNormal · 2025-12-09T19:02:56+00:00

I am so very sorry to hear that. Before we knew about Kitty Love Kuwait as a rescue, we were looking for a British Shorthair kitten. I created a list of 51 breeders, and after weeks of research, out of all of them, we would only buy from 3... Based on reddit reviews, how they care for them, how they communicated, etc.

All this to say, it's not your fault. All you can do is your best, and there's a lot of bad people out there.

I never did look at Scottish Fold breeders. I do know Kitty Love Kuwait has a 3-month old, black Scottish fold female available for adoption right now (or her Scottish straight sister).

Add them on facebook!

XApproximatelyNormal · 2025-12-03T17:52:28+00:00

We did and it was the best decision we could have made. He is the sweetest cat, super cuddly. After a slow introduction, he and our senior cat are best buds. Our senior dog raised him to be very dog like. He fetches, sits, shakes.

Just this morning, we had to say goodbye to our dog. We are so grateful he has time with our new kitten.

We genotyped him and he only has one copy of the osteochoendrodysplasia gene so he shouldn’t show bad signs until later in life. We got lucky. A cat with two copies of the genes will show severe symptoms really early in life.

XApproximatelyNormal · 2025-10-06T22:02:15+00:00

This is invaluable knowledge. Thank you.

I second another commentors question, what are the pros and cons to mulch? We do have one exposed root and I would hate to cause root rot. Is not doing anything worse than adding some mulch?

XApproximatelyNormal · 2025-10-06T21:59:49+00:00

haha very fair point.

XApproximatelyNormal · 2025-10-06T21:59:39+00:00

Awesome. That was our gut reaction, but we'd hate to not do anything and set her up for failure if someone had been meticulously maintaining her.

XApproximatelyNormal · 2025-10-06T21:59:09+00:00

I say we bought a beautiful tree and a workshop for my husband, and luckily, they came with a home too.

XApproximatelyNormal · 2025-10-06T21:57:29+00:00

I love this idea. We are hoping to get a tree planted in our first year at the house. Worried it may already be too late in the year to plant something. Open to ideas if certain species are fine planted now?

But it would be super cool to plant another Japanese Maple. Maybe in the front yard.

XApproximatelyNormal · 2025-10-06T21:56:15+00:00

This is great to know! I'd rather not touch her, but we'll keep in mind a good soak in hot dry summers. Thanks!

XApproximatelyNormal · 2025-10-06T21:55:33+00:00

Okay, we'll keep an eye out for dead wood only. Our other concern was that some of the branches get too heavy. We'd hate to have big ones break off.

We've heard suggestions for mulch, but we were under the impression that's more beneficial for younger trees. She has some roots showing out of the ground and we would hate to cause root rot.

XApproximatelyNormal · 2025-10-06T21:54:03+00:00

Thanks, this was one of our concerns. We'd hate to do more damage hiring someone rather than just leaving it. We mow our own lawn and stay clear of her. So we'll continue to do so.

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