Scottish Folds Shedding: Causes and What To Do

Cat breeds

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There are numerous myths related to Scottish cats’ hair. Some people even call them hypoallergenic, which is far from the case. Some believe that there won’t be a single problem with shedding if deciding on a short-haired beauty. Is it so? Does a Scottish cat lose hair? When do Scottish cats shed? Do Scottish short hair cats shed a lot? Let’s see.

Shedding is the process of an animal changing its coat due to a variety of causes. Scottish cats do shed.

Do Scottish cats shed much?

Indeed, Scottish folds shed no less than straights: it doesn’t depend on the ear shape. Highland folds and Highland straights — the semi-long-haired varieties of the Scottish breed — are similar to Scottish folds and Scottish straights as for the lost hair amount; the only difference is that the Scottish’s hairs are short and therefore fly around the house, but the Highlands’ ones are longer and heavier, so they more commonly hang on furniture and clothes, instead of flying around and getting onto face.

fur on pants
An experienced cat owner buys clothes of the color matching to the cat

Who sheds more?

The MURKOTIKI website readers often ask who sheds more — a Siberian, a Persian, or a Scottish cat? That is, they compare Scottish cats with long-haired breeds.

As for Scottish straights and Scottish folds, that is, Scottish short-haired cats, their shedding is less noticeable, since their hair is shorter. as well as other long-haired cats. Highland straights and Highland folds, that is, semi-long-haired Scots, shed less than Persians,

Baby Shedding, or When Scottish kittens change their fur

Is your Scottish cat losing a lot of hair for the first time? Perhaps this is the so-called baby shedding. When do Scottish kittens change their baby fur to an adult coat? Furry babies have their first shedding when they are 5-6 months, give or take. At this age, a Scottish cat loses so much fur within 1-2 months that it seems that this problem will never end.

A Scottish kitten’s shedding period will end, but it may slide into a smoother phase, which sometimes may last up to 1 year. During this period, an adolescent should gradually change its primary soft fur given from birth to adult, coarser, denser hair of more contrasting colors. When baby shedding comes to an end, a cat’s coat looks more beautiful, and its fur pattern common for the color type appears at its best.

Seasonal shedding of Scottish cats

During seasonal shedding, the felines partially change their coat and upper epidermis. Seasonal shedding aims to adapt an animal to the changed temperature conditions. Roughly speaking, by summer, cats lose excess hair and grow thinner fur for the better heat loss and wear a denser and thicker coat by winter.

shedding cat

Seasonally, cats shed in spring, closer to early summer, and in autumn, when the first cold weather approaches. It all depends on your latitude: if summer begins earlier, shedding will be earlier as well; if winter begins later, shedding will also occur later. And vice versa.

Besides, those pets who never go outside may not feel the weather changes — in this case, there will be almost no seasonal shedding or, on the contrary, it will last all the time. That is, the answer to the question, when Scottish cats shed, will be — always. Indeed, it is not mainly the temperature the animal reacts to, but the changing daylight, that is, it recognizes approaching summer or winter by the sunrise and sunset time.

Why does a Scottish cat shed heavily?

Sometimes, shedding may be more intense than it should be, which threatens to impair the fur coat quality and the cat’s health, as well as to harass the owners, who will literally drown in hair. Excessive shedding is indicated by the coat deteriorating rapidly and resulting bald areas.

paw for wool

Before you do anything, you should find out the cause of abnormally heavy shedding. For this, you should consult with a veterinarian, who may find a disease in the pet.

The most common cause of heavy shedding is improper nutrition, which lacks vitamins, trace elements, and fatty acids. All you need to solve this problem, is to study the information on how to balance a Scottish cat’ diet properly by including enough vitamins and Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids in it.

However, sometimes it happens that the animal gets all the vitamins, acids, and minerals, but simply can’t digest them. The most common reason is a hormonal disruption, which in turn, can be caused by cysts or tumors, the poorly functioning thyroid gland or adrenal glands. In this case, a veterinarian should take up the treatment.

Other causes of hair loss

If your pet suddenly began to shed not in its adolescence and not due to approaching summer (winter), this means that there are some other causes for hair loss that you should find out and correct.

If a cat has shed when pregnant or lactating, it means that it lacks certain vitamins and minerals that should be replenished by taking vitamin complexes and regulating nutrition.

Also, a cat may lose its coat due to parasitic or infectious skin lesions (for example, ringworm).

Besides, your animal may go bald due to stress caused by moving to a new home, death of a family member, appearance of a new pet or a child. It may have other reasons for stress. The cause may also be the abovementioned lack of fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals, which may trigger not only more intense seasonal shedding, but hair loss at the wrong time as well.

Perhaps a pet’s hair loss has been caused by allergy or leukemia.

Anyway, it is a veterinarian who should diagnose your pet, since you can only make things worse when treating it by yourself.

What to do?

For the family to cope with any kind of shedding successfully, you will need knowledge. If shedding is abnormal, you should contact a veterinarian. If it’s baby or seasonal shedding, there’s no cause for concern: all you need is to take certain measures.

  1. Malt paste or grass. When shedding, a cat actively licks its hair that accumulates in the stomach or intestines and can clog it. A clear sign of this kind of problem is deteriorating appetite and lack of еру stool. To prevent this, you should provide the pet with access to fresh grass, which you should plant at a windowsill. It will help to regurgitate cluttered hair. Besides, purchase special malt pastes, which include substances that help to remove fur from cat’s intestines.
  2. Vitamin complexes for hair. Supplements containing omega-acids and beer yeast with B vitamins will help to improve the coat quality and reduce shedding time.
  3. Combing. When a Scottish cat sheds, you should comb it every day instead of common 1-2 times a week. However, common brushes and combs are useless here, since they fail to comb a large amount of fur. The most effective tools for combing fur are a brush glove or a furminator. These are simple, but extremely effective devices: just after 1-2 applications they can comb everything that has accumulated over 2 months of shedding, and if you use them from the very beginning, you almost won’t feel any problem at all. We believe that buying a brush glove is the most rational solution, since it costs just a couple of dollars (unlike a furminator for 40 dollars), and it is no less, and sometimes even more effective. Besides, there are many fake furminators – you may happen to get one. And the brush glove is such a simple and cheap invention that there is just no point in faking it.
  4. Bathing. Bathing will be another extremely effective means of removing dead hairs and stimulating growth of new ones. While bathing, massage you cat’s skin with shampoo: water will wash away most of the dead hairs. However, bathing doesn’t mean that you don’t need to use a furminator or a brush glove; it’s just a complement to them.
  5. Cleaning. When your cat is shedding, you’ll have to clean the house intensively: shake out blankets, vacuum clean and sweep, remove hairs from objects using a sticky roller on a regular basis.
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Felinologist Irina Kazak

The article was checked and approved by the instructor-felinologist, breeder, owner of the cattery Real cats Irina Kazak. She has been involved in the Scottish breed for more than 5 years and has accumulated significant experience in the breeding and selection.

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