Highland Fold: A Popular Name the Registries Don't Use
"Highland Fold" is what the market calls the longhair Scottish Fold; every registry writes Scottish Fold Longhair. Same cat, same genetics, one coat length and two names.
Published August 21, 2026 3 min read
Contents
Say it plainly first, because this page's job is to un-confuse a name: "Highland Fold" is today's popular market name for the longhair Scottish Fold, and no recognizing registry currently uses it. and write "Scottish Fold Longhair." Canada's writes "SFL." Australia's writes "Scottish Fold (Longhair)." Pet-industry sites (Hill's and Petfinder among them) use "Highland Fold," which is why you searched it. There is nothing wrong with the name, as long as nobody sells it to you as a separate breed.
The historical twist that confuses everyone
's own registration rules carry the note "Originally called Highland Fold". That note is about the WHOLE breed's early working name in 1970s America, not about longhairs. So the same two words have two unrelated lives: a historical name for every Scottish Fold, and a modern market name for the longhaired variety. A seller quoting "CFA calls them Highland Folds" is quoting a historical note about a different usage.
Same cat, longer coat
Everything that defines the breed carries over untouched. The longhair shares the shorthair's full color standard in every registry that publishes one. It shares the same weight picture (no source breaks out separate longhair figures). And it shares the same genetics, including the fold gene and everything the pillar's health section says about it. granted longhaired Folds championship status in 1992, when the breed split into shorthair and longhair divisions.
's Scottish Breed Group carries the longhair Fold as one of its four breeds, born in the same litters as the rest. The practical differences are two. A semi-long coat that needs several-times-weekly brushing instead of weekly. And, at the one Canadian marketplace sample that listed one, a "Highland Fold" priced at the top of the local range, CA$2,000: one listing, not a market rule.
Buying one
Everything on the price page and the breeder checks apply unchanged: parents' TRPV4 DNA results in writing, and the same questions about joints and tails, because the coat length changes none of it.
The vet's take
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Frequently asked questions
What is a Highland Fold cat?
The longhaired Scottish Fold, under its popular market name: same breed, same genetics, longer coat. Registries write "Scottish Fold Longhair" or SFL.
Is a Highland Fold a separate breed from the Scottish Fold?
No: it is the longhair division/variety of the same breed at every recognizing registry, born in the same litters.
Do Highland Folds have the same health issues as Scottish Folds?
Yes: the fold gene and its cartilage disorder do not vary by coat length, and no source in our research breaks out separate longhair health or weight figures.
Why do some sites say CFA originally called the breed Highland Fold?
Because CFA's rules carry that historical note about the ENTIRE breed's early US name in the 1970s, an unrelated use of the same words; it is not CFA's name for today's longhair variety.
Community questions
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This is information, not veterinary advice, and it cannot tell you what is wrong with your cat. Our rule is a simple one: if something is wrong with your cat, call your vet, and call an emergency clinic if it is out of hours. Nothing you read here is a reason to wait.
Medical information applies to every reader. Prices, legal duties and common practice do not: unless stated otherwise, they are given for the United States, and they differ in the UK, Canada and Australia, and often between states or provinces. Check with your own vet and your own local authority.
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