Multi-Toed Cats- or My Cat is a Mutant.

Factual Questions
1

Ok. I shit you not. My cat (Jack) has a lot of extra toes. He has nine toes on each front foot, and seven on each rear foot at last count(though I swear he grows extra ones every so often). Does anyone have a cat/cats with extra toes, or have any reason why they have this toe-hoarding behavior?

2

We had a cat with extra toes. I have no idea why this occurs, but I do want to suggest you keep an eye on his claws. One of this cat’s extra claws had a tendency to grow in on itself. Eventually, we decided to have that one claw removed to avoid problems. (We were afraid we might let too much time go between clipping and the claw might grow into the pad, causing pain and possibly infection.) The vet ended up removing the entire toe, as it was severely deformed. Just something to keep in mind.

3

only one of his -extra- toes had a claw, but I got him declawed due to my allergy to being scratched. I get big welts. His extra toes are just like flaps of skin kinda.

4

Is Jack part Maine Coon ? That breed, for a time, was bred to have extra toes (I think the trait is ‘polydactylism’, if I’m spelling correctly this morning).

5

You don’t live near a nuclear waste sight do you?

6

Our cat has extra toes on each foot. No real problems with it, other then when you trim his claws, which makes a difficult job that much more difficult. They can cause a problem, but Lightning’s claws are well-formed so he’s fine.

7

Check out

http://www.polycoon.org/

I believe polydactylism can occur an any breed, and is a result of too much inbreeding.

8

I know it’s a New England farm thing, if you have a dairy barn, you have cats to keep mice away from the grain for the cows. And then they inbreed, hence lots of extra toes.

Still wierd looking, though.

9

I have a part Maine Coon Cat that has 1 extra “thumb” on her forepaws. Some of her littermates do too, the others are “normal”.

Polydactyl cats are common in New England, where I guess local inbreeding keeps it going.

For Maine Coon show cats, polydactism is not desired, probably because breeding for it is considered Frankensteinish. Inbreeding polys can lead to serious deformities in the kittens, from hugely excessive toe counts to missing forelimbs.

See these links:
http://www.etexweb.com/personal/speir/twisty/twisty.htm
http://www.etexweb.com/personal/speir/kats/twisty2.htm
http://www.connect.net/gevans/Sassy/gallery.html
for the freakish results.

10

source: http://www.furkats.net/polart.htm

For what it’s worth, my sister had a cat (not a Maine Coon cat) with two extra toes, in Connecticut.

Polydactyly is not limited to cats, and many people have extra fingers. Anne Boleyn is supposed to have had 2 extra fingers, but that may have been an invention of her enemies.

11

This also includes humans. Isolated populations of humans often have extra fingers or toes.

12

Polydactylism may or may not be the result of inbreeding (I’ve never been exposed to that concept before), but it is a dominant trait. I’ve got three cats which are polydactyls.

13

Somewhere down in Key West there’s an Ernest Hemingway site that is just crawling with cats with extra toes. It’s not all that unsual among kitty cats. Nine toes, however, does seem like an embarrassment of riches, so I think the nuclear waste question is not invalid…

14

Is it true many New England cats have extra paws because Boston ships’ captains considered them lucky?

15

drat! I was trying to find that link.

16

Burned at a stake? Drown? Beheaded? Was there any attempt to save the souls of these misguided cats before their execution? Do the Dominicans and Jesuits still downplay the actual number of cats tortured and killed in the name of God and the eradication of devilish witchcraft?

17

(Minor Hijack :eek: )

I’ve also heard that one of the reasons the black plague was so bad was because of cat eradication. There were no cats to control the rats, so they bred like crazy, gave fleas a bigger food supply. This produced more fleas which then spread the disease.

18

One of my cats has 7 toes on his front paws and normal hind paws. He was the only polydactyl in his litter.

He is incredibly outgoing and energetic. I’ve heard that polydactyls are the socialites of the feline world - is this true, from what you’ve seen of your own cats?

19

ALfonseca, a pitcher for the Marlins has 6 fingers and toes on each hand.

20

OK…6 fingers is one thing…but SIX TOES on each hand…that’s freaky…