There was a web page once by a woman who bred and inbred polydactyl (many-toed; i.e., extra toed) cats until kittens were produced with stubby or ineffective front limbs. These cats had to hop to get around, and she touted them as perfect pets as they couldn’t run away. (Of course, this was a big horror story of the animal rights crowd, and rightly so.)
Anyways, I was wondering if anyone local to where this occured (in Texas maybe) has heard anything. Have the authorities charged this woman with any offense? Has PETA come by and strung her up?
I remember a while ago landing at this page on Polydactyl Cats. I went to look, and lo and behold, it’s still there! Looking at the pictures though, I still can’t make up my mind whether it’s a joke or not.
La franchise ne consiste pas à dire tout ce que l’on pense, mais à penser tout ce que l’on dit.
H. de Livry
Are you sure you’re not thinking of those, uh, “munchkin”? cats? Their bodies are normal except for their short legs (about 3/5 the normal length). As far as I recall they have the same number of toes as normal, though. - The lady that breeds them found the first female one and bred more like it. Some animal people were bitching when they found out.
I have a friend that has a cat with eight toes on each front foot and seven on each rear foot; the mutant toes are larger than the normal ones. The mutant claws are larger also; you have to be careful playing with that cat, but it’s legs are normal length. - MC
No, the munchkin cats are different and judging from the ads in the back of “Cat Fancy” magazine are a disturbing, yet legitimate breed of cat you can get from many breeders. The cats in question have what looks like their front legs bent out sideways (imagine both your arms were broken at the elbow and re-set incorrectly so they bent the OTHER WAY!) and I don’t think they can even stand upright. I don’t know how they would clean themselves or use a litterbox or anything. The pictures are heartbreaking and I can’t imagine who would buy such a thing, but this woman seems to think they’re “cute” so I assume others must as well.
Here is a link to what this woman calls “Twisty Cats” (yuk!) She claims she’s not breeding them but this is a different website than the one I’d seen before and far less disturbing. http://www.etexweb.com/personal/speir/twisty/twisty.htm
To me, these cats are deformed. This is not a trait that should be sought after and bred for. They say they don’t breed, and I hope they stick to that.
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.–Coleridge
I’ll go you one better Michelle and say that woman must be deformed. The idea that anyone would intentionally breed animals for physical disabilities is obscene. What will this woman work on next? Breeding blind dogs so she can laugh at them as they bump into things?
Michelle, the web page says they don’t breed the “twisty” cats, but they do breed the polydactyls.
People make a big deal out of them because they’re “different.”
In my opinion, breeding for polydactyls should be illegal because eventually you will end up with kittens with paws so deformed that they will have problems walking.
La franchise ne consiste pas à dire tout ce que l’on pense, mais à penser tout ce que l’on dit.
H. de Livry
I don’t think it’s a trait worth breeding specifically, but I’ve owned a couple of these “mutants”–one has 8 toes on each of his front feet and the other had 7–neither had problems walking and didn’t look weird except, of course, for the extra toes. I didn’t get them from a breeder, for whatever that’s worth. That woman sounds insane.
Although I haven’t heard abou tthe “mutants” who have a hard time living, I’ve heard of extra-toed cats and met a few-- they were normal enough, really. After all, 6 digits is a dominant genetic trait in humans as well (although I think doctors just lop that stuff off before mom notices these days-- no more kids with tails, either…). I have heard a U.L., perhaps, that the 6 toed cat type is more common on the east side of the country as ship captains there used to prefer them-- better mousers. Has anyone heard of this?
My family has almost always had a six-toed (or seven, or eight) cat in the house. We sometimes have more than one. I even have a web page on polydactyl kitties. We call them “footies”. They are pretty normal kitties, they just have these feet that look like mittens. I think it is a desirable trait - merely because it’s pretty harmless, and not terribly common.
I think that the “Twisty Cat” concept is abominable. However, if you have a six-toed momma kitty, and you hope that she has six-toed kittens (the mommy kitties often do pass the gene along) that’s great. The more footies, the better, in my opinion. But to deliberately breed a cat in hopes of getting their feet more and more polydactylian (did I just make up a new word?) is creepy.
The “Twisty Cats” page was what I was looking for. The polydactyls are normal enough cats. But inbreeding them will result in what this Ms. Frankenstein has done. But I guess there’s no word on whether criminal charges are pending.
I myself have a polydactyl cat, with 6 front toes. She’s quite adorable. Her dad was ploy, but not her mom.
Polys are relatively common in New England. Often Maine Coon Cats are polys, but it’s not a trait that is accepted by cat shows.
This woman is a freak. I for one hate cats, but this is horrible. They should take away her right to own animals or have any contact with them. Sick. Sick sick sick.
–Tim
We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first “lost generation” nor today’s lost generation; in fact, we think we know just where we stand - or are discovering it as we speak.
Michelle: I know you say that multi-toed cats are “very common”, but maybe it’s because you work with animals (or so your profile says.) I’ve never seen one, and the web page says that about 1% of cats are polydactyl.
It seems from people’s experience that polydactyl cats don’t have any problems, but by breeding them together to increase the “polydactyly factor” I would imagine you’re bound to get a cat that will have problems with its paws.
La franchise ne consiste pas à dire tout ce que l’on pense, mais à penser tout ce que l’on dit.
H. de Livry
If all you had seen were wolves, and you really liked wolves, and one day someone put up a web site with a picture of a chihuahua (or a pug or a peke) on it and said “We got this by selective breeding, starting with wolves” you’d probably have about the same reaction (shoot, I have about that reaction to chihuahuas and pekes NOW).
I wouldn’t have one myself, but she evidently loves and cares for them.
I do work with animals, as my profile says. An honest proflie! Imagine that! And in the years I have worked with animals, I have seen tons of Hemingway cats. Maybe they are just really common in FL. We call them Hemingway cats after the writer, because there is a large population of multi-toes on his estate. It is a very big tourist attraction. People don’t go there to say, “Hey, this is where Ernest Hemingway lived!”, they go to check out the cats. Some are allowed to breed but most are spayed and neutered. But trust me, no one I know bats an eye at a cat with eight toes on its feet. It never even dawned on me that polys are rare. Still, I agree that it isn’t a trait that should specifically be bred for. It’s pretty harmless as far as a genetic abnormality can be, but it isn’t a really “exicitng” thing either. Just give me a plain old domestic shorthair cat or mutt style dog any day over a pure breed. (Although I do admit to having one purebred cat, but that is because someone found him squashed on the road and I ended up adopting him.)
torq: If all you had seen were wolves, and you really liked wolves, and one day someone put up a web site with a picture of a chihuahua (or a pug or a peke) on it and said “We got this by selective breeding, starting with wolves” you’d probably have about the same reaction (shoot, I have about that reaction to chihuahuas and pekes NOW).
Well, yeah, I guess I would, if that level of difference could be generated in a few generations. But a chihuahua is still a functional creature; it can still run and hunt if it needed to.
Breeding for general appearance (color, hair quality, shape), intelligence, and temperment is acceptable. When we needed dogs to work for us (like sheep dogs, terriers, St. Bernards, retrievers), breeding those dogs who best performed in their given fields was a smart thing to do to get better offspring.
But to intentionally breed out a necessary body part (how long do you think a “twisty cat” would survive in the wild?) is plain monstrous.
A previous version of her web site (that I couldn’t recall, which is why I brought up this topic) showed a lot more cats that were much more disabled than just the one white cat on the page now. Basically, she removed the more offensive pictures to appease anyone who came across the page.
And in the years I have worked with animals, I have seen tons of Hemingway cats. Maybe they are just really common in FL. We call them Hemingway cats after the writer, because there is a large population of multi-toes on his estate. It is a very big tourist attraction. People don’t go there to say, “Hey, this is where Ernest Hemingway lived!”, they go to check out the cats. Some are allowed to breed but most are spayed and neutered. But trust me, no one I know bats an eye at a cat with eight toes on its feet. It never even dawned on me that polys are rare. Still, I agree that it isn’t a trait that should specifically be bred for. It’s pretty harmless as far as a genetic abnormality can be, but it isn’t a really “exicitng” thing either. Just give me a plain old domestic shorthair cat or mutt style dog any day over a pure breed. (Although I do admit to having one purebred cat, but that is because someone found him squashed on the road and I ended up adopting him.)