Cats are prone to polydactyly. What does this mean?

A polydactyl cat is a cat with a congenital physical anomaly called polydactyly (or polydactylism, also known as hyperdactyly), that causes the cat to be born with more than the usual number of toes on one or more of its paws. Cats with this genetically inherited trait are most commonly found along the East Coast of North America (in the United States and Canada) and in South West England and Wales.

Cats, which possess such an anomaly, look really unusual, but, anyway, cat-lovers from all over the world are ready to pet such creatures and take care of them. Usually they don't even need any special care, except regular veterinary appointments.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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71 Comments

Charlotte Wright

Hemingway cats. At his home in Key West there are about 50 cats milling around and about 2/3 of them polydactyly. Hemingway loved them. After his death, Key West was over run with the cats and began to get rid of them until his old house became a sanctuary. So cool.

Tara Stainton

Some cats have extra toes because they inherit a gene that codes for polydactylism. If one parent has six toes and another parent has normal feet ,40 to 50 percent of their offspring will also have polydactylism. Not because they are inbred.

filmnut

Latin is not a ''dead language'' ... it just hides.

Debbie Dunton

Cats make wonderful friends no matter how many toes they have. Unconditional Love.

Larry Freeman

Owned a gorgeous Maine Coon Cat once up a time... they're prone to polydactylism: in fact, if a true MCC, they are more likely to be poly than not, in addition to being very large.

LaVerne Hope

We had a male cat with seven toes on each foot. Several years later there were more in the neighborhood.

Larry Kuykendall

Hemmingway's cat - Snowball - had six toes. Today, at Key West, there are 54 descendents of Snowball living at Hemingway home - all with six toes.

svmarshall

My cat had this condition. I named her Tozi 🤗. She was attracted to big dogs and had no fear of them. So I got a dog to keep her happy. She didn't need any extra care and lived to be 23 years old.