Conference misery::feline

    My bad cat Christopher has double toes and tripple thumbs--just double
    paws on the back though.  Three of my cats have "mittens" right now.
    Compared with the three golly giants, the two seem to have such
    little paws.   I love them all just the same.

    
    I have heard the story that polydactyl cats originated in the US from
    Boston, but I don't recall if it was a spontaneous mutation or if the
    first polydactyl cat arrived here on a boat from some faraway place.
    
    I once knew a polydactyl cat who had 4, 5, 6 and 7 toes in clockwise
    order as you looked down on him.  This would have made counting on his
    fingers an interesting proposition.
    
    len.
    

    Re .2: The theory in the article was that, since the polydactyl gene
    requires (they think) the presence of some other gene to activate, that
    the appearance in Boston may have resulted from the arrival of a cat
    with the activating gene, not necessarily of a multi-toed cat. [I can't
    help wondering whether mitten cats are better mousers, having bigger
    mitts, y'see - but since some of the best mousers of my acquaintance
    have fairly *small* paws (one, Abigail of beloved memory, only had 1.5
    functional paws, as her right front foot was partly paralyzed), it
    doesn't follow.]
    
    The article also said polydactyls tend to be "characters," and Phillip
    certainly is, but then, to me, most cats are. ;-)
    
    -b

    I hope this difference to be valued...
    
    I think polydactile cats are just fine, and lovely as any other cat.
    But I do not think they are a purrfect construction, extra toes seem
    for me a failure in the genetic tables. And I am strictly against
    breeidung failurous genes, for they might superimpose and the bred
    itself would get unhealthy and unhappy.
    
    There is a lot of shame 'breeders' already 've done to creatures of
    this world. Look around for misbuilt and misbreeded (misbred? sp.)
    poor animals, not only cats and dogs...
    
    I would say love the mittens but do not breed them.
    
    Just my 2 cents. 

    Re .4: FWIW, I'm not promoting them as a "breed" either - I just
    mentioned the article because it sounded interesting. (My Phillip won't
    be doing any breeding, in any case!)
    
    But polydactylism seems to be doing very well on its own, suggesting
    that it's not a "failed" gene at all; indeed, it seems to be a fairly
    successful trait.
    
    -b

    
    HMMmmmmm, originated in Boston.  That would acount for the popularity
    of "double-pawed" (an eastern name for polydactyl cats,) in New
    England.
    
    I'm not too sure about breeding either.  My friend has a cat with 10
    toes on one front foot and 7 (I think) on the other.  The problem with
    Miss Minuet, (the cat) is that some of her extra toes are very small and
    grow in-
    between her normally sized toes. which means that if we do not clip her
    claws she would have a nasty ingrown claw which could be painfully
    crippling.
    
    Feline Podiatrist, (Have clippers will trim, :-)
                      
    Sue & Crew

    As far as I know the polydactyl trait is a naturally occurring
    trait.  I've never heard of anyone who purposely breeds for that
    (though I'm sure with as many backyard breeders as there are it's
    not entirely impossible that some people are doing this).
    
    Jan

    .3
    
    Christopher (note .1) can catch and kill a bird on the wing by smacking
    it between his massive front paws in mid-gallop.    

	When I first saw reference to "double paws" here, I had no idea
	what it meant.

	I have never seen a cat with more than the regular number of toes.

	I have been on holiday in many European countries - and there were loads
	of strays in most places - I didn't see any there either.

	If they are in Europe, they're in hiding!

	Heather

       Hmmm... I recall reading an article in a cat publication a few years
    ago that indicated the polydactyl's actually originated in a small town
    in Scotland....and two kittens carrying the gene were brought to the
    Boston area in the lat 1800---early 1900 timeframe, and these two
    became the ancestors of all the current polys. As I understood it from
    the article, the poly strain seemed to have died out naturally--perhaps
    by another dominant gene that was present in the local population---and
    the characteristic doesn't exist or at least is not very common in the
    area in Scotland that it began in. Isolation of the gene in the U.S.
    may have caused it to become more dominant in the cat population.
    
       According to any vet that I have talked to, this is NOT considered
    to be a negative trait, nor should there be any fear of breeding a poly
    kitten. In fact, the genes that make a Siamese a Siamese or a Persian a
    Persian can, in fact, be considered more negative in scope than this
    gene, simply because the gene that causes polydactyl feet is a
    NATURALLY occurance, and the genes that make some of the specific
    breeds what they are are the result of human engineering, A.K.A.
    "UNnatural species selective breeding". 
       NATURAL gene development is what allows evolution to occur.
    UNNATURAL selection, or HUMAN 'design' of species is NOT considered to
    be natural evolution. A negative characteristic of human engineering is
    the flat face of the Persian and the flat face in canine breeding of
    the Bulldog. Neither of these facial structures are natural, and many
    examples of these animals are prone to having severe breathing and
    nasal problems. This same problem holds true in the back problems
    inherent in Dachshunds and Bassett Hounds..
    
       John Mc

    re .10
    I agree. I am not agains polys! I am only afraid that starting extra
    breeding them might end up in 'human engineering' and misbreeds like
    you mentioned. I vote for let the engineering to God - and the cats
    themselves!   :^)
    
    Nat

    
       Re .11
    
       I can't recall anyone actually BREEDING to get the Polydactyl
    feature into a breed-type, and would actually think it may be pretty
    hard to do witht he wide proliferation of the gene in the U.S. today.
    In the New England area, the possibility of haveing a litter with
    'double-paws' is pretty high, but even in those litters, not ALL
    kittens will always be doubles. 
       I guess there COULD be some drawbacks to double paws in a feral
    animal, but in a housecat, the double paw is sort of cute. I had a
    friend that owned  a Tabby female that looked like she was wearing
    snowshoes!! She was really double-pawed, but she got along fine with
    the others...
    
      All three of mine are old singles....
    
       JM

Polydactyl cats were favored by MANY folks as barn cats
(legend had it they were better mousers, or so my Grand-dad 
said, though he could have been pulling my leg...).
I remember an article in Scientific American back in the Mid
80's. Some socialogist had actually tracked the path the
Tories (loyalists during american Revolution) had taken to 
Canada by looking at the relative frequency of polydactyls
in the local cat population with respect to the normal 
occurence of the gene.

Thanks,
Keith

    I had a cat (Pumpkin a wonderful sweet intelligent critter) who
    had double thumbs on both front paws. She was a terror as a kitten
    and we trimmed her claws back regularly to keep her from climbing 
    until we could 'kitten-proof' (Ha Ha Ha ...) the house. It did not
    even slow her down. She used her thumbs to grasp items to pull
    herself up with (rough wall coverings, a thin 'art deco' lamp, etc...).
    I told this to my new vet in the midwest while I was there, and she
    did a 'soft' xray of the paws. She had an extra joint in each thumb and
    it was easy to see why she could do what she did ... she had opposible
    thumbs!!! Two to a paw !!! She also stayed up on snow better than any
    cat (except Jeffums one of her off-spring with double paws front and
    back) I've seen. (Jeffums doesn't like the snow the way she did, so
    I am not sure he counts :-)
    
    My current fav. cat, Pause, is her grandkid (both sides, but that's
    another story, just watch who you let cat sit :-) and she has some
    interesting variations. One 'thumb' on each front paw is diminutive and
    lacks tendons to control it. One front paw has an 'outside spare' claw
    that emits from the side of the thumb and corkscrews ... really wierd
    no pad, no toe, just an extra claw.  Gotta keep that one trimmed or she
    scratches her face when she cleans :-( .
    
    The upside is that all of Pumpkins kittens (a very sneaky and prolific
    kitty, pregos the 1st 2 times we took her to the vet to get fixed. Her 
    first heat as a kitten and her first heat after the kittens were born. )
    are all real smart alecs^H^H^H^H^H critters with good personalities,
    with about a 20% hit rate on polydactalism. 
    
    If anyone sees a poly-cat in calico (not the large patches, but the
    more 'blended' variety) up for adoption, let me know!!! (After all
    Punk-cat (aka Pumpkin) was a Nashua cat and a good number of you guys
    are in that neck of the woods ... Hey can you tell I miss Pumpkin?
    Anyway, I ramble ...
    
    Tjp
    

    I have several cats with extra toes. Actually,  Mitties, appropriately
    named for her "mitties", has double feet.  The front paws are actually
    2 parts.  There's the regular paw with five toes, and on the
    front/inside there is 2 more huge toes, almost opposing.  She kind of
    uses them as opposing units.  Although she had been declawed at some
    point, she still climbs and hunts and uses her incredible paws in
    strange ways.  When she is sitting and you look at her from the front,
    it looks like she has 2 extra feet just kind of sitting there next to
    the regular front paws...weird.
    Chief Kitty who is also declawed before he came into my life has 
    7 toes on each front foot.  Cleo has 8 claws on the front and 7 on
    the back feet, but hers are all in perfect line, it does not look
    like extra feet or opposing toes.  There's just all these toes
    on a cute round paw.  They all have claws too.  Great when it comes
    time to trim.....

My Floyd has extras as well, his feet are big to begin with and he's a newcomer
to our home...he kinda adopted us and is still in the adjustment period.  I was
just watching him the other night and noticed he kinda walks like a duck with
his extra toes...of course it could be that he walks like a duck because he's
getting so FAT!  :)

Sandra