18, 19, 20... Wow that's a lot of toes!

It's always dangerous to refer to something as "normal" or "abnormal." Normal is in the eye of the beholder, right? Instead, I will employ the word "typical" when discussing supernumeray feline phalanges.

In otherwords... Polydactyl cats.

When I was a new graduate I practiced in New England. I didn't appreciate it at the time, but there were a LOT of polydactyl cats in Connecticut. I did some research into this and it appears that polydactyl cats originated in England, probably in Wales. The genetics quickly found their way to Boston. The appearance of polydactylism around the New World appears to be related to when various governments began trade with Boston. Most sailors considered polydactyl cats lucky and they were therefore regular stow-aways on trade ships.

Remember - domestic cats, like horses, did not exist in the Americas until the dang europeans brought them. Horses became fairly popular, but I don't know how the native peoples felt about cats. My guess was that after we killed them all with Smallpox and stole their land, they were pretty reluctant to embrace our feline friends. Horses could be ridden and used to carry things for you. On the other hand, have you ever tried to get a cat to do anything USEFUL? Maybe if THEY WANT to do it or they think it's their idea, but they sure as hell won't do it because you ASKED them to do it. The phrase pack cat just doesn't sound as useful as pack mule.

But I digress...

The typical cat has 5 toes on each front foot and 4 on each rear. Grand total = 18. Anything more than this is polydactyl. Even if it's only one extra. Usually cats are polydactylier than just one extra toe and they are usually symmetrical. Most all of these guys are polydactyl on the front feet only.

The extra toes can sometimes be used as opposable thumbs. My nephew cat Thomas (named for Tom Thumb, not Tom Cat) uses his thumbs to play and catch with. He's practically simian with the things. I'm surprised he hasn't learned how to open the door with them.

The extra toes aren't always attached to the wrist by good bony joints. Sometimes the toes are kind of "floppy" and other times they are fully functional. The wrist is designed to have tendons and ligaments for 5 digits. Anything more than that and there usually isn't enough anatomy to go around.

I've had one person tell me that all polydactyl cats came from Hemmingway's house in Florida. Nope. He had a particular fondness for them and most of his cats were polydactyl, but that's all.

FYI - the current Guiness Record holder has 28 toes. That's impressive!

AMH