Extra toe beans! (Cat content)

DiscoStu

This lovely cat came in to our garden today, we haven't seen it before but it was super friendly and hopefully will be a new pal for our cat Milo.



But we didn't initially notice that he/she has extra toes! In fact the front left foot looks like it has a whole other foot coming out of it!





Apparently this is a 'polydactyl' cat. So he is Paul or she is Polly, for now at least!

Kittyfrisk

Love a bit of polydactylic pussy news.
* Reasonable slamming responses to such a 'lame' gag are acceptable, the rest can sod right off 

Very sweet cat, hope they stay around (providing they aren't just moonlighting from their official home gig).

ArchtopDave

If you look carefully, it looks like the cat has a similar, though smaller, malformation on the right side.

DiscoStu

ArchtopDave said:

If you look carefully, it looks like the cat has a similar, though smaller, malformation on the right side.

Yeah, both front paws but the left is more prominent.

Kurtis

What's beans got to do with it?

Kittyfrisk

Kurtis said:

What's beans got to do with it?

Can't speak for the OP, but most cat admirers & owners recognise cat paw pads as resembling jelly beans, hence toe beans?  

dano

polydactyl is just cats evolving to becoming the Earth overlords.

gusman2x

dano said:

polydactyl is just cats evolving to becoming the Earth overlords.

Why have opposable thumbs, when you Jan have opposable hands!

Kurtis

Kittyfrisk said:

Kurtis said:

What's beans got to do with it?

Can't speak for the OP, but most cat admirers & owners recognise cat paw pads as resembling jelly beans, hence toe beans?  

You learn something new every day round here 

Kittyfrisk

Kurtis said:

Kittyfrisk said:

Kurtis said:

What's beans got to do with it?

Can't speak for the OP, but most cat admirers & owners recognise cat paw pads as resembling jelly beans, hence toe beans?  

You learn something new every day round here 

Seldom stuff that is actually useful :-D

stickyfiddle

We also have a Milo. He has one foot with missing beans! Between them we'd have pretty much the full complement  

Will get some pics later

DiscoStu

Kurtis said:

What's beans got to do with it?

Yeah, cat and dog owners often refer to 'toe beans' when on about their pet's paws.

DiscoStu

I've learned a few things today about polydactyl cats.
It's fairly common even though I've never seen or heard of it before, it's a genetic mutation (common in Wales!) and doesn't cause any problems, and the record for a cat is 28 toes!

Ernest Hemingway was fond of polydactyl cats so they can also be known as Hemingway cats, mitten paws, or snowshoe cats.

Our visitor has extra toes on the inside of the paw so they are preaxial and the most common.
Extra outside toes are postaxial, and extra toes in the centre of the paw are mesoaxial.

Cat facts!

p90fool

DiscoStu said:

 it's a genetic mutation (common in Wales!) 

Here in Wales farms are often overrun with feral offspring, siblings breeding with each other for generation after generation causing all kinds of mutations.

Apparently their cats do the same thing.