| Country of Origin: | United States |
| Colors: | All colors |
| Average Size: | Weight: 8-12 lbs (3.6 -5.4 kg) Length; Medium to large |
| Life Span: | 14 years |
| Coat: | Short/Long |
| Personality: | sweet natured, loving, easy to train and can be taught simple tricks and games |
| Characteristics: | Energy: Highly active Talkative: Moderate: Kid Friendly: Yes Less Allergic: No |
Polydactyl cats are cats with a certain congenital physical anomaly. In this case, the American Polydactyl cat breed stands for cats that were born with more than the usual number of toes on paws. Such cats are mostly found on the Eastern Coast of North America, on Wales and South West England.
Normal cats have 5 toes on front paws (each paw) and 4 toes on each hind paw making it a total of 18 toes. Polydactyl cats have 8 toes on each front paw and on each hind paw. The Guinness World of Records recognized a Canadian cat named Tiger who had a total of 27 toes as the only and unique cat on the world with the highest number of toes.
Polydactyly is most commonly found on the front paws and in very rare situations cats can have polydactyl hind paws only. Due to their extreme hunting and climbing abilities, polydactyl cats were valued a lot to sailors, and they considered them to bring good luck when at sea.
There are a lot of mutations that can lead to polydactylity. Ernest Hemingway, a Nobel Prize winner was a very big lover of polydactyl cats. He was given a six toed cat by a captain of one ship, and after Ernest’s death his home in Key West, FL became a sort of a museum for his cats. Currently there are around 50 descendants of his cat, however just half of them are polydactyl. Since he was a huge admirer of these cats, polydactyl cats are also referred to as Hemingway cats. In Europe, however, polydactyl cats are very rare.
American Polydactyl cats are a very specific cat breed and they have very specific behavioural and physical characteristics, excluding the extra number of toes. This cat breed is sometimes confused with the pedigree Maine Coon cat breed which is also polydactyl. However, the polydactyl form of Maine cats has been reinstated by breeders.
Polydactylism is actually an irregularity wherein a creature has more than the normal number of toes. This is what the American Polydactyl cat actually has. These cats are also popularly known as conch cats, mitten cats, thumb cats, cardi-cats, boxing cats, mitten-foot cats, six-fingered cats, snowshoe cats, and Hemingway cats. This cat can grow large and has a strong body. I like its round eyes. There are some bobtailed American Polydactyl cats and they are usually shorter than those cardi-cats with long tails. These cats are very relaxed and are great even in places with extremely cold weather. They are very sociable and they adore children.
One of the photos here is a photo I took of a kitten we had in foster care named Spike. He was in a litter of 4. One of the kittens was not polydactyl. The shelter listed the kittens as domestic short hairs or in other words, randomly bred street cats. In my experience polydactyl is just a matter of a single gene. The only thing that makes them different from their base breed is that they have extra toes.
I have two of these cats, one black and the other black with a little bit of white. They are the sweetest cats and the all black one begs for food all the time (even though there is food always available) and the other calls me to come to bed with her. I LOVE these cats!
I meant to add that they both have lots of toes. They have seven on each of the front feet and 5 on each of the back feet. Both of them are the same way. It’s interesting to watch them walk. They don’t seem to be bothered by the extra toes. Their front feet look like mittens.
I have a polydactyl kitten named Gemma. And she has her own little personality. She loves to play and she likes to stare you down. I love this cat.
Hello I just adopted a polydactyl cat she is loyal, loving she is not to fond of my grandson maybe because he is wild and loud she does not come upstairs because we have another cat that tries to bully her but the other cat is a 1yr. old but she is kind of chubby we are working with them on getting alone because the polydactyl cat will just hide from the other cat maybe she can tell the other cat is a baby and she is much older how do I make them get along any advise I’m all ears and thanks in advance