Dear Fisher,
I wish you could help me with my problem, but I think I might be stuck with it and I don’t want to cut off my paws! The trouble is that I have extra toes on my front feet. My paws are huge. Whenever the human grandmother comes over she just gushes over them because she loves kitty paws and baseball so all the time I am hearing Oh look at the baseball mitts. It makes me feel like I am a freak.
Lexi
Dear Lexi,
I have wonderful news for you. The fact that you have extra toes on your front paws is far from freakish. It is quite an honor, as you have ancestors of note in your past. You are, in short, polydactyl. Do not hyperventilate or run to your humans for immediate emergency first aide! Polydactyl just means you have extra toes.
The average cat has 5 toes on each front paw and 4 toes on each hind paw. A polydactyl cat may have as many as seven toes on front and/or back paws. Usually the front paws will match and the back paws will match. They are often associated with the Maine Coon cats who often have extra digits, and there is some discussion as to whether they originate in New England, or were transferred here from England.
I know of two other such special cats, one is from Maine and the other is from Arizona. They would tell you in an instant that you should be very proud of your heritage. The fact that you live in Tampa, FL, ties in more directly with the stories about the Hemingway cats down in Key West. Many are still there, living in the museum/home of Ernest Hemingway, a very famous author.
Mr. Hemingway was given a cat with 6 toes on each front paw, as a gift from a sea captain friend. Many of the cats living in Key West now are said to be direct descendents of that one cat. You can check out your ancestors on the internet at Hemingway Home. The really exciting thing is the site has a web cam so you can watch them!
If you or your people ever visit Key West, it should be on your “must do” list. They give guided tours and as one guide said, “A lot of the adults are, frankly, more interested in the cats than they are in Hemingway.”
Of course they are.
Your friend,
Fisher
published in tbt* Tampa Bay
