Thursday, 12 July 2012

Polydactyl Cats

Hi Everyone,



On the 6th of July my mum and I went to the pet shop on our way to new world and we saw the cutest kitten ever (Oliver). While we were  looking at him he started to play with my finger and we noticed his little extra toes. The next day we we went back and brought little Ollie home. At first we had some trouble naming him but then we settled on Oliver Twist because in Oliver Twist Oliver says "please sir, can I have some more" and Oliver's meow sounds like "more". Cats with extra toes are called Polydactyl cats.

Oliver has 6  toes on his  front feet and 5 toes on his back feet. An ordinary cat , has 5 toes on the front and 4 on the back. Polydactyl cats can sometimes have extra toes only on the front feet, it is even more unusual for them to have extra toes on the front and the back.

Polydactyl cats first appeared in the U.S, England, Asia and Nova Scotia. Because of the unusual feet they were associated with witch craft, so they were  killed. As people got used to Polydactyl cats they were believed to bring good luck. Sailors would take them on their ships to bring them luck and they were excellent hunters and mouse catchers.

Why do Polydactyl cats have more toes than ordinary cats? Polydactyl cats have a mutated gene. Or are they just more evolved? Some polydactyl cats can use their extra digits like we use our thumbs.

What is the highest number of toes a polydactyl cat has ever had? A cat called Jake holds the record with 28 toes- but not all on one foot!

If you have any questions please comment and I will try and find the answer!!!


Zzzzzzzzzzzzz *snore* *snore* *snore* 

Maddy :)


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8 comments:

  1. Elizabeth20 July 2012 at 13:02

    hey maddy I thought you might like this tv add with cats with thumbs http://www.milkmatters.co.uk/cats/

    ReplyDelete
  2. muatau31 July 2012 at 18:45

    Wow thats a cute cat and thats good infomation of the types of cats.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anthia9 August 2012 at 09:40

    Hi Maddy, These are some cool photos of miss holland and her cat it must be so cute.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anthia13 August 2012 at 09:23

    WOW, Maddy these are fantastic photos of Miss Holland and her cat.Her cat is very cute!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Westport North School Garden25 August 2012 at 17:07

    Thank you Maddy for sharing such wonderfuly facinating facts, we are loving hearing about Ollie...he's definately special!

    We hope that the SPCA cupcake stall goes well...yum yum!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anthia10 September 2012 at 10:25

    WOW! Maddy, You have done a really great job as putting photo's and a video about miss Holland's cat and her i really like the last photo because it is so cute the cat is so cute.Great Job!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1 February 2013 at 21:04

      Ollie is my cat, but miss holland has a cat called ollie to.


      here is a link that you might like!!!

      http://catoftheday.com/archive/2013/January/23.html

      Delete
  7. Anonymous19 October 2012 at 20:49

    Hi Maddy,I love your polydactyal kitten it is so cute.I never knew that kittens could have more than 3 paws.
    Natalie/room 23:)
    Whangarei Primary.

    ReplyDelete

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