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Maine Coons
Have you ever heard of the polydactyl cat ? These charming cats have a feature that makes them unique: more fingers than usual! These “six-toed cats” are also famous for their connection to the writer Ernest Hemingway and are sometimes called “Hemingway cats”. I'll tell you more about what it means to be polydactyl, why some cats are polydactyl, and even which breeds are most likely to have this natural little “superpower.”
When we talk about a polydactyl cat , we are referring to a cat that has a higher than average number of toes. Typically, cats have five toes on their front paws and four on their back paws. But a polydactyl cat can also have six, seven or more toes on one or more paws. The term “polydactyl” comes from Greek and literally means “with many fingers”.
Polydactyly is a genetic mutation that can occur naturally. It is an autosomal dominant trait, meaning that if one of the parents is polydactyl, the kittens will have a good chance of inheriting it as well. Although it may seem like an unusual detail, polydactyly does not create any health problems for the cat, on the contrary, cats with six toes develop greater agility and precision in their movements!
Ernest Hemingway, the iconic American writer, owned a polydactyl cat and became so fond of it that he started a real "dynasty" of polydactyl cats in his home in Key West, Florida. Today, Hemingway's house-museum is inhabited by numerous polydactyl cats that carry forward this particular characteristic, so much so that they are known as Hemingway's Six-toed Cats . Even today, these cats are a small attraction for tourists and symbolize luck and protection for sailors (in fact, polydactyl cats were often shipmates on ocean voyages due to their ability to climb and hunt).
