Cats with Extra Toes

Cats with extra toes are called "polydactyl cats". "Poly" means more than one or many. The origin of this prefix is the Ancient Greek word "polus" meaning many. While "daktulos" is the origin of "dactyl", which means a finger or a toe. I guess that is obvious but I think it is worth spelling out. For veterinarians, polydactyl cats are considered as cats with an inherited orthopedic disease. The extra toes are a congenital deformity. This sounds bad but we see polydactylism as something interesting as there are no associated health problems and it is quite common in domestic cats. People occasionally have the same condition.

Polydactyl cat - Photo by panic switch 13

The normal number of toes for a cat is: 5 on the forepaws and 4 on the hind paws. Extra toes normally occur on the front paws but the defect can affect both rear and front paws.

Although a benign condition the extra toes might not get the usual amount of usage and wear leading to the claws growing into the pads. The claws should be checked and trimmed if necessary. Cat breeders consider polydactylism a defect and don't breed from a polydactyl cat unless they are breeding polydactyl cats. Is this sensible?

Associated pages: Tootsie a polydactyl Maine Coon and American Polydactyl Cat (Hemingway cats).

Margay Photos

Here are two fine margay photos by Arjan Haverkamp. He is a photographer who publishes his photographs on Flickr.  He kindly agreed to allow me to publish these photos here. Please ask him if you want to use them.

The margay is a small, tree dwelling wildcat with an enormous climbing ability. They spend a lot of the time in trees. One radio collared margay rested during the day in a palm tree 7 meters off the ground. 

Margay - Photo copyright Arjan Haverkamp

They are extremely agile and acrobatic climbers. They demonstrate a monkey-like ability when traveling through trees.  They can jump 8 feet straight up and 12 feet horizontally. They descend trees head first. The margay can hang from branches from their hind feet and grab with their front paws at the same time. 

Their hind feet are adapted to climbing in a special way. They can rotate inwards 180 degrees. Their eyesight is excellent. They can spot a fly at 30 feet¹. You can see the size of their eyes in these photos. They are like large, glossy, dark marbles. Their long tails provide stability and balance. You can see the tail wrapped around the paws in the photo above. Their slender frame provides a high power to weight ratio.

Margay - Photo copyright Arjan Haverkamp

Note: (1) Wild Cats of the World - ISBN-13: 978-0-226-77999-7

Meat By-products in Cat Food

In the USA the buyer should be aware of "meat by-products in cat food". What does this euphemistic phrase mean?  Meat by-products are actually obtained from 4-D animals. These are animals, mainly horses and cattle that are either: dead, dying, diseased or disabled at slaughter. They may have drugs in them that were used to keep them alive. These drugs and the pathogens that killed the animal remain in the carcasses after slaughter. This means that meat by-products include, diseased tissue, pus, carcasses in varying stages of decomposition that have been sterilized using heat, pressure and chemicals.

Sources:

1. www.greyhounds.org
2. Low Cost Natural Cures for your Dog and Cat Your Vet Doesn't Want You to Know

Deer Befriends Orange Tabby Cat

Dorothy showed me photos of a deer that has befriended a cat and I love them. They are a lesson to us. Here are a couple of pictures. The first one shows the orange tabby cat climbing over the deer. This is an act of friendship. The deer visits daily apparently to see his or her friend.

Deer and cat together as best friends. Photo author unknown.

Here is another picture of the deer "kissing" the cat:

Deer visiting and kissing orange tabby cat in back yard.

There are many other examples of cats being friends with other species of animal. I have seen cat and rat, fox and cat, monkey and cat, and horse and cat. I love them all.

Turkish Angora Personality

Gentle, easygoing and affectionate, so says one of the best sources about the Turkish Angora personality. Gloria Stephens in Legacy of the Cat says that the Turkish Angora is "quick-witted" (intelligent) and quick moving. She even says that this breed of cat can be quick tempered. I am not sure about that last comment.

Dr. Fogle who wrote, The Encyclopedia Of The Cat says that this cat breed is "energetic and exhibitionist".

Turkish Angora Ankara Zoo, Turkey

I would treat both these commentaries on the Turkish Angora personality with a bit of caution. There may be an underlying character trait for this breed of cat but we need to factor in the personalities of individual cats. This depends on breed characteristics to a certain extent and also how the individual cat was raised by the breeder.

For me, in any case, it is somewhat questionable whether we can say a breed of cat has a personality trait. All breeds are one species of cat. And all individual cats have their own personalities.