14 DAY TRIAL // Cats can have nine lives, wings (cases of rudimentary extra-limbs), but they can also have at least 26 toes.
Normal cats have 18 fingers: five on each of their front paws and four on their rear. But Des, a 10-year-old cat of Felindre, near Swansea, UK, displays two extra toes on each paw and could be a UK record. This condition (extra-digits) in humans and animals is called polydactylia.
"He came to us when he was about six months old - he just turned up on the doorstep and it was even more noticeable then because his paws were so big. The first thing people say when they see him even now is 'look at his paws'. He is a bit temperamental - if you know him you are okay but Des can be quite quick with his paws and leave a nasty scratch because he has so many claws." said owner Alison Thomas.
"He did have a problem with his paws a while back - nothing to do with the number of the toes - and the vet said he could amputate the extra ones. But they don't cause him any problems - he does not scratch the furniture - the children know and they say 'don't go near Des's claws'."
"I've seen lots of cats with six toes (overall, 24 toes), but never one with seven. It's quite common to have six toes in Cardiganshire, and therefore we call them 'Cardi-cats' sometimes. Its because it's a genetic defect, the gene pool is actually concentrated in south west Wales, and so it's more likely to get a cat with that genetic defect, breeding with another cat with that genetic defect in Cardigan, than anywhere, else in Britain." said Sally Hyman, from the Llys Nini Animal Centre in Penllergaer, Swansea.
The world record seems to belong to a cat called Mickey Mouse, owned by Renee Delgade of Westlake Village, California, in 1974.
It had 32 toes, but there are some clues that Mickey could have had a "double paw" condition and not polydactylia. Actually, the real record holder for a cat with polydactylia could belong to Bobbi, owned by Kathy Williams of Stone Creek in British Columbia, reported in 2002 to have 28 toes.
