cats with thumbs

I have seen a cat like you describe, but it was being eaten by chimps. Still, the cat was brave, and died giving those monkeys the finger.

Yes there are certain cats that I've had that have an extra toe or thumb, is that what you mean Abu?

we tend to call them double-pawed, though they often don't have a full second set on each foot.

ok i got a pic.....let's see here....it's the best i could do...

uh....how do i post a pic??

Of course, if you told us the thumbs were opposable, well, then, I'd have to agree that they were trying to evolve.

up in the blue header for this page is a list of buttons - click the one that says 'gallery' and upload the picture to the general a2k album.

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=136&start=0

And there ya go, panzade has arrived with the link to a tutorial on posting images.

well i posted it in 'pets'...it said it would be viewable after admin approval....how long does that take?

I dunno, it's not there yet. I guess it takes as long as it does.

A friend of mine had a cat which everyone called "Toes." She liked to lick peoples toes if they had no shoes on, but she also had weird toes of her own. On her forepaws, she had seven rather than five toes, and two were offset to the side, almost as opposable as a human thumb. She had five toes on each hindpaw, rather than four. I have seen her use the forepaws as a human would use their hand with the opposable thumb. Most notably, she once dragged a living, and loudly complaining blue jay into the front yard, and had the birds head in the grip of one forepaw, with the two extra toes holding it exactly as a human would grip something using the thumb.

We actually had to have a couple of rogue toes executed for our Austin, as they were not normal for the breed, and would have caused bad problems once he was no longer a pup.

polydactyly is a congenital defect that occurs in cats that breed as a "cluster" so geneticaly the trait gets re introduced into the population. Its usually not lethal so the trait gets passed on. The Amish show this as a genetic disease that , because it rides on a specific gene that also controls urogenital tract design and certain protein metabolic conditions, a whole suite of congenital diseases or conditions all are expressed together, polydactyly is just one of the signs that this person is in trouble, physically.
SO, the cat may have a host of other traits that you dont notice, like blue eyes , or short rear legs, or kidney stones or an inability to metabolize certain proteins.

Many of these cats are quite good at playing the piano but they cant sing worth a damn

Bah-dah-bum ( < rim shot)

They are called polydactyl cats and it isn't all that uncommon.

Here is a photo of a polydactyl cat pay:
http://www.messybeast.com/poly-cats.html#whatis

If the cat you speak of isn't like this then it is probably a cat from another planet and it is here to kill and eat you. Run!

I dunno if the polydactyl thing in cats precludes a host of other diseases as having extra digits in human populations does.

usually a gene set has a number of expressions in the organism. Theyve discovered that genes , are quite economical in what they control in an organisms structure or physiology.
So. while I dont know whether a polytoed cat has other genic expressions of that allele, I wouldnt be surprised to hear that all polydactyly cats are bllue eyed with shriveled kidneys and fistulas in their LI. ASk our resident vet PATIODOG, Im a fisherman today

I've known cats with extra paws. My sister's lived to 19 years and died of bone cancer.

Hmmm - here is a philosophical question....

Do we TRY to evolve?

Or is evolution thrust upon us?


I am imagining a mummy cat sitting there, earnestly thinking "Opposeable thumbs! Opposeable thumbs! Can opener! Can opener!" to the litter within her.....