Martin Dobson’s two kittens are all at sixes and sevens. Toes that is.
When the mother Baby gave birth to five kittens six weeks ago the Beach Haven resident noticed two had larger feet.
Four toes and a thumb on a cat’s front paw is normal. Mr Dobson saw the male had six digits on all feet and his sister had seven on her front paws and six on the back. They also have opposable thumbs.
Their names are Yubi for the male, which means fingers in Japanese, and Smeagol for the female because of her resemblance to the Lord of the Rings character.
Mr Dobson called his partner Kathryn Reid and told her there was a "kitten surprise" waiting for her.
They learned the cats are polydactyls, the result of a genetic mutation. Polydactyly normally occurs only in the front paws. For it to affect all four is less common.
They are also known as mitten or thumb cats because they can learn to pick up things, open latches or move objects with near-human dexterity.
But the condition can cause problems learning to walk or climb and Ms Reid says Yubi often spins and stumbles when taking off to run.
Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway is thought to have grown fond of polydactyls after he was given a six-toed cat by a ship’s captain.
His former home in Key West, Florida, became a museum and home to his cats. It houses about 50 descendants, about half of them polydactyls.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/2326310/Claws-for-thought
