What Is A “polydactyl” Cat?

Polydactyl (Latin for "many digits") is a feline genetic mutation that causes multiple toes.
Normal cats have five toes on each front paw and four toes on each back paw; polydactyls have six or more toes on the front paws and often an extra toe on the rear paws. This gives the animal the appearance of wearing baseball gloves.
The condition is frowned upon by breed registries, but is not debilitating. Indeed, polydactylism can improve a cat's dexterity -- enabling it to open latches and cupboard doors.
In the New World, polydactylism is more present in areas first settled by the British, like Boston (about 12 percent of all its cats) and in Canadian cities to which Loyalists fled during the American Revolution.
The most famous polydactyl cats are the descendants of those kept by Ernest Hemingway. At the Hemingway House Museum in Key West, Florida, half of the 60 cats are polydactyl.
The condition of extra digits is called "hyperdactylism" in humans. The most famous person with the condition was Anne Boleyn, wife on Henry VIII. It was seen as one of the proofs that she was a witch, and was a factor in her execution.

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