Is cat with 26 toes a record breaker?
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
The owner of a cat with too many toes is trying to find out whether her pet is a record breaker, she said today. Most cats have just 18 toes - five on each front paw and four on each hind paw - but Des has a grand total of 26 digits. His owner Alison Thomas, of Felindre, near Swansea, south Wales, said the feline has seven toes on each front paw and six on each of those behind.
"We've had him for about 10 years, he just turned up on the doorstep and my husband made the fatal error of giving him a bowl of milk so he stayed," she said. "He was only about six months old at the time and was quite small, so his paws looked enormous. "I originally wondered if he needed them chopped off, but the vet said he was fine. If he paws at anything we've got to unlatch him, but he's just a bit silly really." Mrs Thomas added that it was wise to stay away from those extra claws: "He hasn't got the best temperament, but as long as you know him you're OK."
A cat with too many toes is known as a Polydactyl and Mrs Thomas said she had done some research into whether there were any other felines out there with more digits than Des. "Apparently you do see cats with 24 toes, but 26 is quite rare," she said. "The world record holder is a cat in Canada which has 28 toes and we were interested in finding out whether Des might be a Welsh or UK record holder."
A spokeswoman for Guinness World Records said: "The current world record for the cat with most toes belongs to Jake who has 28 toes, with seven on each paw, as counted by a veterinarian on September 24 2002. Jake lives in Bonfield, Ontario, Canada with his owners, Michelle and Paul Contant."
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Makes me wonder if it was almost a siamese cat... (genuinely no pun intended!)
