Thread: Silly question but how many claws?

Thank you, that link is very informative. But. .. Buddy has 22 claws and that link says should have 18! Do I subtract 4 for dew claws? Or does this explain his rather large paws? I love him no matter what but this is turning into a family argument as Thug is my beloved Fudge's son x

Normal cats have 18, polydactyl kitties have more, some have a lot more.
If you goggle "Polydactyl cats" you'll get a lot of sites, Ernest Hemingway had them and the museum of his former home still has a colony of cats half of which have extra toes.
Hemingway Cats - Amazing Cats with Many Toes

Right, so Buddy has 6 claws on front and 5 on back so he is special. I would never have thought to count claws before but will when getting m kitten. I've learnt a lot x

Now when Buddy starts opening doors and getting into places normal cat's can't you'll know why

Originally Posted by elismom

Yes but doesn't he look at you sometimes like he's imploring you for an opposable thumb? Eli does when he just cannot achieve something that requires such and it makes me feel like we people stole something from him...

Originally Posted by candes

They manage quite well without opposable thumbs. It amazed me to see Teddy cupping his hand to hold a pen. Just like he had a thumb. In fact he does it with his toys too. So it is not a one time event. Have you ever seen any other animal hold such an item with one paw? And also, those MC love to carry stuff in their mouths. And they seem to always do it with purpose. Very intelligent.

MC Elvis told me that if they had thumbs they could open the cat food cans by themselves and would have no further use for us monkeys...

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This might be a good opportunity to introduce my new kitten! I'm very pleased and proud to announce a new addition to my household: Yaheska P-Pawsfourthought - Oscar. As the keen eyed amongst you will notice - he is a Polydactyl Maine Coon. He is 3-wheel drive, 6 toes on both front feet, 5 on one back foot, 4 on the other. He has been home for three weeks now and is a very cheeky little boy. He hasn't picked any locks yet but its early days yet

Aww he is so cute. I can't enlarge pics but that looks like he wearing lippy in the first one. Haven't you forgotten one little thing though Wendy? Your signature needs some attention

Originally Posted by cooncatbob

Now when Buddy starts opening doors and getting into places normal cat's can't you'll know why

I think I joined here just before you Bob so you may have missed that Buddy is rescue and 7. One of my first posts was "How do you MC proof a house?" Due to Buddy opening cupboards, the fridge and doors. Child locks worked for all of a day until they got swiped off. Door handles have been turned upside down and still working but not sure for how long - these cats are too intelligent for their own good.

wouldn't have him any other way xx

Well now you know why, he's a kitty was a little something extra.
Samantha liked to get into the cupboard where I kept the dish towels, I come into the kitchen and the towels would be pulled out on to the floor.

Originally Posted by candes

Actually my dear, that is a MC thing. Even with the usual number of claws my Teddy amazes me. The most unusual thing he did was pick a pen up off the floor with one paw. And then held it with that one paw! Toy play is no fun (for me) since he gets everything with one big swat and slams it to the floor. THUD..... I can barely imagine what a poly MC could do though.

My polydactyl MC Roxy has opposable thumbs! She uses them when climbing and can climb really well. She also grasps things with them and if she grabs onto a toy it's impossible to pull it out of her grasp...
Roxy has 6 claws on each front foot (4 regular toes, 1 dewclaw and 1 thumb for each) and 5 on each back foot (4 regular claws and 1 dewclaw on each).

Here's a few photos where you can see her "thumbs":







We also got her this ID tag (it has her name/# on the back)... It's being modeled by my other cat Harley for this photo because it's hard to photograph on Roxy because of her fluffy neck ruff: