farren@gethen.UUCP (Michael J. Farren) (10/05/87)
In article <2437@calmasd.GE.COM> jnp@calmasd.GE.COM (John Pantone) writes: >(Richard Sexton) writes: >> I was at my brother in laws house and there was a white momma cat with >> 7 toes on each foot. Sort of like an extra half foot growing out the inside >> of the paw. > >Polydactyly (many (too many) "fingers") is a common "deformity" among some >breeds of cat. Sorry, don't know which breed. In fact, it's not all that >uncommon among humans either. This particular kind of polydactylity (what looks like almost an extra paw growing alongside the normal one) in cats can be traced back to a single cat, brought into this country from England some time ago (50 years?). It seems to be a slightly dominant trait, in that it does tend to re- appear in succeeding generations, but not always. Interestingly, there also seem to be two other characteristics that are loosely linked with polydactylity in cats - increased intelligence and shorter lifespan. -- ---------------- Michael J. Farren "... if the church put in half the time on covetousness unisoft!gethen!farren that it does on lust, this would be a better world ..." gethen!farren@lll-winken.arpa Garrison Keillor, "Lake Wobegon Days"