Today I’m here to talk to you about an unusual characteristic that we have, it isn’t just us, it spreads all over a bunch of species like Guinea pigs, dogs, cats, humans, etc.
This word derives from the greek Poly that means many and daktulos that means digits, many digits/fingers. The meaning of this genetic change is the existence of additional fingers in us cats.
Usually we have 18 digits, 5 in each front paw and 4 in each rear paw. When one of us has polydactyly, the number of digits increases until 25, distributed by our paws (the only known case of 25 digits had 7 digits in each front paw and 6 and 5 digits in the rear one). The reverse of this is syndactyly, which occurs in the paw development process, that 2 or more toes stay together not splitting to the correct number of digits.
In our case (Maine Coons) this change is not authorized in show, meaning that any cat appearing for judging with polydactyly is immediately excluded from the show.
Well as any rule there are exceptions, in this case is the “Pixie Bob”, the only cat breed that is allowed to have more than the normal number of toes.
Right now there are 2 factions of breeders, the ones that defend the “usual” cat, breeding only with 18 digit cats, and refusing to use the ones that have a different number of digits. And the ones that defend polydactyly, and that say that this should be differentiated from the one caused by diseases like Ellis-van Creveld, which causes also other problems like cardiac anomalies. For them the real polydactyly should be accepted as a Maine Coon characteristic.
For more information about Polydactyly you can go to Maine Coon Polydactyls www.mcpi.org
Did you know that the known Winston Churchill is believed to have been a polydactyl? After all you have famous humans polydactyls too!
This word derives from the greek Poly that means many and daktulos that means digits, many digits/fingers. The meaning of this genetic change is the existence of additional fingers in us cats.
Usually we have 18 digits, 5 in each front paw and 4 in each rear paw. When one of us has polydactyly, the number of digits increases until 25, distributed by our paws (the only known case of 25 digits had 7 digits in each front paw and 6 and 5 digits in the rear one). The reverse of this is syndactyly, which occurs in the paw development process, that 2 or more toes stay together not splitting to the correct number of digits.
In our case (Maine Coons) this change is not authorized in show, meaning that any cat appearing for judging with polydactyly is immediately excluded from the show.
Well as any rule there are exceptions, in this case is the “Pixie Bob”, the only cat breed that is allowed to have more than the normal number of toes.
Right now there are 2 factions of breeders, the ones that defend the “usual” cat, breeding only with 18 digit cats, and refusing to use the ones that have a different number of digits. And the ones that defend polydactyly, and that say that this should be differentiated from the one caused by diseases like Ellis-van Creveld, which causes also other problems like cardiac anomalies. For them the real polydactyly should be accepted as a Maine Coon characteristic.
For more information about Polydactyly you can go to Maine Coon Polydactyls www.mcpi.org
Did you know that the known Winston Churchill is believed to have been a polydactyl? After all you have famous humans polydactyls too!
Purrr... see you next time!
Big
1 comment:
I love Mr.Big's paws! my kitty is a poly also. he has 23 toes, almost made it to 25 ;-)
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