Normal cats have eighteen toes, but an inhabitant of a Milwaukee animal shelter, a moggie named Daniel, has eight more. He’s what’s known as a “superscratcher”: an extremely polydactylous cat. (This is usually due to a dominant genetic mutation. Check out the pictures at the Wikipedia entry.)
As The Daily Mail reports, Daniel has become a cash cow (cash cat?) to raise money for an enlarged shelter, and they’re asking for donations of a dollar per toe:
Officials at the centre found out their rent at a Milwaukee-area mall was being doubled on January 1. So, the shelter is buying a new building and is seeking small donations of $26 – or $1 per toe.
They’ve collected enough so far to secure the financing with about $80,000 raised since October 24, but they hope to raise $120,000 by December 23 so they can become even more financially stable.
It’s a no-kill shelter, and you can donate here.
And a video:
This is not the record for toes, by the way. The Guinness Book of World Records pegs the most-toed cat as having 28 digits!
A (Christian) family I know had four kids, all born with six fingers on the one hand, quickly removed by surgery when they were babies. Presumably this is a case of a simliar dominant genetic mutation in humans; unless, of course, God put the digits there.
That is, one finger each was removed!
I’m glad you corrected that.
Mouse: My! What claws you have!
Cat: The better to caress you with, my dear.
Extremely clever marketing, to ask for a dollar-a-digit.
This is like having opposable thumbs which reminds me of this funny cat-related commercial:
I would think that anyone’s blood would run cold at the thought of cats with thumbs.
What further use would they have for us if they could operate the can opener by themselves?