How many cats have fingers in the norm and who are the cats-polydacts

Without neighborhood with animals, a person's life would be boring and uninteresting. So, the pets that are most often found in the vastness of our homeland are just cats. And all because they are unpretentious animals that do not require special care and a lot of human attention. However, you can not know everything about your pet. That's why now I want to tell you how many cats have fingers.

Normal performance

Initially, it should be noted that in animals, as well as in humans, there can be various kinds of deviations. However, how many cats are fingers in the norm? So, the answer is unambiguous: four, located side by side with each other, and the fifth, slightly located at a distance and protruding (however, as in humans). However, this only works if you talk about the front paws.

And how many fingers does a cat have on its hind legs? Here their number will be somewhat different. So, this animal has four fingers on each paw.

Summing up a small result, I want to note that the norm in the amount of each cat on all four legs should be 18 fingers, not 20 (as it is in humans).

Features of walking cats

Finding out how many cats have fingers, it should be noted that only four of them touch the surface on which the animal steps. And this is regardless of what kind of legs it is - front or rear.

Also it should be noted that every cat's finger has a nail that performs various functions: it is also help with lasagna in the trees, and picking up food if necessary, and the guard function is protection against the enemy in case of attack. However, if the cat is completely domestic and does not visit the street, marigolds are often completely unnecessary. That's why they can be safely cut with the help of special cat scissors. Do this carefully, so as not to catch the living skin. Also, do not be afraid if the cat sometimes loses its nails. In fact, the cat removes the upper layer of the claw, the so-called cover, and under it there is a new, sharp and fully grown nail.

It is important to note that any cat will sharpen its claws. If the animal visits the street, the nearest tree will be chosen as the favorite place. If the cat is completely domestic, then any furniture, especially armchairs and sofas, where the tree is covered with a cloth, can suffer. In this case, your pet should buy a nail that will protect property from damage.

Developmental anomalies

Finding out how many cats have fingers, we should also talk about a problem like polydactyly. What is it, you can understand after the translation: from the Greek language "poly" - a lot, "dactylos" - a finger. That's why you can make an uncomplicated conclusion that it will be about such an anomaly, when a pet has more fingers than usual on his paws.

Ship cats

Initially, it is important to note that humanity knew about this problem for a very long time. However, the first record of polydactyly appeared only in 1868. At the same polydacts (that is, animals with a large number of toes on their paws) for some reason in many countries were considered escorts of seafarers or were called ship cats. Why is that? It's simple.

People believed that with such a special structure of the paws, the animal could better cling to the deck during storms and other problems that often arise in those who are at sea. Surprisingly, but often even if most of the crew of the ship were missing, such cats remained unharmed. In addition, seafarers gave these animals and other additional functions: it was believed that polydacts bring good luck, if they are on the ship.

Interesting facts about the polydacts

We figured out how many fingers the cat has in the norm - 18 on all four legs. And also considered such an anomaly as polydactyly. About such special favorites there is a lot of information that can be found on various pages of history:

1. In the Middle Ages in the northeastern United States, many cats had polydactyly. However, all animals with this feature on their paws were destroyed during the witch hunt campaign.
2. The famous writer Ernest Hemingway had about 50 cats with a similar anomaly. It is worth noting that such animals are also called "cats in mittens".
3. US President T. Roosevelt had a cat Slipper, who had more fingers on his paws than was supposed to. This is the first pet-polydact, who lived in the White House.
4. If we talk about a breed of cats like maineunk, then about 40% of them are polydacts. According to legend, their paws are such that it was better to fish and run through the snow. Today, this feature of the mainstream was artificially derived.
5. The maximum number of fingers in the cat-polydact - 32 on all four legs. This feature was noted in 1974.
6. Finding out how many fingers the cat has in the norm and with the deviations, it should be noted that most often the furry favorites have one extra finger on the front paws. So, they have two separate fingers, on which cats do not walk when walking.
7. The polydactyly gene does not convey the number of extra fingers. It simply means this feature.

If you know how many fingers a cat has, the photos of the polydacts will not seem terrible. These seals are also pretty. And besides they are also special.