Cat With 24 Toes Is The Talk Of The Town

http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N5295....5138831279054?

http://tinyurl.com/yjfvu3l

There is a picture of the polydactyl cat with the news story. He's a
real cutie, too!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn.—Charlie Owens, owner of Charlie’s Service Center
vehicle-repair shop, couldn’t help himself this spring when he went to
gather up a stray cat’s kittens for a customer who agreed to adopt
them—and saw one kitten, bearing an amazing 24 toes, sadly staring up at
him.

“I just couldn’t bear the way he was looking at me,“ Owens said. “So, I
said, ‘Ah, OK, I’ll keep you.’ And that’s pretty much how this all
began. He’s become a big part of this place, now.“

Such is the tail, er, tale of Mr. Toes, the cream- colored cat who’s
become the talk of Charlie’s Service Center, and Blountville itself, for
his unusual feet: He has seven toes on each front paw and five on each
rear one.

Mr. Toes’ 24 toes are far more than a normal cat possesses (18 total, or
five in the front and four on the back). And it’s drawn him lots of
attention that the average kitty might not be able to, um, grab.

Owens said people all over the area have stopped by his repair shop to
see, pet and just plain spoil Mr. Toes. One customer even suggested the
shop owner contact CNN about having a national story done on the unusual
cat.

“I said, ‘No, because someone will see it on TV and might try to steal
him,’“ Owens said with a laugh. “He’s a special cat to me, but not just
because of his feet. He’s definitely got a real personality to him.“

Buddy Dillard, a friend of Owens, chuckles and added, “When you toss a
ball at that cat, he can almost actually catch it. Those feet are like
baseball gloves, almost.“

In addition to his above-average fielding skills, Mr. Toes also loves
riding in automobiles and walking patrol among the vehicles waiting to
be serviced on Charlie’s lot.

And, according to Owens, the many-toed cat also gets along great with
Lucy, a thick-bellied stray dog that the shop owner recently took in.

“They nip at each other every once in awhile, but they look out for each
other,“ Owens said, as Mr. Toes curled up in his arms and Lucy
contentedly sat in a chair, gnawing on a donut and black licorice.

But while Owens appreciates the unique nature of Mr. Toes, he said the
likelihood of the cat producing more multi-digit felines are drawing
slimmer by the day.

“Yep, I’m going to have him [neutered] next week,“ Owens said. “He’s
starting to roam around a bit more. And he’s a handsome cat, too, with
all those toes. I don’t think too many female cats will be able to
resist him.“

~~~~~~~~~~~~ ^..^

"Life without cats would be only marginally worth living."
-TC, and the unmercifully, relentlessly, sweet calico kitty, Kenzie.

Every day is a treasure with Kenzie; I try to treat them that way. There
will only be so many, and then there will never, ever, be any more.

How you behave towards cats here below determines your status in Heaven.
- Robert Heinlein

Gandalf wrote:

http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N5295....5138831279054?

http://tinyurl.com/yjfvu3l

There is a picture of the polydactyl cat with the news story. He's a
real cutie, too!

He's lovely. His front paws are amazing!

But if this guy doesn't want CNN to do a story on Mr. Toes, why is he
giving an interview to NBC online, which can be seen by as many people??
Complete with picture, at that. Well, I sure hope nobody decides to
kidnap the sweetie.

Joyce

--
"Ignorance is bliss - alas, only for the ignoramus."
-- sign on www.sorryeverybody.com/gallery/1/

On Oct 19, 2:05*am, wrote:
Gandalf wrote:

*http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N5295....0539.8;sz=728x...

*http://tinyurl.com/yjfvu3l

* There is a picture of the polydactyl cat with the news story. He's a
* real cutie, too!

He's lovely. His front paws are amazing!

But if this guy doesn't want CNN to do a story on Mr. Toes, why is he
giving an interview to NBC online, which can be seen by as many people??
Complete with picture, at that. Well, I sure hope nobody decides to
kidnap the sweetie.

Joyce


That's a neat story. And I liked the part about his imminent
neutering. :-)
We get a fair number of polys at the shelter pretty much due to one
idiot woman who lets her cats roam and won't neuter them. They always
get adopted because cats with an oddity always do. (Polys, cats with
one blue eye, one brown eye, etc.) Kind of knocks the rest of the cats
waiting for homes down the list though.
I always will have a soft spot for polys, the kitties that walk on
catcher's mitts.
It *is* more unusual to see a four-pawed poly. Usually it's just the
front feet.

Sherry

Sherry wrote:

I always will have a soft spot for polys, the kitties that walk on
catcher's mitts.
It *is* more unusual to see a four-pawed poly. Usually it's just the
front feet.

And that one had *two* extra toes on his front paws. It almost looks
like he has an extra foot starting to grow out of the side of each
paw!

Joyce

--
As an atheist, I believe that all life is unspeakably precious,
because it's only here for a brief moment, a flare against the dark,
and then it's gone forever. No afterlives, no second chances. So
there can be nothing crueler than the abuse, destruction or wanton
taking of a life. -- J. Michael Straczynski

On Oct 19, 1:44*pm, wrote:
Sherry wrote:

* I always will have a soft spot for polys, the kitties that walk on
* catcher's mitts.
* It *is* more unusual to see a four-pawed poly. Usually it's just the
* front feet.

And that one had *two* extra toes on his front paws. It almost looks
like he has an extra foot starting to grow out of the side of each
paw!

Joyce

All the polys I've seen do have two extras. Sometimes it's a tiny
little
undeveloped toe, but it'll be there. The bad thing is, the claws on
those
extra toes don't retract like normal claws. So you have to keep them
clipped or they hang on everything. One of Yoda's was so curled that
it would get ingrown. We had to have that one permanently removed.
IIRC, CFA didn't allow polys to be shown. I always thought that was a
good
idea, because they *are* so darn cute people might start selectively
breeding for the poly gene, and basically what it is, is a deformity.

Sherry

Sherry wrote:

IIRC, CFA didn't allow polys to be shown. I always thought that
was a
good
idea, because they *are* so darn cute people might start
selectively
breeding for the poly gene, and basically what it is, is a
deformity.

The "deformity" also occur in humans. I don't know how much truth
there is in this anecdote, but I've no reason to disbelieve it. I
seem to remember it featured on BBC TV's "That's Life!"
programme...

In the 1970's, in the UK, [Sir] Clive Sinclair started a business
selling LED pocket calculators in kit form, by mail order.
Adverts used to appear in the Sunday newspapers. One such advert
had a drawing of a man holding one of said calculators - and
someone noticed the hand had five fingers and a thumb. Sir Clive
responded to "complaints" (actually, just observations) by saying
he'd give a free calculator to anyone who had the extra finger.
Someone took him up on his offer, and found an entire tribe in
East Africa where all of the men had this trait. To the members
of the tribe, it wasn't a deformity, it was normal. I understand
he gave them all a calculator :-)

--
MatSav

MatSav wrote:

The "deformity" also occur in humans. I don't know how much truth
there is in this anecdote, but I've no reason to disbelieve it. I
seem to remember it featured on BBC TV's "That's Life!"
programme...

In the 1970's, in the UK, [Sir] Clive Sinclair started a business
selling LED pocket calculators in kit form, by mail order.
Adverts used to appear in the Sunday newspapers. One such advert
had a drawing of a man holding one of said calculators - and
someone noticed the hand had five fingers and a thumb. Sir Clive
responded to "complaints" (actually, just observations) by saying
he'd give a free calculator to anyone who had the extra finger.
Someone took him up on his offer, and found an entire tribe in
East Africa where all of the men had this trait. To the members
of the tribe, it wasn't a deformity, it was normal. I understand
he gave them all a calculator :-)

A couple of years ago, there was a baby born in my neck of the woods
who had 5 fingers and a thumb. In fact I think I might've posted a
photo of his hand to this NG and a bunch of people freaked out. I don't
remember why, though. He was a perfectly healthy baby, just happened
to have an extra finger on each hand. I guess it's an uncommon but not
unheard-of mutation that shows up in the human population from time to
time.

Joyce


--
"No." -- Rosa Parks

wrote in message
...

--
"No." -- Rosa Parks

I like that .sig - can I borrow it?

In a previous job, my manager told me that I would be specially
trained to say "No"! He was right - I learned a lot about the
many ways to say "Your equipment doesn't meet the standard
required".

--
MatSav

I wrote:

MatSav wrote:

Someone took him up on his offer, and found an entire tribe in
East Africa where all of the men had this trait. To the members
of the tribe, it wasn't a deformity, it was normal. I understand
he gave them all a calculator :-)

A couple of years ago, there was a baby born in my neck of the woods
who had 5 fingers and a thumb. In fact I think I might've posted a
photo of his hand to this NG and a bunch of people freaked out. I don't
remember why, though. He was a perfectly healthy baby, just happened
to have an extra finger on each hand. I guess it's an uncommon but not
unheard-of mutation that shows up in the human population from time to
time.

I lied, it wasn't a couple of years ago, it was only about 6 months
ago. And here's the pictu

http://www.sonic.net/~jwermont/misc/polydact.jpg

Joyce

--
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful
stroke of luck. -- the Dalai Lama

wrote in message
...

A couple of years ago, there was a baby born in my neck of
the woods
who had 5 fingers and a thumb. In fact I think I might've
posted a
photo of his hand to this NG ...

I lied, it wasn't a couple of years ago, it was only about 6
months
ago. And here's the pictu

http://www.sonic.net/~jwermont/misc/polydact.jpg


I really do hope that said baby isn't offered surgery to remove
the extra finger. Surgery has risks. However, it will have some
disadvantages. How will they learn to touch-type, and If he / she
turns out to be "light-fingered", it'll really confuse the police
when doing fingerprints ;-)

--
MatSav