Polydactyly! No, it's not a sex thing (well, it probably is a fetish, but we don't particularly want to know about it). It is the condition of having extra digits (as in fingers or toes, not numbers). And according to The Oatmeal, an entertaining website that alternately educates about and makes a mockery of various topics with the aid of enlightening illustrations, Boston has a large number of polydactyl cats, leading to the many-toed felines (famously adored by Ernest Hemingway) being known as "Boston thumb cats." Wikipedia says polydactyl cats were prized by sailors for their climbing abilities and were thought to bring good luck, perhaps inflating their population in the port of Boston.

We already knew about banjo cat, of course, and Kenmore kitteh, but we have to admit we were not up on Boston thumb cats. We do very much appreciate their existence, however, and we are quite excited to see that there are many polydactyls available for adoption in the area for those who would like a Boston thumb cat of their own.

The images here show the many toes of Gidget, one of our favorite Boston thumb cats (though she has also lived on the West coast, and in Hawaii: extra thumbs help in hitchhiking, you know!).

Filed in Miscellaneous and tagged boston thumb cats, cats, digits, gidget, hemingway cats, kenmore kitty, polydactyly

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