Some Interesting Facts About Polydactyl Cats

As I have mentioned under point 2. that polydactylism was originally developed in the wild Maine Coons IN MAINE many, many years ago by a spontaneous mutation. The first polydactyl cats seem to have been quite happy with their extra toes for the mutaion did not die out - as do many that are "unpractical" or even lethal - but got carried on and spread amongst Maine´s Coon Cats. Having been to Maine in winter I personally saw why this genetic speciality is still carried on in the wild Coons: the cats with extra toes do actually have an advantage compared to those with regular paws. They wear SNOWSHOES. They have in the hard winter of Maine and Canada plainly a better chance of surviving in ice and snow. Multifunctional extra "hooks" for climbing on icy rocks and tree trunks or for a better chance to catch fish or mice, bigger paws that do not sink in the snow as easily and just generally the better ground connection in any wheather or season. In Maine snowshoed cats for pets are very popular, if not the ONLY REAL Maine Coon - if you ask the Mainer.
From my own experiance of breeding with poly´s and raising polydactyl litters for 4 years I can also say that every single poly cat or kitten I have met IS A SPECIAL CAT PERSON. This is no joke, if you are overwhelmed by the personality of some cats anyways, wait till you meet a poly. They are exceptional. They are truly funny, do things different than other cats. Our Flaming Franny does just for example drink only out of her paws. No way would she bent down to the waterbowl! She scoops up some water with her paw and licks it off quite ladylike. Snowshoed or polydactyl Maine Coons are very rare in breeding, only few catteries have polydactyl breeding cats. That is because the Maine Coon Standard excludes snowshoed cats from the champion category. The reason is that the gene, which causes the extra toes is quite variable. Although it is a dominant gene (that means it can only be given on directly by a snowshoed parent to the kittens, not though by cats with regular paws, even if their parents a generation back were snowshoed) it only shows in about 50% of the kittens and can appear in a different way with each kitten.
So even if the mother has for example 6 toes on her front paws, and regular 4 on her hind paws, the kittens could have 5 toes and an extra thumb, or have extra toes on their hind legs. There is no rule to the way this gene is given on to the kittens. If you would like to take one of these special cats into your family you should contact the breeder of your choice ahead of time since A. poly breeders are rare and B. usually there are waiting lists for the polydactyl kittens. Although the LoonyCoons Maine Coon Cattery generally gives out snoeshoed kittens as pets only, we would like to encourage seriously interested breeders to inquire about possibilities.