If you live in the city of Chillicothe, Missouri, USA or within reasonable driving distance this is a chance to adopt a relatively rare rescue cat. This is a cat with more than the usual number of toes: a polydactyl cat. They are sometimes referred to as “Hemingway Cats”.
You probably know that Hemingway loved cats and the looked after around 60 polydactyl cats at his Florida Keys home some of which may have been random bred Maine Coons who are known to have a propensity towards polydactylism. This is because it is said that ship’s captains preferred cats with more than the usual number of toes for ship’s cats as they believed they were better on deck! Some of these cats found their way onto dry land and then were adopted by people and hence the reason why Ernest Hemingway ended up with a number of these cats (he was given one by the captain of a ship). They are called America Polydactyl Cats. They are not a cat breed just a type of cat.
This particular Polydactyl cat is at the Forest O. Triplett Memorial animal shelter which is just south of US Highway 36, a short distance east of Chillicothe, Missouri. They have a nice large facility there.
They’ve named this cat “Thumb Mama”. She was picked up by one of the shelter guardians, Leslie Patek. She was actually pregnant and gave birth to a litter and one of the kittens in the litter is also polydactyl. So there are two polydactyl cats to be adopted at the shelter.
Thumb Mama is 11 years of age and her son, Danny, is about five months of age. Hurry along if you would like to be the proud owner of a polydactyl cat. The pictures are by BRITTANY TUTT which tells us that Mama Thumb is a classic tabby random bred cat. Perhaps she is a descendant of on the ship’s cats brought to America with the settlers in the early 17th century.
Phone numbers:
Shelter: 660-646-1006
Lesley Patek: 660 646 1262
Adopt-A-Pet: 660 646 1612
Map showing Chillicothe:
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