You don’t get the chance to notice the partially webbed feet of domestic cats unless the cat has no fur or if you feel between the toes of your cat. The space between a cat’s toes is not like the space between a human’s fingers. There is noticeable webbing akin to that found on a duck. Of course the webbing is not as complete as on a duck.
Incidentally, my observation of the Sphynx cat is that the breed has longer than average toes. This would make the webbing more apparent as does the fact that the cat is naked. It interesting to see that the Sphynx cat in the picture has almost totally webbed feet.
There seems to be the idea that some individual cats have webbed feet but most do not. Also, there might be a tendency to say that the Bengal cat has webbed feet as it is a wildcat hybrid.
I say that all domestic cats have webbed feet as do wild cats but the amount of webbing varies. There are wild cat species that specialise in fishing; the fishing cat and the flat-headed cat come to mind. The toes of the fishing cat are described as being, “partially webbed’¹. This seems to be a slight understatement as all domestic cats have ‘partial webbing’. As a fishing cat is designed by nature to swim and catch fish I would have thought that the webbing would be more pronounced than average.
But other wild cat species are good swimmers (e.g tiger) and all can cope nicely in the water if they have to. The jaguarundi is another small wild cat species that likes water.
The African – Asian wildcat is the wild cat ancestor of the domestic cat. This small wild cat has a very wide distribution on the planet and therefore lives in a variety of habitats including wetlands and rivers (e.g in Botswana).
Nature gave all wild cats webbed feet because prey is often near water courses. The small wild cats need to get into water sometimes and catch prey. Webbing between the toes presents a larger surface against which the water is pushed. The general consensus is that domestic cats don’t like water but this is incorrect.
The domestic cats has distanced him/herself from his wild cat ancestor and so some cats aren’t that fond of getting wet but all domestic cats are decent if not good swimmers when called upon to swim. Wild cat hybrids usually like water.
A cat is able to negotiate and travel on dry land and water because it is part of surviving. Lots of prey live in and around water. It would be poor evolution if the cat lost the ability to negotiate water to catch prey species.
You don’t see references to a cat’s webbed feet very often but they are ‘standard’ and part of the domestic cat’s anatomy. Have a feel or look sometime and leave a comment…
Reference: 1. Wild Cats of the World page 242.
Associated page: The Cat Paw
Please search using the search box at the top of the site. You are bound to find what you are looking for.
Please help with identifying.. We had a cat many years ago, she had ear tufts, webbed feet that extended to the edge of her toes, and she stayed extremely small, she was a kitten when my daughter found her, and a year later she never grew much larger. (She was stolen after the year unfortunately) Her eyes and face shape seemed different to me also. (The only picture I have of her isn’t very good, it was used in a photo collage sticker) All these years I still wonder what breed she was, she was absolutely amazing. So any help would be appreciated!
Melissa, she is/was a gray/brown tabby, random-bred cat. She has a female appearance which I think is nice. She was not a breed of cat. But she was amazing nonetheless.
I have a year and a half old female Tortoise( Black). I just noticed that she has webbed feet, pretty predominantly too. She has big green eyes, I named her Marble.
Fabulous looking cat Tina. Beautiful. Yes, all domestic cats have webbed feet. It is not complete webbing all the way up to the tip of their toes (I guess that is obvious) but it is distinct. I think it comes from the need to be swimmers. Cats are good swimmers. And cats prey next to and in water courses.
Ricky,has a long head, big ears and very long and very webbed feet. We live on a small Caribbean island, so his feet are well suited to fishing and hunting crabs.
Fantastic. It would be nice to think that Ricky is adapted to swimming 🙂 . Thanks for sharing Simone.
Webbed
Crackerjack
Nads
Is it possible you can please tell me the breed of your cat because we used to have one not too many years ago just like this one and my family and I would love to know if he could have been the same breed because he looks exactly the same,he was a rescue kitten from Spain so the rescue centre who weren’t too sure what breed he was and we would love to get another one the same breed as him ,so if it is possible it would mean a lot to my family and I. Thankyou
That kitty appears to be a mixed breed but predominantly a siamese. Look up the breed to see if they are similar. Hope this helps.
webbed feet cats
Thanks, Marian, for showing us your cats. Great looking cats. All domestic cats have webbed feet to a certain extent. The Sphynx cat at the top of the page has very noticeable webbed feet because there is no fur to hide them webbing.
I think it’s fascinating, I was looking at their feet and noticed. I figured it was for balance so I thought I’d look it up, this is the site I came to. Very interesting
I think the webbing comes from the wild ancestor the North African wildcat who would hunt around and, if needed, in water.
This is Pan he will be 2 years old April 10th. If the pic sent right this him he was a wild kitten from little town outside okc the pic isnt good he is 15 pds very webbed paws and a dimond shaped head and again I thank you for your time
Good picture. Well, Angel, he is a tabby cat. He probably has webbed paws that is more prominent than usual because cats do vary in their anatomy.
He does not look like he has any wild blood in him but that said all cats are close to the wild.
I have not heard that strongly webbed toes is a trait of dominant cats. I’ll check that out.
Thanks for taking the time to upload a picture.
I have a larger male cat whom has rather large toe webbing ,I was told it was a mutation in dom. cats . He has alot of strange behaviors he is larger ,more alert ,more domanant,more protective over me could there be a type of cat that these kinds of behaviors follow after ? I love to watch them do thier thing,i would love to understand why they do the things they do . Thank You For Your Time
Hi Angel, there are cats like this. Your cat has the behavioral traits of a wildcat hybrid (I am not saying he is). Do you have a photo which you could upload? However, even random bred cats can occasionally throw up a cat that is different. Here is a picture of a very large strange looking cat:
https://pictures-of-cats.org/big-boss-cat-utsunomiya-tochigi-japan-photo.html
THANK YOU !!!! Well explained. I was looking for info since my kitty has webbed feet. As far the others go that are being rude. Ignore it or they can write on themselves 🙂
My pleasure. Rude people don’t bother me. They have the problem not me.
In my opinion, if you don’t know whether or not your cat has webbed feet, you don’t touch your cat enough. We make it a point to teach our cats to let us touch their paws, just in case we ever have to examine them. Anyway, our new shelter cat is nearly 100% Turkish Van and has webbed feet, which are easily visible when she stretches for us in an attempt to get treats. She has one of the best personalities I’ve ever seen in a cat, and has helped our Tortie become much more social and happier.
Anyway, this is a great article!
As far as your grammar goes, I think the earlier commenter might have meant your short, incomplete sentences. But, I must admit that I didn’t notice them until I read the article a second time, so no worries. 🙂
Thank you for your rude comment RM. I have no idea what you are saying when you are referring to grammar or not knowing if my cat has webbed feet. How do you expect your comment to be published if you insult people? I have published it to show others what a rude person you are.
@Michael, I don’t think he meant YOU in particular, in the comment about not touching your cat enough. I think he meant it in a more general sense, but you took it personally. I think he meant that anybody who doesn’t know whether their cat has webbed feet doesn’t touch their cat enough.
@RM, short, incomplete sentences have come to be accepted in writing, even in books, because they are meant to indicate afterthoughts.
Thanks Frances. Yes, looking back I don’t RM was insulting me, but someone else but I don’t have the inclination to dig around. I get insulted quite a lot though 😉 . Perhaps I have become a little sensitive to it or I read comments too fast and get the gist (incorrectly in this instance).
I deliberately keep sentences short because it makes the text easier to read. Web site owners have to provide information to everyone and a lot of people have difficulty in understanding long sentences on tricky topics.
It is about clarity. Also there are no strict rules on commas etc. as I am sure you know. They exist to help the reader but they can also break up the flow and make the sentence visually disjointed.
Thanks for clarifying this! My cat is mostly Maine Coon, all the features except she’s a shorthair. I’ve often wondered about her webbed paws since I got her.
Nice to hear from you Melody. Thanks for visiting and commenting.
Unless you have since edited/corrected this article, except for a few missing commas, I see no spelling or grammatical errors. And I am a book editor. 😉
Thanks Frances, I have not touched it since first writing it.
Don’t thank Frances so easily, unless for the sake of civility. If I were a book editor that proof-read ur column, (I know, I wrote ‘ur,’ it’s proof I’m no spelling/grammar nazi lol.
However if u start reading from ur second paragraph onward, u’ll perhaps notice a couple on ur own b4 uv even finished said paragraph, (clue 1 = It, for ‘Is,’ which are probably more typos than real errors.)
A general rule on commas is to insert @places where ur speech in a sentence pauses (even if brief.) Or that was @least how I was educated in my primary school, many, many, moons ago, in fact, a quarter of a century before the new millennium, so perhaps those grammatical formalities are a little Dated.
It’s also quite obvious that the “Cat paw” comment was not directed @you personally and perhaps you should’ve read the reply again until you’d understood that, Or @least before calling out the commentor as ‘…rude.’
Aside from the subsequent I believe you wrote an incredibly informative piece, on a topic it’s hard to find a lot of data on, especially if one’s cat has toes that are obviously webbed and said cat doesn’t appear ‘polydactyl’ when you Google the condition, lol.
So, leave the article or edit it, either way it’s still very informative and the minor errors, barely noticeable (@1’st reading that is,) given the general standard of authorship on the Internet, even with short sentences and few commas, it’s still very readable too, (@least Imo.)
Thanks Charles. I do make the odd typo due to pressure of time (working too fast) and going word blind 😉 Also I dictate some articles using Dragon Dictate which is good but it can make some silly errors which can he hard to spot.
Yes, I agree I was wrong in calling that person rude. I misread the comment.
Maybee meggan is looking for a date chuck.. I’m sure yoo too woold have a right ol knees up
Your comments are published – thanks for visiting.
The information you provided was very helpful and I appreciate that. My two kittens have webbed feet. I would however ask you to correct your grammar/spelling in your commentary.
Thanks Megan. I am not sure what you are referring to when you mention the need to correct spelling and grammar. It looks OK to me. Please tell me what is wrong.
Shut up meggan…
Our 5 month old kitten has webbed toes. I think he is a “Ticked Tabby” from pictures I have searched. Rex has a beautiful coat. Also his fur is soft like a rabbits. My vet also commented on his unusually soft fur. We love Rex!
He sounds adorable. Some cats do have very soft and dense coats. It might be because there is a thick undercoat there as well. The undercoat is downy fur and very soft. It may this that you are feeling.
It may (be) this that you are feeling. I think this would be the correction.
Yes, thanks for that – a typo. I’ll correct it now.
There is a trend here in the Phoenix Metropolitan area. Since our summers are very hot 110-118F/44-47.8C we have a lot of swimming pools. People think they need to teach their cats to swim. That is just insane! As you point out, they do just fine when they have to swim. Just crazy!
I never knew all cats feet were webbed. That is really cool.
Yes, cats don’t need to be trained to swim. Catty paddle (as opposed to doggy paddle) comes naturally.