Have you ever wondered how many fingers a cat has? Well, many people may think that cats’ toes can be counted by the number of pads on their paws, or that they have 20 toes, like a human. the legs usually have 18 toes, 05 on each front leg and 04 on each of the hind legs, but is there a reason for this number of toes? And can this number of fingers vary?
Well, don’t worry if your kitten has more than 18 fingers, in this article, in Animal Expert, we will share information that can be useful to answer your doubts about the number of fingers of a cat.
- If at any time you tried to count the number of fingers of your cat.
- It is very likely that you would feel uncomfortable with the situation.
- Trying to escape.
- Cats have sensitivity in different areas of their body and their legs are part of these sensitive regions.
- She feels uncomfortable when you touch her paws.
- Which makes counting his fingers a situation that can cause scratches.
Cats usually have 18 fingers, 5 fingers on each front leg and 4 fingers on each hind leg, but what is the reason for this finger difference between the front and back legs?Well, it is thought that the fingers help to support the cat, facilitating the support of his body and his locomotion.The big difference is an “additional” finger your cat has on its forelegs.
This “additional” finger is called a rye erge, and has a very important function to ensure the firmness of your cat’s movements, helping you climb and/or when you catch your prey.Hence this difference between the number of fingers between the front and the hind legs are a common feature of healthy cats.
The amount of padding on your cat’s legs doesn’t indicate how many fingers they have, your kitten is probably 24 pads, 7 on the front legs and 5 on the back legs.The scientific name of these cushions is conxim, they are protective forms for the cat’s legs, and they suffocate the sound of their footsteps, which is useful when your kitten wants to hunt.Then it can be said that the conxins have a function similar to the sole of a shoe for you.
In addition, on the “dolls” of your cat’s front legs there are a pair of crochet-shaped mops that are very important because they have the brake function, preventing the animal from slipping, or that it can brake quickly after a run.
Then you can say that the legs have a cushion for each finger, a larger cushion and the front feet have a pair of pads on their “dolls” to slow down their movements.
But if your kitten has more than 18 fingers, don’t worry, it’s a very common genetic abnormality in cats and poses no risk to your pet’s health and well-being.This condition is known as polydactyly and is due to a genetic inheritance.Therefore, if a pair of cats breed and one of them is a cat with polydactyly, there is a 50% chance that each of their cubs will be born with the same disease.
Cats with polydactyly can have up to 07 fingers on each of their four legs, but mainly affects the hind legs of animals.
Although polydactyly in cats occurs all over the world, there are places where there is a higher concentration of cats with this genetic anomaly, such as the American, Asian and European breeds, this distribution is believed to be the result of a popular culture, which says that cats with polydactyly bring good luck to seafarers, so in many regions it is favored to mestizaje cats with polydactyly , which has given rise to breeds and strains whose polydactyly is a common morphological trait, such as the Maine Coon.
Still, there is a debate about whether this genetic disease should be encouraged by crossbreeding or should be eliminated.What’s your opinion on that?
It is interesting to note here that polydactyly is rarely observed in large felines, registered only in leopards living in captivity.
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