Abstract
ABNORMITIES in cats' paws occur rather frequently in Massachusetts. They are called mitten cats, and are much in demand because they are considered to be good mousers. The first I ever saw was a male yellow tiger, whose four paws had two extra toes strongly developed. A little stray female kitten which was brought up at my house had two abnormal fore-paws with four extra toes on each. As there are no male cats in our neighbourhood with any abnormity I was very anxious to see whether her young ones would inherit the shape of their paws from the father or mother cat, and whether some abnormity would also appear in the hind-paws. She had eight, and only one of them with four normal paws; all the others inherited from the mother the abnormal fore-paws, some even having five to seven extra toes, with perfectly developed claws and pads. I did not pay attention to the sex, but brought one up on account of its strong build, which turned out to be a male, and another for its beautiful stripes, which was a female. The old cat rested nearly a year, and then again had eight three times in succession, in April; June, and October, and every time only one with normal paws. The mother is a pale grey tiger, and each one of the young ones was differently spotted, and, as I believe, had a different father, as I recognised the marked resemblance to the various visitors to our garden. I paid no attention to the sex, but brought up from the last litter the strongest looking, which turned out to be a male, and two others—the one selected by a child, the other because it had seven extra toes. Both these were females.
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HAGEN, H. Abnormal Cats' Paws. Nature 35, 345 (1887). https://doi.org/10.1038/035345e0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/035345e0
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