06/09/2026
Sailors believed that cats with extra toes were better mousers. The sailors brought these cats with them across the ocean, and their descendants still live in seaport cities today.
Polydactyl cats have six or more toes on each paw instead of the usual five on the front and four on the back. The extra toes act like thumbs and give the cat a wider grip on surfaces. Sailors thought the wider grip helped the cats climb rigging and catch mice more effectively.
Ships carried polydactyl cats on voyages to control rodent populations. The cats bred with each other during long journeys, concentrating the polydactyl gene in the ship's cat population. When ships docked, some cats stayed in the port cities and bred with local cats.
Boston, Nova Scotia, and Great Britain have higher rates of polydactyl cats than inland cities. The cats are sometimes called Hemingway cats because the writer kept dozens of polydactyl cats at his home in Key West, Florida. Hemingway's cats were descended from a polydactyl cat given to him by a ship captain.
Extra toes that helped cats travel the world. The sailors' superstition written permanently into the genes of cats in coastal cities centuries later. 🐱⛵🦶😮
