Cat Update

Estrella-Rufasina-Lil' D has a new name: Thumbelina! Thanks to N, who thought of it. A shout-0ut to her big paws!

I did some research and discovered that cats with extra toes (she has them on her front AND back paws, which is even rarer) are thought by sailors to be good luck! Who knew? Here's some more info about polydactyls, from messybeast.com:

A correspondent to the New Scientist noted that the innermost extra toes on the front paws are often opposable and some cats use them with quite startling proficiency to manipulate small objects with almost human dexterity. Some owners of polydactyl cats joke that their cats are more intelligent because of this and represent the next stage in feline evolution - the ability to open cartons and cans unaided.

And this...

Polydactyl cats are known by various names - "mitten cats", "thumb cats", "six-finger cats" and "Hemingway cats". The latter is because of writer Ernest Hemingway who made his home on the small island of Key West, Florida. He shared the island with nearly 50 cats, including a 6-toed polydactyl given to him by a ship captain; the cats bred and the polydactyl trait became common, hence polydactyls are often known as "Hemingway Cats". Hemingway's colony of cats was free-breeding with the local cat population and the ratio of polydactyl cats to normal-toes cats was about 50/50. Another story suggests that the cat given to Hemingway was a female double-pawed cat and that the polydactyl cats on the island came from 19^th Century ships' cats. The high rate of polydactyl cats in Boston, USA has also led to the nickname "Boston Thumb Cats". The nickname "double-pawed" cats is a misnomer since there is a specific double paw condition.

For those interested (Betsy and Noah), there's more info here, including a picture of a "thumb cat" named Rufus!!!