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Cat Forum / General Topics / December 2003little question - why do cats have 4 toes in the back?
Just wondering... why do cats have 5 toes (fingers) up front but only 4 in their hind paws? Just seems a little odd to me :P >Just wondering... why do cats have 5 toes (fingers) up front but only 4 >in their hind paws? Just seems a little odd to me :P The fifth toe, the thumb, has evolved away. However, some cats still have it. I have a gray tabby with five toes on his hind paws. Didn't know it was special until the vet pointed it out to me. JM >Just wondering... why do cats have 5 toes (fingers) up front but only 4 >in their hind paws? Just seems a little odd to me :P The question is now why four is normal on the back, but why they haven't lost the fifth toe on the front feet. When they evolved to walk on their toes, they started losing the toes that don't touch the ground - they are useless, but expensive to grow and maintane so not having them is a slight advantage. However, see the photos of Sebastian's feet at <http://www.maem.umr.edu/tdavis/cats/sebo.1.html> - and Google on "cat" and "polydactyl". T.E.D. (tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu) SPAM filter: Messages to this address *must* contain "T.E.D." somewhere in the body or they will be automatically rejected. >>Just wondering... why do cats have 5 toes (fingers) up front but only 4 >>in their hind paws? Just seems a little odd to me :P [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >ground - they are useless, but expensive to grow and maintane so not >having them is a slight advantage. The reason they retain the thumb on the forefeet is that those claws are used when grabbing prey (or toys, or human hands) and in climbing. Orchid See Orchid's Kitties! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/bengalpage Want a Purebred Cat? Read This! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/orchid My part persian used to pick up his food (kibble) in his paw and eat from his "hand" On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 08:43:45 -0600, Ted Davis <tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu> wrote: >On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 22:36:03 -0800, "Wally Sanford" ><wsanford@wallysanford.com> wrote: [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >ground - they are useless, but expensive to grow and maintane so not >having them is a slight advantage. The reason they retain the thumb on the forefeet is that those claws are used when grabbing prey (or toys, or human hands) and in climbing. Orchid See Orchid's Kitties! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/bengalpage Want a Purebred Cat? Read This! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/orchid Have you ever seen a cat sit up and beg for treats? or play fetch? > My part persian used to pick up his food (kibble) in his paw and eat from > his "hand" [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > See Orchid's Kitties! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/bengalpage > Want a Purebred Cat? Read This! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/orchid Don't know about sitting up and begging for treats but am well acquainted with begging cats lol. My Tiggy used to play fetch when she was young. Wendy Have you ever seen a cat sit up and beg for treats? or play fetch? Wendy wrote: > My part persian used to pick up his food (kibble) in his paw and eat from > his "hand" [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > See Orchid's Kitties! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/bengalpage > Want a Purebred Cat? Read This! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/orchid Why is it that cats will fetch when they are kittens, then after a few years look at you like you're nuts if you suggest it?! > Don't know about sitting up and begging for treats but am well > acquainted with begging cats lol. [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] >> See Orchid's Kitties! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/bengalpage >> Want a Purebred Cat? Read This! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/orchid Guess they figure out how useless the activity is lol. Probably the same reason they lose interest in the laser lights after a while too. W Why is it that cats will fetch when they are kittens, then after a few years look at you like you're nuts if you suggest it?! "Wendy" <wendypart@nospam.com> wrote in news:TLidnSvQau8mhH-iRVn-sQ@comcast.com: > Don't know about sitting up and begging for treats but am well > acquainted with begging cats lol. [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] >> See Orchid's Kitties! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/bengalpage >> Want a Purebred Cat? Read This! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/orchid >Guess they figure out how useless the activity is lol. Probably the same >reason they lose interest in the laser lights after a while too. > >W Same reason old people lose interest in sex. (Been there, done that, give me something new and exciting !!!! ) >> Just wondering... why do cats have 5 toes (fingers) up front but >> only 4 in their hind paws? Just seems a little odd to me :P [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > ground - they are useless, but expensive to grow and maintane so not > having them is a slight advantage. Thank you for your info. > However, see the photos of Sebastian's feet at > <http://www.maem.umr.edu/tdavis/cats/sebo.1.html> - and Google on > "cat" and "polydactyl". Wow six toes interesting kitty ;p >However, see the photos of Sebastian's feet at ><http://www.maem.umr.edu/tdavis/cats/sebo.1.html> - and Google on >"cat" and "polydactyl". Interesting indeed, never heard of that phenomenom... Schumi, my gray tabby, also has five toes on his hind paws (as I said earlier in the thread), but he is not a polydactyl cat; he just still has the gene for the dew claw on his hind paws. As my vet explained to me, that fifth toe has evolved away but some cats still retain the gene for it. The fifth toe is not next to he other four as it is in polydactyls, but rather halfway up his foot. My other cats just have a little bony bump there. JM >>However, see the photos of Sebastian's feet at >><http://www.maem.umr.edu/tdavis/cats/sebo.1.html> - and Google on [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >but rather halfway up his foot. My other cats just have a little bony >bump there. Sebastian is clearly polydactyl, and his sixth toe on the rear feet is in dewclaw position, but he doesn't have front dewclaws. T.E.D. (tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu) SPAM filter: Messages to this address *must* contain "T.E.D." somewhere in the body or they will be automatically rejected. >Just wondering... why do cats have 5 toes (fingers) up front but only 4 >in their hind paws? Just seems a little odd to me :P To drive people like you crazy? -------------------------------------------- "It took us 15 years to McGyver this thing." -------------------------Carter on Stargate To send me e-mail exorcise NO Spam from my e-mail address. |
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