r/polydactyl

He’s almost 13 now but just as cute! His eyebrows have almost faded completely.

My girl Ember loves showing off those extra thumbs

This is Nem! 🐈

He's a polydactyl (he has extra toes!), a domestic medium hair brown/gray and white tabby with the prettiest green eyes. His pattern is 6655, he has 6 toes on his front paws and 5 on his back.

Nem had a rough start. He was abandoned in a box in the parking lot of Ninth Life Cat Rescue just 5 months ago in the harsh winter. Thankfully, the rescue took him in after an hour, and not long after, my family met him.

When we first visited, he was incredibly laid-back and calm, and liked talking back to us. We all thought, "Yep, this is our cat." We adopted him shortly afterward.

Fast-forward to today... he's still laid-back most of the time—but he's also a certified little chaos gremlin.

His favorite hobbies include:
• Meowing. A lot. Usually it's a dramatic "MRREEEOOOW!"
• Eating (or trying to convince us it's always mealtime).
• Testing out every toy in the house (feather wands and ping pong ball are his fave- he's budget-friendly!)
• Scratching furniture, especially couches... and apparently piano benches.
• Inspecting any new object that enters the house.
• Trying tiny tastes of new human foods whenever it's safe for cats.
• Randomly switching into hunter mode and attacking blinds or invisible enemies.

He's somehow mastered the art of looking completely innocent five seconds after causing chaos.

We're so grateful he ended up at the rescue when he did. It's sad to think someone abandoned him, but it also led him to our family, and I honestly can't imagine life without his extra toes, giant green eyes, and constant MRREEEOOOWS.

I'd love to see everyone else's rescue cats (or polydactyl cats)! Feel free to share pictures and stories.

He’s got 8 extra toes total, he’s totally fine but he walks with an almost bulldog like stance because of his big ole thumbs. He doesn’t run, he gallops. Trimming his nails is an exact of stealth, I wait until he’s sleeping and move as fast as I can. He’s absolutely precious and I would die for him.

Bonus Gnocchi in the last pic 😻

Edit: per request BEANS

They don’t usually look so human like besides when he fails to loaf

Marvin came to live with me in January 2025 at 5yrs old. As you can tell, life is rough. He’s a character and sheds like 4 cats! But he’s very attached now. Follows me everywhere and sleeps on bed in my office while I work and on my bed at night. Nothing like one of those mitts slapping me at night to give him chins scratches. 😹

He is such a loving kitty and a polydactyl to boot!!! Look at the love in his eyes 🐱

just gave birth to Kikkoman or Kiko 2 weeks ago!! 🤱 he’s about 8 months old now but he is smaller than average. we think his stunted growth is a result of neighbors throwing cigarette butts at him and other strays + rough outdoor life :(

he recently had a throat polyp removed (and neutered all on the same day)! recovery was fast and he thugged through all that. i’m so so happy

he is a sweet rascal and i love him so much <3