Hello....

my name is Polly!

I am a polydactyl, cat... Thus, my name!

A polydactyl cat is a cat with a congenital physical anomaly called polydactyly (or polydactylism, also known as hyperdactyly), a type of cat body type genetic mutation,  that caused the cat to be born with more than the usual number of toes on one or more of its paws. Cats with this genetically inherited trait are most commonly found along the East coast of the United States and in South West England.
Nicknames for polydactyl cats include "boxing cats", "mitten cats", "mitten foot cats", "Vermont snowshoe cats","thumb cats", "six-finger cats", "Boston Thumb Cats", "Cardi-cats", "Hemingway cats", and "double-pawed cats".

Well, this little girl was born in my the barn at my old house in the middle of the continent... not the east coast.  Polly has, if I remember correctly, 23 toes.  Her feet are huge!

You can somewhat see her front feet, here.

I wish I could get a good picture of her back feet.  Six toes on each where the normal cat would have 4.  Her front feet have the "thumbs" plus extra partial toes with claws. 

 

She is a fun cat to have around, but she is the typical "scaredy cat" -- she goes into hiding when there is someone other than the family in the house.

I have been getting ready - in a fashion- for a craft fair this weekend.  It's a two dayer, so I have to figure out some extra issues.... like who's going to take care of animals.

We have had another round of snow - yesterday I had to drive to the big town 60 miles away to have a pre-employment physical and orientation.  It was not nice going, and even worse coming home in the dark.  While I was there I got my drivers license renewed because my birthday is coming up and it was going to expire.  It was a long day and late when we got home.  The usual 1 hour drive was close to two hours - slippery and snowy roads with poor visibility because of everything being white!

If nothing crazy comes up from the pee test I took (and there shouldn't be), I will be starting a new job on Monday.   I'm having a hard time believing something bad isn't going to happen and this new deal will fall thru.  I've become somewhat pessimistic these last few years with all the negative stuff that has happened to me.  I am trying to think positively!

The last few days at my current job will be bittersweet -  I've made some great friends there, but I am excited about this new job opportunity and looking forward to the financial part of my life being just a bit easier.

So if my posts are a little spotty in the next week or two, don't give up on me!   I'll just be getting used to some new routines!

~Julie~