Stories about us: Polydactyl cats? Yep, that's a thing

Take a look at the photo of that cat. 

Notice anything interesting? 

In case you can't, it has extra toes, which makes it a polydactyl kitten.

Six just like it were dropped off at the Clovis Animal Shelter on July 23. Workers there said they've never received an entire litter of them before. 

"There's not a ton of cats actually out there with extra toes," said Jacob Pullen, who works at the shelter. 

Otherwise known as "mitten kittens," the unique felines have a cult following and were doted on by sailors, Nobel Prize winners and presidents. 

According to Dutch.com, "Polydactyl cats were thought to be lucky by ship captains, who often had a few of them onboard. They were thought to be lucky because of their extra toes that gave them better balance in stormy weather. They were also believed to be better at hunting mice."

And that's how they got into the arms of 1954 Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway. 

While residing in Key West, Fla., Hemingway was gifted a six-toed cat from a ship captain. He named her Snow White and took an interest. 

So much so that Hemingway's home, which now serves as a museum, is littered with them. According to the YouTube channel Cattitude Daily, "They roam around freely and spend their days being admired by countless tour goers."

Before Hemingway, President Theodore Roosevelt was the most infamous fanatic of them.

While serving in the White House, he had a six-toed cat named Slippers with a sorta-gray, sorta-blue coat, according to the Presidential Pet Museum. Slippers would lay slumped over, taking cat naps in busy corridors, forcing dignitaries to swerve around it like a pothole on a busy street. 

Pullen discovered the phenomenon last year and instantly thought to himself: I have to have one. 

So, when the litter came in last month, he adopted one and named it Squints after the character in "The Sandlot."

"Cats usually have five (toes) on each of their front paws and then four in the back for 18," Pullen said, but Squints has "seven on each of his front paws and then he has five toes on each of his back," for a total of 24. 

Advantages? None. Actually, there are more disadvantages because it requires more grooming. 

On second thought, maybe there are some advantages. 

Squints' extra toes allow him to clasp plastic balls with catnip enclosed inside.

"He'll sit like a little gremlin and tear at it with his hands where my other cats don't do that. So that's one thing I have noticed. It's funny," Pullen said.