Tom the Polydactyl

The extremely photogenic Tom has been a member of our family since 1993.The year before the much loved Benjie had become very ill and I had had to dash back from University to take him to the vets to be put to sleep. Although Benjie was officially a 'family' cat, he and I were very close and I miss him greatly. It broke my heart, that trip to the vets, and as Benjie had been the sole survivor of the vast array of 'original' animal family members, Benjie's loss hit us all very hard indeed.

One day my Mum telephoned and told me that she had been to the local RSPCA centre and adopted a cat. The 'new' family member looked very like Benjie and was at the centre following a road traffic accident. No one had claimed him so after the qualifying period, the cat who would become Tom, became available for adoption and we were blessed to re-home him.

Tom didn't actually become 'Tom' immediately. Initially (and as a direct result of his mischievous character) 'Tom' was named 'Houdini'. 'Houdini' was with us very briefly however and so Tom became 'Tom' or to be more accurate 'Tom Thumb'. Tom, you see, is a 'POLYDACTYL';

'A polydactyl cat is a cat with a congenital physical anomaly, with more than usual number of toes on one or all of its paws as a result of a cat body type genetic mutation. In animals including humans, polydactyly (or polydactylism, also known as hyperdactyly) is the anatomical abnormality of having more than the usual number of digits on the hands or feet'.
(Wilkipedia)





Tom's front paws look very much as though he is wearing boxing gloves. We always used to say that Tom could write as he looks as though he could hold a pen. vets are always fascinated by toms toes; our last vet used to spend much of the consultation repeatedly saying 'toes everywhere, there's toes everywhere'!

As well as being very cute, these extra toes come with extra responsibilities. With most cats (and indeed dogs, walking on a hard surface such as concrete will naturally keep the claws in check and prevent them becoming excessively long. With Toms toes, many of them don't ever touch the ground and so its is necessary to trim them on a regular basis in order to prevent them growing too long and then be vulnerable to getting caught and potentially being torn off which would obviously be very painful for Tom.

As you can imagine, it's important to have a cats co-operation when attempting nail trimming. Alas, Tom disagrees with the need for what I call 'maintenance' and he calls 'mutilation'! What follows is very similar to wrestling but with no rules; basically I try my very best to quickly but accurately clip the necessary claws and not cut off one of Toms toes accidentally, while Tom fights like an extremely wild and probably rabid banshee and in a valiant attempt to ensure absolute authenticity, Tom screams and wails and hisses and yowls like a wild rabid banshee too!! It truly must be a sight to behold; me with blood seeping from numerous scratches, ducking desperately to avoid additional injury and trying my very best to control Toms mad thrashing (and that's just trying to wrap the towel round him), whilst Tom puts in yet another Oscar winning performance (Jack Nicholson in 'The Shining' looks like a child in a school play compared to Tom) just to avoid having a few nails trimmed!!

As you imagine the scene, may I mention that Tom has claws actually in the space between his 'thumb' and 'first finger'. These claws never even see the light of day,(even my vets are surprised when they are mentioned), but they (left to their own devices) would continue to grow until they would simply grow back into Tom himself.These nails are the very devil of nails and it is these (astonishingly and heart breakingly) fast growing nails that cause the most yowls (from Tom) and (prayers) from me in my determined efforts to prevent Tom becoming lame from these awful nails.



Afterwards, Tom makes a big thing of shaking himself clear from me and licking off my horrible touch and then will sit beside me happily with no apparent fear or upset remaining. My recovery takes a little longer and generally involves tissues (to mop my brow and soak up blood!)plasters, and on the odd occasion a paper bag to control the hyper ventilation brought on by the extreme stress and fear involved in facing an animal who looks and behaves as though tempted to kill you!!

Funnily enough, although Tom is happy enough (no doubt congratulating himself on another incredibly authentic performance) my other animals all view me with caution and wariness for quite some time! Tom will notice this and with his beautiful eyes will gaze at me intently before producing a drawn out blink; as if to say 'Tom 1 - Human 0 again!!.