McPolys

Ben & Ernest P

Bennie & Ernest

On March 7, 1998 Furkats Pleasant Benjamin came to stay with us. He was born December 4, 1997. He is a brown mackerel tabby with white Maine Coon. He is extra special because he is a polydactyl. Bennie has an extra toe on his front paws. He looks like he is wearing mittens. He has an extra dewclaw on his back paws. Bennie's name is based on character from an old childhood cartoon favorite "Top Cat", and the Pleasant, because it is tradition that polydactyls have a P in their name. Bennie has taken over the whole house. There is nothing he can't get into. Bennie can open boxes of all kinds (with any type of lid, the four flaps folded into themselves). He opens them up and empties them. I now have gone to plastic containers with snap tight lids. He loves to dig in the litter box. He can really make it fly with those huge paws. He can have half of the litter on the floor in no time. 

Bongo

If you would like additional people to speak up about, the "joy of polys", we'd be happy to. Just watching Bongo play makes it obvious he's better at snagging things with those big mitts than Kadie (our standard footed cat). Her feet almost look deformed to us now! He uses his mitts for everything, and has become extremely adept at swatting things out of our hands. Getting Bongo to play with ALL his toes is certainly no problem. He's quite good at grabbing thins mid-leap, due in no small part to his "palming" ability. He also enjoys sprawling on his back with all his toes curled up tight as he gets petted. He's good at climbing, a real delight, and has been since we got him. On that note, I'm off to rub his belly. For the "P" part of his name, we might use "Pouncer" or "Percussionmeister", probably the latter. He makes lots of good, thunderous noise carousing through the house when he's wired up. Follows the "Bongo" theme as well.

Furkats Captain Jack

Just a note to tell you about Jack. He has an affinity for water. We have decided that we have a real "PEEPING TOM" on our hands. He loves to sit on top of the shower door and watch me bathe. One of his favorites past times is to help wash dishes. He has absolutely no aversion to water--- sticks his head under the faucet until it is soaked, and drinks from his "somewhat" large paw. We are concerned that he is entirely too intelligent for one so young, and hope that it is not his undoing. Jack sleeps in our room and seems to get hyper about six am. This is when he takes the option of foot- biting and jumping on imaginary prey under the covers until somebody pays attention. We have decided that he gets hungry and is not shy about getting the door between him and his food open. Jack opens the pantry door, knocks his canned food from the pantry, and nuzzles the can until the food is opened. He is a joy for the whole family and knows it. He is tuned in to whoever wants to give him their undivided attention and takes full advantage of that person. Thanks for our sweetheart.

Furkats Daphne Annie Mae

When Daphne hears the pool balls cue up she is up and running. With her extra dewclaw she is able to grab the pool balls and use a palming technique to knock the balls in the holes. She also enjoys walking on the organ keyboard and tries to pick at the guitar strings while sitting on her person's shoulder. Due to the strength in her legs she is able to do vertical leaps as high as the door. She also can get on top of the shower door with its 1/2-inch rim. With her extra foot width she is able to walk around on the top rim of the shower. She will watch all family members taking showers.