Historically polydactyls represented 40% of the population oforigin of the Maine Coon, today he does notwould represent only 2% of the breed.

Polydactyly, which results in a greater number of fingers than normal, is caused by a genetic mutation which is of course harmless to the animal's health.

A cat normally has  five fingers in the front and four fingers in the backback and one dewclaw on the front legs and four on the rear legs.

A polydactyl cat can have up to seven toes either at the front and/or the back.

Various variations of four to seven toes are common, although each pair of legs may not have an identical number of digits.

Polydactyly is most commonly seen on the front legs only.

It is rarely seen only on the hind legs. 

There are two shapes of legs in the polydactyl, the so-called mitten shape and the so-called hamburger shape.