Kitteh with opposable thumbs will take over the worrrld

by Meg on October 11, 2007

Check out this kitteh with "hands" over at the Tacoma, WA Humane Society.

She’s sporting a pair of thumbs! (And obviously has plans to bring the kitteh species forward with her marvelous mutation…)

Mastermind

Here she is showing off by drawing a Turkey (see beak and hat)

World_dominayshe_2

For more prosh pics and more details on Willamena, check out the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee!

Sender-Inner Laurie C. says she’s seen "a lot of extra toes" but never hands!

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Itty Bitty Kitty Committee
10.11.07 at 5:15 pm

{ 106 comments }

1 Isla 10.11.07 at 5:18 pm

Cute cute cute cute. Chicken, run!

2 Rocknrope 10.11.07 at 5:18 pm

Is it just polydactyl, or is there sumtings else going on here?

Love the turkey! Gwobble-gwobble!

3 kk3 10.11.07 at 5:19 pm

BLEEN

4 bugmom 10.11.07 at 5:20 pm

Please, Lord, do not let this kitteh team up with the skwerlz nad otterz!!!! They do NOT need such a strong Ally!

I freakin’ LOVE the turkey!!!

5 kk3 10.11.07 at 5:20 pm

Frick! A delay!!! No bleen for me – again. Just once..le’me!

Anyway…c-u-t-e!

6 caroline 10.11.07 at 5:26 pm

Awwww! Baby kitty “hand” turkey..
Now that’s just too sweet! :)

7 Holly 10.11.07 at 5:28 pm

OMG! Daaaarling! I’m speechless.

8 red 10.11.07 at 5:28 pm

*dies from an overload of cute*

9 Harper 10.11.07 at 5:29 pm

Another thumb kitteh!! We have one with the opposables, too! He gets in so much mischief now that he has learned to pick things up using his “hands”!

10 Harper 10.11.07 at 5:36 pm

Our thumb kitty playing pool and napping!

http://tinyurl.com/38hok9
http://tinyurl.com/2p9mh6

11 kk3 10.11.07 at 5:41 pm

Harper…he could hitch-hike with those! Super cute!

12 Michele 10.11.07 at 5:41 pm

the animal c-o-n-spericy thickens in its eeevilness

13 Keith Handy 10.11.07 at 5:47 pm

“One day I will master doorknobs… and the world will be MINE!! MINE!!!! Bwahahahahaha!!! (*paws* – er, I mean *pause*) BWAHAHAHAHA!!!”

We better all start putting those knobs a little higher up!

14 Dave 10.11.07 at 5:48 pm

Kind of makes you wonder… What if they slowly develop more hominid features?

On a basic level, evolution states that living things evolve into whatever they need to in order to make life easier.

Maybe kittens need hands now? They don’t really have to hunt for food anymore, so they don’t need the speed and agility that comes with four legs. Could kitties one day end up walking upright like the rest of us? Could they develop speech? I’ve heard kitties that sound like they’re talking before…

15 Leslie 10.11.07 at 5:50 pm

I love that she doesn’t even wake up for the turkey picture. Can a bowl of warm water be far behind?

16 pyrit 10.11.07 at 5:50 pm

I’m havink a thought hea!
A polydactyl kitty making a turkey is perfect!
Anyone? Anyone?
Because, in the U.S. there are more polydactyls on the east coast. In England there are more on the southwest coast. The polydactyl kitters came to America from the southwest of England.
Plymouth, England. Plymouth, Massachussetts. Mayflower. Pilgrims.
Turkey!

17 Am 10.11.07 at 6:00 pm

I want to schnorgle the pawses!

18 AuntieMame 10.11.07 at 6:00 pm

Holy cow, Harper. Your cat could hold a hammer with those paws! Or a sword. I’d sleep with one eye open, I think. :)

And I’m impressed with the turkey. My thumbs are fully opposable, and I can’t even draw that well.

19 luvinmalssomuch 10.11.07 at 6:03 pm

OMG

20 pyrit 10.11.07 at 6:03 pm

Wups, according to Wikipedia, polydactyl cats originated in Boston. Oh well. That takes the stuffing out don’t it.

21 fish eye no miko 10.11.07 at 6:04 pm

I, for one, welcome our cutey-wutey soft, cuddly kitty overlords.

22 Novawolf 10.11.07 at 6:04 pm

Adorable! I agree polys are probably a positive evolutionary step. And we all know cats wish to RULE THE WORLD!! =)

I’m imagining anthropomorphic kittehs walking and talking like humans. Well, a girl can dream.

23 Rumi 10.11.07 at 6:05 pm

Wow. I’ve always said the if MY kittles had opposable thumbs, that would be the end of whatever rule or authority I have in the house, lol!

24 Sonia 10.11.07 at 6:07 pm

yowsers, Harper!!! r those kitty hands real??

25 Laura 10.11.07 at 6:09 pm

Eeee! I have a thumb-cat too! Her paws are much more tufted with fur, though (part Maine Coon, I believe). Now, my boyfriend doesn’t want anything but a cat with thumbs.

26 Happy LOL Day 10.11.07 at 6:09 pm
27 Harper 10.11.07 at 6:10 pm

So far he only picks up his toys and drinking straws (best toy ever!) Max does have a habit of sitting on my chest when I am asleep and patting at me with one paw though…

28 chanpon 10.11.07 at 6:18 pm

If I tried to get my cats to do that, they’d claw holes in the paper and then chew it up to bits.
:( But that is so unbelievably cuuute!

29 NYgirly 10.11.07 at 6:26 pm

she all thumbs! ^^

i wub her

30 Tarah 10.11.07 at 6:31 pm

AWwwwwwwww!

Such a kayoot kitteh! I shall steal you.

31 lojolo 10.11.07 at 6:31 pm

I am trying to change my diet and have decided that whenever I have a craving for something sweet, I’ll just click on my CO shortcut and get my fix of oh so delectibul kitty toes, bunny ears and duckie down. Yummmmmmeeeee!!!!

32 Shannon 10.11.07 at 6:32 pm

I think this is called a polydactyl cat or a Hemmingway Cat. Sweet kitty.

33 Harper 10.11.07 at 6:33 pm

And yes, those are totally Max’s real hands :) I have tons of pics of him (not obsessed at all, really!)

34 my cat is a blob 10.11.07 at 6:34 pm

This reminds me of an interactive joke I used to annoy, I mean, amuse people with.

Draw a chicken (just a sort of side view chicken form, with beak, tail feathers, stick feet, and a wing).
Approach someone and say “I have a visual test I’d like you to help me with. As I point to each part of the chicken, I want you to say the word for that part three times.”
(use a pencil to point)
Point to beak. Person hesitantly, but obediently says “beak beak beak.” You say “good,” or some other encouraging comment.

Now, point to tail or feets. Person, looking increasingly embarassed, says “tail tail tail,” or “feets feets feets.” You say “right,” or “good job,” or something reinforcing.

Now, point to wing. Person says “wing wing wing.”

You say “Heywwoh?”

35 DarrylsMama 10.11.07 at 6:34 pm

I hope that somebody in need of a thumbed kitteh sees this and adopts her (or him).

36 crackjob 10.11.07 at 6:36 pm

Haaaaaaaa! The turkey. THE TURKEY! Funniest ever.

37 Rosalynde 10.11.07 at 6:46 pm

oh dear. cuteoverload is far too cute today . . . far, far, far too cute.

gah!!! tidgie hand/paw!!!!

38 Nerak 10.11.07 at 6:47 pm

Oh, sweet merciful God!

The turkey! Stop!!!

That may be the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen :)

39 kayte 10.11.07 at 6:48 pm

I love the thumbs! I bet kitteh grows up to walk on his hind pawses, too. I

I’m envisioning him uncurling after a nap on the couch, walking over to the pantry, grabbing a can of Friskies,a box of crackers and a knife, opening the can and spreading some delicious seafood “pate” on the crackers. Of course, then, he’ll say, in an Orson Welles kind of voice, “I think a nice, dry Chardonnay would be lovely with this….”

40 twig 10.11.07 at 6:48 pm

I was doing ok until the turkey photo. Then my brain exploded.

41 crackjob 10.11.07 at 6:49 pm

WARNING. Do not click on the link to the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee. I repeat – DO NOT CLICK.

You have been warned…

42 VitaminJ 10.11.07 at 6:56 pm

Aw. The itty bitty kitty is doing turkey draw-rings!

Very very witty.

43 ThreeCatNight 10.11.07 at 6:58 pm

What a little doll! She might just start a trend:
Kitten Mittens, with an extra thumbpiece for those kitties who like to throw snowballs!

44 Cara Marie 10.11.07 at 7:05 pm

A Polydactyl! My favorite! :)

45 Fegli 10.11.07 at 7:06 pm

Awwww… looks just like my kitten. Except my kitten doesn’t have such wee adorable thumbs. <3

46 Carrie 10.11.07 at 7:09 pm

Harper I’m sorry but those thumbs kind of skeer me

BUT the turkey picture is just too much for me – awfulhorribleoverload.com here I come.

47 Alice Shortcake 10.11.07 at 7:11 pm

Oh. My. God.
Is this a portent of things to come? First they’ll be mastering doorknobs and can openers. Then they’ll be knitting their own mittens and playing the guitar. Let’s face it, the human race will soon be redundant…

48 Patty P 10.11.07 at 7:12 pm

OMG! The turkey drawing put me right over the cuteness limit!

I used to have a solid black kitty that was polydactyl. His front feet looked like wittle boxing gloves.

Tanks fer teh cayuteness!

49 metsakins 10.11.07 at 7:14 pm

I had two kitties with thumbs when I was a teenager.

and Harper – my Bubbsy thought straws were the best cat toy too. (He wasn’t a thumb kittie.) He would carry it back to us to throw and if we weren’t interested, he’d toss it under a chair and “surprise” the straw.

50 Annie 10.11.07 at 7:15 pm

Willamena for President!!

I would vote for her.

51 Sprock 10.11.07 at 7:22 pm

With those opposable thumbs, the kitteh is probably holding the pencil that is being used to draw the paw turkey.

52 liz 10.11.07 at 7:23 pm

You cannot tell me this lil baby has not been adopted yet.
if not, I am on my way to tacoma to pick-im up!
and that Max is the POO!
people say cats arent smart, but i’ll bet Max could beat me at pool any day- he’s just adorable!
Lucky owners!

53 Beth covered in cat hair 10.11.07 at 7:32 pm

This itty bitty kitty is from my city! What a cutie! Love polydactyl furbabies.

Harper I can’t imagine what it would be like to get a swat from that guy. Those are massive paws! I’m surprised he doesn’t get the can opener out and get his own food :)

54 Harper 10.11.07 at 7:41 pm

LOL, he is quite the gentle-kitty actually. The scary thing is that is is just 1 1/2 years old – still has some growing to do! He was such a find at the pound – latched onto my shirt and would not let go (when we saw the thumbs, we knew why he had such a grip!)

55 Golden 10.11.07 at 7:45 pm

Willamena!! Will the cute names ever end?!

I want.

56 LuvBJones 10.11.07 at 7:46 pm

I shoulda lissend ta crackjob.

I clicked on the IttyBittyKittyCcmmittee link. DEAR GOD! SAVE YOURSELVES!! DO NOT CLICK ON THAT LINK!!! *collapse*

57 Britney 10.11.07 at 7:47 pm

Awww! I just love kitties! That is interesting that it has a thumb.

58 leah b. 10.11.07 at 7:52 pm

Ok dis pitteh is to freaking cute and I love how she is looking at her feitties drawing after its done…..

Can we do that again that was fun puuurrrrrrrrr purrrrrrrrr swipe at pen.

Oh and I don’t mind if her species of pitteh take over some part of the world , she would be popular in Minnesota where the Misquito is the state bird here feitties could get of few of them I bet.

59 kar 10.11.07 at 7:56 pm

That second pic just killed me.

60 luvinmalssomuch 10.11.07 at 8:00 pm

Now that is one smart cat to draw an outline of his paw. What next paint by numbers.
No way someone has not adopted this precious.

61 Noelegy 10.11.07 at 8:00 pm

Holy Oven Mitts, Harper! Them’s paws!

62 Lyds 10.11.07 at 8:01 pm

Awww, what cute hands she has….

Wouldn’t mind sharing the top rung with the cats…

My catowner Shadow has already demonstrated that cats can be extremly intelligent…if she only had those thumbs….

63 Barbara 10.11.07 at 8:01 pm

Daddy…I want a turkey-drawing kitteh with opposable thumbs. I want it NOW!

64 bdwilcox 10.11.07 at 8:14 pm
65 berthaslave 10.11.07 at 8:20 pm

All hail our new kitteh overlords!!! Tuna and catnip for all!!!! We bow down to you, oh divine felines!!!

66 Rin 10.11.07 at 9:11 pm

Ooooouuu! This is definitely one of my favorite posts! The little turkey KEEEEELLLSSS meh

67 Sarah 10.11.07 at 9:14 pm

Dave- the theory of evolution does NOT state that organisms evolve whatever is NEEDED to be better suited to their environment. Mutations are random, and whether they are beneficial or not determines if the animal will survive to pass on the gene to future generations.

Anyways, that’s soooo cute!

Harper, I want to shake your kitty’s hand. err paw.

68 Andréa 10.11.07 at 9:15 pm

Baby! Kitten with Mittens!

69 jenny 10.11.07 at 9:16 pm

i died of happiness when i read the phrase “itty bitty kitty committee.”

70 liz 10.11.07 at 9:21 pm

OMG!
did you-all scroll down on the ITTY BITTY KITTY page
and SEE the paddies on this
adorable thumb-kitty! i cant BELIEVE Meg didnt post it.
maybe when she saw it, her eyes fell outta her head.

71 englishwoman 10.11.07 at 9:27 pm

liz

I would’ve scrolled down, but I never got past the picture of the kitten nomming on her blanky.

Shoulda listened to crackjob

72 Kindergarten Lit 10.11.07 at 9:29 pm

Remember this?

Three little kittens
have lost their mittens
and can’t tell where to find them. . .

73 Kellyhalia 10.11.07 at 9:34 pm

ummmm uummmmm *think think hard*

Leave them alone
and they’ll come home
dragging their tails behind them

Did I get it??

74 liz 10.11.07 at 9:35 pm

i always do JUST THE OPPOSITE of what crackjob says.

75 snorgler 10.11.07 at 9:38 pm

You warned me, but I DIDN’T LISTEN, DID I? Now I have tears welling because I don’t live on the right coast. If I were within a thousand miles, I’d go get me one of them. Essence of kittentude!

76 liz 10.11.07 at 9:43 pm

OK
YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS.
BUT I JUST GOT AN E-MAIL FROM THE IBKC AND THESE LIL KITTIES ARE NOT OFFICIALLY ADOPTED YET!
A PERSON COULD ACTUALLY HAVE A TURKEY DRAWIN- THUMB-BELLINA KITTIE!
(yes I am yelling , now i am stopping yelling)

77 Khadija 10.11.07 at 9:49 pm

bestest cuteoverload postings week ever!

78 sunnymum 10.11.07 at 9:55 pm

Itty bitty kitty committee? Best. Name. Evah! And the pics are too adorable to even absorb! Baby kitty nawming on pink blankie? The underside of the thumb kity paw with little mini jelly bean pads? And and and… did anyone get far enough down to see the babies being BOTTLE FED??? GAH! Now I have the overload in cute overload. ded.

79 Yubi Shines 10.11.07 at 9:58 pm

I dunno, y’all, I think if cats figured out how to work the can opener and a pair of scissors, that’d be it for them.

80 rpennefe 10.11.07 at 10:34 pm

I’m pleased to say I did not listen to crackjob. This insanity is wonderful!

If you take a risk with your sanity and look at the ibkc site, you’ll find that the humans there are owned by a resident feline named…Charlene Butterbean.

That just chokes me up with teh cute!

81 acelightning 10.11.07 at 10:38 pm

Those thumbs, while truly awesome, don’t appear to be *quite* truly “opposable” (look it up, peeps). So the superiority of the human race is safe… at least for a little while…

82 joools 10.11.07 at 11:08 pm

Our Cleo had thumbs too, fortunately she was, as my dad called her, “A pretty face with nought behind it”… but you didn’t want to get too frisky with her, if she grabbed your hand, you drew back a stump. Opposable CLAWS!!!

83 lurkertype 10.11.07 at 11:10 pm

The TURKEY, peeps! gak!

Harper, your kitteh is redonk.

84 TAJ 10.12.07 at 12:14 am

What I’ve read about polydactyl kitties is that ALL cat ancestors had thumbs, and when they became less useful, they essentially shrank over the generations.(Just like human pinkies are slowly disappearing!) Hence, “regular” cats still have that dew claw on the side, which is a vestigial digit. Polydactyl cats just are in a genetic line that never lost their thumbs.

And now that the lecture is over, here’s my poly kitty, Vincent! The best thumb pic is on the bottom.
http://www.catster.com/cats/554414

85 bonafide 10.12.07 at 12:18 am

We haz a winner…:-)In the polydactyl contest.

Unbelievably Cute.

86 Alexis 10.12.07 at 1:00 am

Aww, I have a brown tabby polydactyl kitten too! She’s about 6 months old and her name is Gravy (it looks like she dipped her giant front paws in a vat of brown liquid). She’s already capable of quite a bit of mischief, and I’m worried about what will happen when she’s fully grown… with those thumbs… who knows?

; )

I submitted a photo of her to CO, but alas, it never made it on the site. Oh well!

87 Alexis 10.12.07 at 1:04 am

Ok, immediately after I posted it occurred to me — I’m curious about the polydactyl kittens. Mine’s dew-claw is in between the normal toe and the extra toe, making said extra toe stand out quite a bit, so that she looks like she has mittens on. Is this the case for most polydactyls?

88 Harper 10.12.07 at 1:16 am

It varies from cat to cat, I think. I will try to hold Max down to get a good pic of his hand tonight. (all it will take is a treat LOL) His is a true opposable – he grasps at things with it!

89 Darcy 10.12.07 at 1:45 am

egehrhehegeOHMYGAHD *touches little HAAAANDS*

90 buhtterfly 10.12.07 at 3:03 am

*chimes in for the polydactyl owners club*
I have a crazy monkey of a kitty with thumbs, she is definitely a climber. She doesn’t really use her thumb as opposable much though, except maybe to knock things off of tables, counters and whatnot. She DOES play fetch rather insistently.

Here are some pictures (although I haven’t uploaded new ones in awhile, she’s a bit older now):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/buhtterfly/sets/72157594267798168/

…I need to upload more pictures again soon.

91 Daphne Moss 10.12.07 at 4:06 am

Thumb-owning kitteh for president!
Many t’anks for the good work by the nice folks who foster this sweetie and other kittehs. The Web site was an “aw” fest.

92 Carrie 10.12.07 at 4:09 am

omg I with IBKC

ommwencoiuwermcgao
aweorimcoidnerecadsv
werimcadfwefvn osdif

93 GerbilNibble 10.12.07 at 4:25 am

Meg – I love the new advert about rescued lab chimps! I appreciate your effort to raise awareness about good causes that end the suffering of unfortunate beings. Please continue to promote animal-friendly adverts. Much love! And thank you for all that you’ve done to give animals a “voice”. They would say “THANK YOU!” in English if they could.

94 Subhangi 10.12.07 at 9:37 am

I can’t get no satisfaction
Seeing polydactyls in action!

SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

95 Carlisa 10.12.07 at 11:48 am

WoW! I have a poly, but he can’t hold a pencil very well, or draw like this one!

96 Cathy 10.12.07 at 1:25 pm

I have a kitty with thumbs also and have already submitted to her ruling the house. Tomorrow the world!

97 jen 10.12.07 at 1:47 pm

first i melted
then i sprayed my screen when i saw the turkey hand drawing!! over the top hilarity!!!!

98 Terri 10.12.07 at 2:57 pm

We used to have a whole litte r of polys, which we’ve always called Hemingway cats. He had bunches of them, and about half the cats at his homeplace are still polys:
http://www.hemingwayhome.com/HTML/our_cats.htm

99 Yitzysmommie 10.12.07 at 3:26 pm

Too busy to post yest, but tewtally enjoyed this kittingk, the turkey, and all of ittybittykittycommitee pics!

100 klah 10.12.07 at 4:01 pm

I’m dying . . . of . . . cuteness . . . *gasp* That turkey beats all!

101 fawn lust 10.13.07 at 3:31 am

omg, the turkey. loooooooove.

102 jillette 10.13.07 at 3:52 am

oh! i love double pawed cats. my cat looks just like vincent! barbara, “save some for later” . . . also, double pawed cats were said to have been excellent mousers and great cats to have aboard ships because their large feet provided more stability. The Vikings called them “skipskats” for “ships cats”. My cat is double pawed and I nammed him Skittles, partially for the “skipskat” reference, and partially because he’s skittish . . . :) . . . and yes, he picks things up with his paws. I love holding his little paws in my hands, he wraps his paw around my fingers and really does hold my hand. :)

103 MeowKun 10.13.07 at 8:24 am

can she be the recarnation of my dead kitty????

104 essensual 10.13.07 at 2:21 pm

Best ever! The “hand turkey” nails me. SOOOoOooOO CUTE!!! I wanna have this photo framed.

105 Eater of Shades 10.14.07 at 12:48 am

-Purrfect!!!

*two thumbs up*

he he he….

106 ZF 10.16.07 at 12:22 am

That is probably the most original Picture ever

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