paws. She is black with a bit of white here and there, with longer fur.Tallon came up missing last Thursday, May 8, 2008. I am so heartbroken; he has been such a highlight of my life the last two years. When he was just 6 weeks old I took Tallon and his two brothers Buckwheat and Ashes from my brother Brian's in Spokane and brought them home to Baring. I had just ended a five year relationship with my ex-boyfriend and was going through a depression. Cats are an awesome therapy for depression, at least for me they are.
Tallon and Buckwheat are the two polydactyls. They each have an extra toe that resembles a thumb on each of their front paws, along with a circular-shaped claw in between their 'thumb' and 'index finger'. They both have an inner large claw with a mini pad on their hind paws. These claws appear to be dormant- they don't seem to be able to retract them, so they just hang there appearing useless.
About a year ago I realized Buckwheat's extra hind claw was bleeding. When I looked closer, I realized it was half torn from his foot! The blood was actually old and it seemed to be healing well, so I kept an eye on it and it healed, although it healed with part of it disconnected. I really feel if it gets ripped again it could keep ripping on up his leg! I'm going to take him to the vet as soon as I have the funds. Please see Buckwheat's post for more about him.
More about my precious Tallon..... Tallon loved to hang out on the roof of the mobile home and under the additional snow roof built over the mobile home. Any time anyone would start up to my porch, he'd run up to the roof and watch until he knew if he was familiar with the person visiting. He also would hide from other cats up there.
He had this game he loved to play with me.... He'd meow over and over at me, and when he started doing this I at first was thinking something was wrong and I would get on the railing so I could reach the roof and all the stinker wanted was to be petted! He actually would try to get me to get on the roof with him! How unlikely was that? He also would go to the end of the trailer and roll around on the beams making me think he was going to roll off and fall at least 10 feet or more. As far as I'm aware, he never did fall but I started calling him 'Monkey-Butt' because of it.
If you look closely you can see his thumbs in at least one picture.
The one thing that made Tallon stand out was as a kitten, his 'meow' came out as a 'mweow', with an extra 'w' in it. The entire neighborhood knows that meow! One thing I'm real concerned about with him missing..... Ever since I brought him and his brothers home, they on a daily basis all individually approach me for their daily love, but especially for their daily head kisses from me. I think they actually needed those kisses and it seemed to be a significant part of their daily security! It's been five days now since I've seen him, and I miss him terribly! I know from my own experiences that the odds of your cat showing back up decrease with every day they're gone. I have only had one cat resurface after being missing for more than a week and that was Holly. Read more about Holly's adventures on her post.....
I believe that my two polydactyls and their normal toed brother Ashes also have unique purring abilities. When any one of them are relaxed and half asleep, they have extra noises that are very pronounced-- like they have extra folds around their purr box, creating unusual sounds. The reason I think it could be a polydactyl trait is because all three of them make these noises, even though Ashes has normal feet. I realize how strange that theory may sound- it sounds weird to me also that their toes could have anything to do with unusual purring abilities. I meant actually maybe its a genetic trait that can go along with their polydactyl traits.
***If anyone reading this has more information or knows more about polydactyl cats or has their own stories, I would love to hear them! All you need to do is use the comment box. Thank you in advance!
I will add more about Tallon as I think of things worthy of sharing. In the meantime, I continue to look for him. The one thing that scares me is he is a very beautiful personable cat that has been loved in a special way. He counts on me to care for him.
I don't put collars on my cats because of a freak accident- another cat (many years ago) had climbed a tree, lost its footing and died by hanging-- apparently his collar caught on something, preventing him from completely falling but left him dangling to his death! That was extremely traumatic and I felt so guilty for that cat's death even though I thought I was protecting him with the collar.
A shorter time ago (its been about 13 years ago) I found my neighbor's dog hanging over their 5 foot fence. The dog in the night had tried to jump over the fence, but his leash wasn't long enough and his feet never reached the ground. Unfortunately he'd already been hanging there too long by the time I saw him (it was in the wee hours, 4 am) and he died.
These freak accidents really scared the hell out of me and may have made me a little over cautious.
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