A Maine Coon from Wisconsin managed to break a 24-year-old world record for the most toes on a cat, setting the new mark with 29 toes. Erebus Anomaly's unprecedented wealth of toes is evidently attributed to a genetic trait — polydactyly — that causes some cats to be born with extra toes, and is relatively common in Maine Coons. Erebus’s biological father was born with six toes on each paw, giving him a total of 24, which is six more than the normal amount for a cat. That helped set the stage for Erebus to be born in March with eight toes on one paw and seven on the rest. Erebus’s owners, Kendra and Hunter Nett, said it was obvious to them that he might attain the record. Yet Erebus had much more to navigate than just Guinness World Records’ verification process. He required an emergency trip to the vet, who diagnosed him with pneumonia and placed him in an oxygen machine. Erebus’s outlook for a time was grim, but he managed to recover. To confirm that he had fully recovered, the Netts had X-rays taken. In the end, those X-rays were important documentation for the application that the couple submitted on behalf of Erebus for recognition by Guinness World Records. The famous organization, which curates a database of more than 40,000 world records, then bestowed the title of the most toes on a cat to Erebus on May 13th.
