If winged cats and cabbits can be explained as medical conditions and genetic aberrations rather than hybrid animals, what is the explanation for squittens and kangaroo cats?

German physician, Gabriel Clauder (1633-1691), published a brief article (Clauderi 1686) in the medical journal Ephemeridum Medico-Physicarum Germanicarum Academiæ Naturae Curiosorum. At that time, scientific papers were published in Latin. The original text reads: “Felis Sciurum pariens—Summe miraculosos ac quotidie quasi novos e Natura abysso lusus ac metamorphoses modis in numeris parefieri, certissmum est, quas describere, non eft humana crenae opus. Ob diversas causas unica hic sufficiat talis historia: Felis domestica à coitu cum Sciuro parit tres catos sui generis & unum Sciurum; dictus Sciurus ob raritatem a Viro illustrisummis in deliciis haditus, ne minima Naturae matrissantis indicia prae se ferebat; veluti quidem catuli felini ne minimum patrisabant." The (loose) English translation read: “Cat Gives Birth to a Squirrel. Every day, great miracles and novelties and numerous metamorphoses, arise from the depths of Nature, which human effort cannot copy. Of these diverse cases, one will suffice to demonstrate this fact: A domestic cat mated with a squirrel [note: Eurasian Red Squirrel] and gave birth to three kittens like herself and one squirrel. This squirrel was kept as a pet by a renowned man because of its rarity. It didn't resemble its mother in the least, and the feline offspring didn't resemble their father in the least." Conclusion: a maternal female cat adopted a baby squirrel!

"Squitten" is a term used to describe supposed cat-squirrel hybrids. It derives from "squirrel kitten" meaning the offspring of a cat which has mated with a squirrel. The term has also been used by a cat owner whose cat nursed and reared an orphan squirrel baby alongside her own kittens. A squitten is described as cat-like with a plumy tail and short front legs with paws resembling hands in which it can hold things. It sits on its haunches like a squirrel and can climb trees, but when on the ground it moves with a bobbing or hopping gait. As geneticist Roy Robinson reminded his readers, cats come in different colours and varieties - you cannot rely on appearance alone to identify a cat as a hybrid. He was talking about hybrids between domestic cats and other wildcat species, but the comment is valid here. No matter what squittens look like, cats are cats and squirrels are tree-living rodents - cats do not mate with rats, not even with cute fluffy-tailed rats!

Some longhaired cats naturally have long, but sleek (rather than fluffy) fur and plumy tails like the brush of a fox or squirrel. This gives them the appearance of a shorthaired cat with a fluffy tail. Some polydactyl (extra-toed) cats have the vestigial dew-claw converted into a finger-like toe and can become adept at using this like an opposable thumb. They may catch or pick up a toy between their two paws and sit back on their haunches to investigate it - this does indeed look squirrel-like. This explains the fluffy tail and the hand-like paws, but what about the bobbing gait when moving along the ground?

A condition called radial hypoplasia (RH or "Twisty") is associated with one particular form of polydactyly. While regular polydactyl cats have duplicated toes, cats with the gene for RH have a form which converts the dew claw into a finger. The effect of the RH gene doesn't stop there though. It also causes shortened and/or misshapen front legs. The cat finds it more comfortable to sit back on its haunches, like a squirrel, than to crouch like a normal cat. Crouching on all four legs puts its chest is closer to the ground than normal and probably puts a strain on the spine as well as on the deformed forelegs.

Cats are very adaptable creatures. Because of the inequality in the size of their legs, RH cats have peculiar ways of getting about. Those with mild RH appear to hop like rabbits, sitting up and resting their front legs every so often (this may have lead to some of the reported cabbit sightings). Those with a moderate form might compensate for their vestigial forelegs by learning to bound on their hind legs like a kangaroo. The hind legs become well muscled due to being the main form of locomotion and the tail may be used as a support when the cat sits upright. The most severely affected cats push themselves along with their hind legs while their useless front "flippers" scrabble or move with a swimming motion.

RH cats with less severe forms of the condition can climb by bracing themselves or pushing themselves upwards with their back legs and gripping with the claws of their front paws. Unlike squirrels, they are not agile once up in a tree and they have great difficulty climbing down - a normal cat's forelegs act as shock absorbers when it lands, but an RH cat has no shock absorbers and its chest and head will hit the ground. They have a similar problem with stairs although some have learnt to descend stairs backwards to compensate.

Another condition that can look similar is "vagus deformity" (the tibia bone of the lower leg bows outwards (varus)) where the front legs are bent, with the paws turning inward. Unlike RH cats where the forelegs are weakened, the bowed forelegs are thickset (chunky) and the cat can walk on them, but gives the impression of a bow-legged cowboy. A vagus deformity means the two bones in each foreleg grow at different rates. Although it can make kittens look very bow-legged or look like RH cats, there is a good chance that the legs will straighten out as the cat continues to grow.

Far from being squirrel-cat hybrids, squittens can be explained as longhair cats with radial hypoplasia - this accounts for the plumy tail and for the short forelegs, hand-like paws, sitting on haunches and the bobbing gait when they move. "Squitten" is the more common term although such cats have also been called "dinosaur cats" or "kangaroo cats" because they resemble a kangaroo or the Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur in having tiny front legs, longer hind legs and a preference for sitting upright. The unfortunate Twisty Cats have been dubbed kangaroo cats in the press, however true "Kangaroo Cats" are caused by a different condition altogether.

No-one seriously suggests that kangaroo cats are cat/kangaroo hybrids. Even if you found a cat-sized kangaroo, a cat is a placental and a kangaroo is a marsupial. They simply could not hybridise. The term "kangaroo cat" simply describes a cat which resembles a kangaroo in appearance and behaviour. Cats with moderate to severe RH fit the bill easily.

The Washington Times, 20th January, 1896 mentioned some cats with short forelegs in its report on dog and cat rescuers in Paris. "An active benefactress of the feline race in Paris is a Mme. Donnon, an aged lady of seventy, living at Asnieres. She has now eleven cats and sixteen dogs under her care, and for some years afforded hospitality to the dogs and eight New Caledonian cats of Louise Michel. Six out of these eight died. The survivors are Marguerite and Monmoutte. They have both short fore legs and developed bind legs like the kangaroo.<"

In "Zoologischer Anzeiger" in 1956, author Max Egon Thiel of Hamburg, Germany, described a cat that he had seen in Stalingrad in 1953. The cat had unusually short legs and was playing with its normal littermates. He had seen it sitting on its hind legs like with its front legs in the air so he called it the "Stalingrad Kangaroo Cat". Nothing more is known of this cat.

There are even earlier reports of kangaroo cats. In England in 1944, 4 generations were documented in the Veterinary Record by Dr. H.E. Williams-Jones. He described four generations of short-limbed cats. He reported the case of an 8 1/2-year-old black female who was described as having lived an extremely healthy life and, other than her short legs, she was reported to be normal in every way. Her mother, grandmother and some of her own offspring were similar in appearance.

In the case reported by Williams-Jones, only the front limbs were affected, while the hind limbs appeared to be of normal size. William-Jones described the cats as having unusually short front legs which bowed outwards, but the cats were otherwise normal. Their gait resembled that of a ferret, exhibiting smooth but hunched-up movements. When they sat back, their posture gave them the appearance of miniature kangaroos. The term "foreleg micromelia" was used to describe these cats, though they were often called "Kangaroo Cats" by the layperson at the time.  The cats were reportedly healthy and able to move quickly. The trait was seen to be inherited and occurred in it least 4 litters. Unfortunately, this strain was one of many established bloodlines which disappeared during World War II. Some reports suggest that the few surviving individuals had been neutered. (Reports of these short-legged cats being eaten by starving Britons is probably exaggeration; even in the most prosperous times, many interesting British mutations have simply not been propagated by cat fanciers.)

There are even earlier sightings of kangaroo cats, including sightings of short-legged feral cats in England during the 1930s. A short-legged condition was also described by Schwangart and Grau (1931) and was noted to be hereditary.

According to Katharine L Simms in "They Walked Beside Me" (1954): "In build [the Manx] is higher in the rump than the ordinary cat, for his hind legs are longer than his forelegs. For this reason the Manx is sometimes called the Kangaroo cat, for he has the hopping gait of a kangaroo and a rabbit."

The "Flatbush Mutation" was a localised variety noted (1950s?) in Brooklyn, New York, in the Vanderveer housing project in the neighbourhood of Flatbush (the housing project comprised numerous interconnected basements, bomb shelters and underground garages). A distinctive, peculiar-looking bicolour female stray cat appeared among the Flatbush stray population. She had short limbs, a short tail, a small, low-slung body and a narrow, slightly flattened head with short ears. More cats and kittens with this look appeared as the female produced kittens and several generations of Flatbush cats arose. This was probably a highly local, spontaneous mutation reinforced or fixed by inbreeding i.e. a breed began to evolve in urban Brooklyn. Unfortunately the mutation was lost probably due to new blood arriving in the area in the form of other strays or unneutered pet cats. This is similar to the short-legged cats noted in England in the 1930s

Kangaroo cats apparently disappeared in Europe, but the mutation cropped up again in New England in the 1970’s and then in Louisiana, USA in 1983 and went on to become the Munchkin breed. Since the famous 1983 Munchkin and her offspring, similar unrelated cats have been found throughout the USA and other countries as spontaneous mutations born to normal parents. Munchkins have shortening and bowing of the long bones of the legs, much like Dachshund and Corgi dogs and much as Williams-Jones described in 1944. Unlike RH kangaroo cats, Munchkins have a good quality of life and no locomotory problems except for the inability to jump great heights (contrary to some reports, they are not "unable to jump"). They are, however, prone to two abnormalities: lordosis (curvature of the spine causing chest compression) and pectus (also affecting the chest). In addition, litter sizes are smaller than average, suggesting that some embryos die early.

I encountered this Mexican kangaroo cat in 1993. "Pedro", a mackeral tabby male, was a former street cat imported to Britain by its finders. The hind legs were of normal, but the forelegs were shortened, thickened and appeared slightly twisted with the paws turned outwards. Like Williams-Jones' cats, only the forelegs are affected. The picture on the left shows how his chest rests on the ground when he crouches. The cat also exhibited the hunched-up gait described by Williams-Jones, but could run, jump up onto surfaces and proved to be an excellent hunter not in the least inconvenienced by his deformity.

The earlier kangaroo cats may possibly have had a mild form of RH, but the description of their smooth ferret-like gait and the absence of any reports of extra toes suggests they had a type of dwarfism (achondroplasia) like modern Munchkins. While earlier kangaroo cats had "foreleg micromelia", modern Munchkins have "foreleg and hindleg micromelia" so that both the front and hind legs of the cat are shortened.

Munchkins should not be confused with Twisty Cats (Kats). The Munchkin condition is due to a form of dwarfism as described in Dwarf and Midget Cats and is classed as cosmetic (not affecting quality of life). The Twisty Cat trait is due to Radial Hypoplasia, a condition which mimics polydactyly in its less severe form (Polydactyl Cats) and is a debilitating condition (causing crippling).

Short-legged cats have been observed several times throughout history. The historical kangaroo cats were probably early examples of the Munchkin mutation or possibly early observations of a mild degree of radial hypoplasia though the lack of mention of extra toes suggests the former rather than the latter. So-called squittens are also either longhaired cats of the Munchkin type or longhaired RH cats. Spontaneous Munchkin mutations continue to occur around the world.

Before the proper study of genetics, people - including naturalists - had explained these cats in terms of hybrids between cats and other animals. This seems fanciful by today's standards, but the genetics knowledge we have today would seem truly fantastic to those naturalists of old!

In January 2002 I received an email about squittens and cats crossbreeding with squirrels (I've edited out the stronger language, but left everything else just as I received it).

In fact the grey colour is easily explained by feline genetics. Grey is caused by a recessive gene for dilution. A recessive gene only shows up if a cat has 2 of those genes. If a genetically black cat has one gene for dilution, it is black. If that cat has 2 genes for dilution its black colouration is diluted to grey. Both of the farm cats must have had carried the recessive gene and the three kittens all inherited 2 copies of that gene, one from each parent. Quite likely the parent cats were closely related, possibly brother and sister, which is common in farmyard colonies. The long (fluffy) fur is inherited the same way. A shorthaired cat can carry the recessive gene for longhair. If both parents carried the gene for longhair and all the kittens inherited 2 genes (one from each parent) then the kittens would be longhaired. Many longhaired cats have plumy or brush-like tails like a squirrel or a fox.

It is unusual for all three kittens to have inherited the same genes for colour and longhair so it is possible that the free-ranging female farm cat mated with a cat from a neighbouring farm e.g. a grey longhaired cat (possibly a closely related cat wandering into the area, maybe even her own father since cats do not observe incest taboos). This would increase the chances of having all grey longhaired offspring. The fact that her later litters were neither grey nor fluffy suggests that they were fathered by the black tomcat she lived with or with other wandering tomcats. The kitten which went to "live with the squirrels" was most likely a male. Far from moving in with squirrels, he was probably driven away by his father and went to establish his own territory elsewhere.

Certainly they could not have been fathered by squirrels. Squirrels are rodents and are genetically incompatible with felines. Grey squirrels are not the same sort of grey as most grey cats - their fur is ticked (banded with colours) and their face, ears and paws are generally a reddish colour.

FOOTNOTE 2: RH CASE STUDY

The following report is from Carolina Cats, P. O. Box 210705, Columbia, SC 292221 following the progress of six kittens, four of which had twisted forelimbs. This was written when the kittens were 8 weeks old.

Of the six kittens born, two with deformed legs died right after birth, and the white kitten with deformed legs died on the fourth day, although until that point it appeared to be doing as well as those who survived. One kitten, the last one born, appears normal in every way - four good legs, all the toes, and even his heart checks out OK! He's a pretty blue boy, and we will probably find him a home this week. The two surviving kittens with deformed legs did not need any help so far. Mama hooked her paw around Tiggeroo, the male brown tabby with no front legs worth speaking of, and he also boosted himself up on his sister or brother's back to get at a nipple to nurse. Perhaps if all the kittens had absolutely no front legs or Tiggeroo had been the only survivor the milk wouldn't have come in, but since the normal kitten, Blue, was able to treadle normally and even the female, Misty, could stimulate the milk to a certain extent, milk flow wasn't a problem. The owners of the cats did not want to give them up until the kittens were weaned, if they survived. Athough they were nonchalant about spaying or neutering, they did feed the cats properly and they were never let outside. We decided the kittens needed the mama cat, and they were well-provided for temporarily.