Polydactyls made up a large part of the Maine Coon breed before they became pedigrees back in the 1970's. Although they can be registered and bred from, the polys were not allowed to be shown and so they began disappearing from the breed as the people who bred them became more and more interested in showing. For nearly 40 years their numbers steadily declined, but as the new century unfolded, a group of breeders around the world got together to try to save this unique feature from disappearing entirely.

After years searching for the ideal poly, in 2004, I imported Coonmtn Come Fly With Me (bred by Kit Mounger in the USA). She was the first polydactyl Maine Coon in Australasia. My aim was to have them accepted for showing and not discriminated against because of a human prejudice.

There are numerous breeds of pedigree cats, and many are associated with a feature that makes them unique. Sometimes this can go hand in hand with health problems but they are still allowed on the showbench. It didn't seem logical or fair to have the polydactyl -which is totally harmless - banned when these other genes are accepted.

So began my mission. After many years of discussion and lobbying, in 2008, the New Zealand Cat Fancy made history when they became the first registry in the world to allow Polydactyl Maine Coons to be shown and changed the breed standard to allow for this feature.

In 2009 the first polydactyl Maine Coons were shown and have acquitted themselves well alongside usual footed Maine Coons.