Polydactyl cat have a total of 18 toes, with five toes on each fore paw, and four toes on each hind paw; polydactyl cats may have as many as eight digits on their front and/or hind paws. Both Jake, a Canadian polydactyl cat, and Paws, an American polydactyl cat, were recognised by Guinness World Records as having the highest number of toes on a cat, 28. Various combinations of anywhere from four to seven toes per paw are common. Polydactyly is most commonly found on the front paws only, it is rare for a cat to have polydactyl hind paws only, and
Whiskers benefits are that it provides more degrees of freedom for sensor positioning, that it allows the animal to sample a larger volume of space with a given density of whiskers, and that it allows control over the velocity with which the whiskers contact surfaces." Animals that do not whisk, but have motile whiskers, presumably also gain some advantage from the investment in musculature. Dorothy Souza, in her book "Look What Whiskers Can Do" reports some whisker movement during prey capture (in cats, in this case): "Whiskers bend forward as the cat pounces. Teeth grasp the mouse tightly around its neck.