They say cats have nine lives - so meet Des, who has 26 toes.
While most pet cats have 18 - five on their front paws and four on their rear - the 10-year-old boasts seven on his front and six on his back paws.
One expert said cats with extra toes were common in the area around the old county of Cardiganshire and were sometimes known as "Cardi-cats".
There are unconfirmed reports in north America of cats with up to 28 toes - but Mrs Thomas cannot find records closer to home.
"It's quite common to have six toes in Cardiganshire, and therefore we call them 'Cardi-cats' sometimes," Ms Hyman explained.
"Its because it's a genetic defect, the gene pool is actually concentrated in south west Wales, and so it's more likely to get a cat with that genetic defect, breeding with another cat with that genetic defect in Cardigan, than anywhere, else in Britain."
clipped from: news.bbc.co.uk 