THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2022
OREGON
THE OBSERVER — A7
New Pendleton resident raises an internet sensation
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — When
Charly Hotchkiss moved to
Pendleton in early January
to take the job as the news
clerk for the East Orego-
nian, she brought along an
Instagram celebrity.
Thumbz, her 28-toed cat.
The orange feline has
the congenital physical
anomaly polydactyly.
Hotchkiss was 15
and living in Santa Fe,
New Mexico, when she
acquired the cat. Her par-
ents employed a man who
had an extra cat, Hotch-
kiss said, and the man was
planning to either give the
1-year-old cat to a new
owner or release it to the
wild so “the coyotes could
have it.”
“He’s not a great guy,”
Hotchkiss said.
She heard he killed his
ex-girlfriend and himself
sometime after letting go of
the cat.
For Hotchkiss, Thumbz
fi lled a cat-shaped hole in
her heart. Still grieving over
the death of her previous
cat a couple months ear-
lier, she said she was ready
for a new critter. And when
her father called her and
asked her if she wanted a
cat who might “have some-
thing wrong with him,” she
rushed over to claim him.
When she fi rst spotted
him, she noticed his extra
toes, hence the name. But
there was nothing wrong
with him. Polydactyly is not
uncommon in cats, Hotch-
kiss said, but having 28 toes
is a world record. The cat
has seven digits on each
paw.
The Guinness World
Records website con-
fi rms her claim. It names a
28-toed Canadian cat, Jake,
as the world-record holder
with the same situation —
seven toes on each of its
four paws.
“I really wish he had one
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Thumbz, a 28-toed cat living in Pendleton with its owner, Charly Hotchkiss, has amassed an Instagram
following of more than 23,000 after he was featured on Morbid: A True Crime Podcast.
she said. The ad appeared
on Instagram.
Hotchkiss said she is not
getting rich off of Thumbz,
though he does net her
some cash. Instagram paid
Hotchkiss $75 in January
because of her cat’s large
following.
A single post on
Thumb’z Instagram can
receive hundreds or even
thousands of likes. Hotch-
kiss said she has just more
than 2,000 followers on her
own account, but she said
she is not at all envious
of Thumbz’s popularity;
rather, she is enjoying it.
She even said she has
goals for him. She wants
Thumbz to reach 25,000
followers by the end of
March.
The life of Thumbz
more,” Hotchkiss said.
When she welcomed the
cat into her life, she did not
imagine the fame Thumbz
would achieve.
Today, the cat has more
than 23,000 Instagram fol-
lowers. More people follow
Thumbz than live in either
Pendleton or Hermiston.
Instagram fame
When she entered col-
lege, Hotchkiss started
an Instagram account for
Thumbz. She said it was
just something for her to
share pictures with her
friends.
“I really wasn’t taking it
very seriously,” she said.
Fame took off thanks to
one of her favorite podcasts,
Morbid: A True Crime
Podcast.
Hotchkiss’s sister, who
also is a fan of Morbid,
wrote a letter to the hosts of
the show and told them of
Thumbz. The letter, “How
My Sister Got Her 28-Toed
Cat from a Murderer,” was
received and read on the
podcast last year. Along with
telling the story, the podcast
shared Thumbz’s Instagram
handle @thumbzthecat, and
people started following it en
masse.
“Overnight, he gained
thousands of followers,”
Hotchkiss said. “So then I
started being more active
with it.”
She said she began
posting more, which gained
the attention of even more
followers. In addition, a
kitty litter company took
notice. PrettyLitter featured
Thumbz in an ad last year,
He often sits on his cat
tower and stares out the
window, looking for squir-
rels in the trees.
“He’s an old man now,”
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Hotchkiss said.
That’s fi ne with her. The
cat has, after all, lived with
Hotchkiss in New Mexico,
Eugene, California, Hawaii
and now Pendleton.
Thumbz weighs 15.7
pounds. She said he might
be a Maine coon or an
American bobtail; she is
not certain which, if either.
And while he is not a lap
cat, Hotchkiss said, he will
climb up on a person’s chest
to be petted, but only for
people he likes.
Thumbz is not entirely
an indoor cat. She takes
Thumbz out on a leash. She
said he likes to roll around
in dirt.
“That’s one of his
favorite things,” she said.
“He gets really dirty.”
Thumbz also does not
meow, Hotchkiss said.
Instead, he makes a trill.
And while he is particular
about his cat food, he will
eat cream cheese off Hotch-
kiss’s fi ngers.
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