EASTERN OREGON
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
All Thumbz
herMIsTOnheraLd.cOM • A7
Hermiston City Hall tour
new area resident raises
an internet sensation
By ERICK PETERSON
hermiston herald
When Charly Hotch-
kiss moved to Pendleton
in early January to take
the job as the news clerk
for EO Media Group, she
brought along an Insta-
gram 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
filled a cat-shaped hole in
her heart. Still grieving
over the death of her pre-
vious cat a couple months
earlier, 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 something wrong
with him,” she rushed over
to claim him.
When she first spotted
him, she noticed his extra
toes, hence the name. But
there was nothing wrong
with him. Polydactyly is
not uncommon in cats,
Hotchkiss said, but having
28 toes is a world record.
The cat has seven digits on
each paw.
The Guinness World
Records website con-
firms her claim. It names
a 28-toed Canadian cat,
Jake, as the world-record
holder with the same situ-
ation — seven toes on each
of its four paws.
“I really wish he had
one 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 fol-
low 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 pod-
casts, 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 Mur-
derer,” was received and
read on the podcast last
year. Along with telling the
story, the podcast shared
Thumbz’s Instagram han-
dle @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 post-
ing more, which gained
the attention of even more
followers. In addition, a
kitty litter company took
notice. PrettyLitter fea-
tured Thumbz in an ad
last year, she said. The ad
appeared on Instagram.
Hotchkiss said she is not
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Hermiston Mayor Dave Drotzmann speaks with Hermiston City Manager Byron Smith on a
tour of the new Hermiston City Hall building. On the evening of Feb. 28, 2022, Smith led the
tour. He introduced local officials to the building, which is under construction.
School exclusion day for Morrow
County is Wednesday, April 20
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Thumbz has 28 toes — seven on each paw. His owner, Charly
Hotchkiss of Pendleton, said that ties the Guinness World
Record for most toes on a cat.
hermiston herald
The Morrow County School District
was among a handful of Oregon districts to
push back the annual school exclusion day.
The Oregon Health Authority in a press
release reported the deadline for parents to
provide vaccine records of students was
Feb. 16, except for seven counties, includ-
ing Morrow County.
“We’re trying to get to 100% on this,”
Dirk Dirksen, Morrow County School Dis-
trict superintendent, said. By setting back
the day, he said, he feels families have
more time to get necessary vaccinations.
OHA allowed local public health
authorities to set alternate dates this year
by which parents must provide vaccine
records for their children or be excluded
from school. County health departments
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
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.
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
He often sits on his
cat tower and stares out
the window, looking for
squirrels in the trees.
“He’s an old man now,”
Hotchkiss said.
That’s fine with her.
The cat has, after all, lived
with Hotchkiss in New
Mexico, Eugene, Cali-
fornia, Hawaii and now
Pendleton.
Thumbz weighs 15.7
pounds. She said he might
be a Maine coon or an
American bob tail; 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 pet-
ted, 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 particu-
lar about his cat food, he
will eat cream cheese off
of Hotchkiss’s fingers.
She also said she likes
to think about the jobs of
which he might be capa-
ble. Perhaps, she said,
laughing, he could be a
rodeo clown at Round-Up
or even find a company
ready for the cat to give it
“two thumbs up.”
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are asking families to update the record at
school or day care when the child gets their
shots.
Under state law, all children in public
and private schools, preschools, Head Start
and certified child care facilities must have
up-to-date documentation on their required
immunizations or have an exemption.
The COVID-19 vaccine is not currently
required for children.
Children must have immunizations for
the following diseases, or an exemption, to
be in compliance with state school immu-
nization laws: diphtheria, tetanus, pertus-
sis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepati-
tis B, hepatitis A, varicella and Hib.
If a child’s school and childcare vacci-
nation records are not up to date on their
county’s exclusion day date, the child will
be sent home.
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