Winged Cats

Every year or so there is on of those 'bizarre events' news stories on a so-called winged cat? So what is going on with these felines? Do they really have wings? First let's look at a few examples.

Henry David Thoreau investigated a cat that had wings that seemed to form each winter as a result of matted fur, and were shed in the spring. So from the beginning their were indications that the "wings" were made entirely from fur.

A cat was captured in Portland,Oregan with large wings, but again they fell off and seemed to be made only of matted fur.

This female cat lived in the builder's yard in Manchester.

A winged cat was drowned due to superstition (unconfirmed).

This cat in the Qingyan province was reported to literally sprout wings. The owner attributed this to stress from the lady cats being to demanding. The owner apparently cut one of the wings off! I hope for the cats sake that they were made up only of matted fur.

This cat from Tunceli can be seen on several videos.

Another winged cat, this one a stray, was also reported in turkey this year.

This long-haired white cat is another case of wings emerging with time.

These rather unconvincing "wings" are clearly the result of fur matting together.

• A cat with two "tails"
  

Some of the spurious causes suggest for winged cats are conjoined twins, pollution, hot weather and sexual harassment. The truth is somewhat more mundane.

Wings made only of matted fur require little explanation. But most cases of winged cats relate to cats with long loose fur covered flaps of skin. These may form on cats that have a condition called "feline cutaneous asthenia". (In humans the same disorder is called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome). These cats have skin that deforms when stretched such as during normal grooming. This is more likely to occur with long-haired cats.

So real cats with functional wings don't occur outside of fantasy or taxidermy (e.g. by Tina Resleure).

There are other winged cat pictures online where the time and place are not identified, such as:Gray cat, Orange cat, White cat.

A reported case of a "four eared" dog seems to have a similar cause, with the extra ears really just being matted hair.