How do you describe a Charley? Especially one that acts like he's half parrot? Charley is the baby of the litter but you wouldn't know it now. He's also the only male besides Charles and he thinks it's his duty to make up for being in a female dominated household. Charley is a solid black American shorthair who is a genetic mutation. He has extra toes on his front feet. He's called a polydactyl. Ernest Hemingway, the writer, collected polydactyls. Having a thumb on each front paw can make life interesting for the parents of such a furbaby. One, you have to either declaw the kitty, which we didn't want to do or clip them and that is a royal effort to do. Especially with the one that turns under in between the thumb and the other claws. It's really hard to get at. So I had to start his clipping at a very early age. Actually, I started all of them as early as possible. But he was first and you would still think that I was torturing the poor child. He tries to bite *mama* and I tell him NO, but he has to keep trying, just like a child. Charley loves to play parrot, to act like a trapeze artist and he has gotten himself in more trouble than any of the other kitties combined. Charles and I keep reminding ourselves that it's a good thing we don't startle easily because we never know when Charley will take it into his head to jump onto our back or shoulder to ride. Here is a shot of Charley in the curtains his first year before I took them down. Charley LOOKS like he belongs to Izzy but they aren't related at all. And it was because he was so much like her that Izzy took to him so quickly. That hasn't lasted. With his sharp claws and childish/teenage antics, he has gotten on her last nerve. She's decided that she just doesn't like him most of the time. And yet, he treats her with proper respect by exposing his belly to her. That's when she just gets huffy and walks away. All he wants to do is play. He is another very vocal kitty with a wide variety of sounds. He's so vocal that he tends to keep us awake at night. And he has taken up one of Snowy's habits. He acts like he gets lost in the house and has to yell to be found. Having triplet's in the house has been really interesting and fun and hair-raising/pulling at the same time. If this has come even close to what a human set would be like? I think I would have been in the looney bin by now. Here are some more of our favorite Charley pictures: Main page