Pixieroo Adonis — a feline with opposable thumbs — will be among the attractions at Sunday's National Championship Cat Show in Castle Hill.
His owner Terry Goulden said the brown spotted pixie-bob male is a bobtail cat with polydactyl paws, which means both his front paws have an extra toe which forms a "thumb".
"[Author] Ernest Hemingway had a whole colony of polydactyl cats and a lot of ship cats were polydactyl," Mr Goulden said.
"One theory was they could use their extra thumbs to hold onto the rigging — or to disembowel cats."
A natural breed found on farms in the state of Washington and in the Cascade range in North America's west, pixie-bobs look like the eastern red bobcat but are fully domesticated with no bobcat genes.
"They are a very affectionate breed and the first pedigree breed that have been allowed to be polydactyl," Mr Gould said.
He and his partner John Greenway have been breeding pixie-bobs for three years and Australian mists for 20. They imported their pixie-bobs from England.
Three-year-old Pixieroo is being entered in the Entire Male (not desexed) category on Sunday.
He is already a grand champion within the Australian Cat Federation, the event organiser.
Other entrants in the show include: the hairless sphynx; hirsute Persian; sleek Siamese; the giant of the cat world, the Maine coon; and, for the first time in NSW, breeds newly arrived into Australia, including an American curl and the only Aphrodite's giant in the southern hemisphere.
Thirteen judges from six countries will assess the exhibits.
There will also be cat-related vendor stands and two international judges will run a Meet the Breeds session.
The Australian Cat Federation's National Championship Cat Show is on Sunday, June 8, 9am to 3.30pm, at the Hills Sports Stadium, Fred Caterson Reserve, Castle Hill.
Entry: $6, $3 (kids, pensioners), $15 (families).
