Hemingway’s polydactyl cats

More than one artist fell in love with these creatures and looked for inspiration for work in them. One of them was Ernest Hemingway. He is the author of the well-known saying “One cat just leads to another”. He really kept a large number of cats (in some periods even up to 60!) and admired them particularly for their independence which is the same reason why I admire them. You would recognize his cats with a closer look. They had six or even more fingers on their frontpaws and some of them even on their backpaws – they were polydactyl. Even nowadays, you can hear that cats with more fingers are called Hemingway’s cats. They are also called mittens because the sixth finger reminded people of a thumb.

Hemingway got his first six-fingered cat called Snowball from a sea captain who gave it to him as a rarity. It is said that these cats with more fingers got to America from Europe in the colonial era and their strange feature should help them to keep balance on the boat deck. But who knows if that’s true. But sailors always had cats on board, for luck and to catch mice. They believed that mainly the six-fingered cats bring luck. Considering the high number of cats Hemingway kept, it is no surprise that this abnormality spread quickly in the colony. All Hemingway’s cats have the gene for polydactyly but it is physically visible only in approximately half of them.

In Hemingway’s house in Key West on Florida which has been open to public since 60s, you can still see the offsprings of his cats that live in the residence (which is nowadays a museum) and Hemingway’s last will says that they have to be taken care of well. If you visit Heminway’s home at any time, do not forget to have a look at his garden, too. Each cat that lived in the villa has its memorial stone there.

It is a tradition to name cats here after famous people or film characters. Therefore, you can meet Charlie Chaplin, Pablo Picasso or Sophia Loren here. The breeding here is really careful. Most cats are neutered, only about two litters are born every year here.

Visiting this place must be undoubtedly interesting. If it was only for the high number of cats you can see here. Has any of you visited this house? Share what it was like.