Hemingway's six-footed cat

It is only one time to get a cat, and it will not stop. This was the opinion of Ernest Hemingway, a well-known writer and Nobel Prize laureate. Indeed, he was very fond of cats, and at home, on the estate on the island of Key West, he built a real cat's paradise. His pets could walk, where they only wanted, they received good food and lived at ease. But the writer at home was not exactly ordinary cats. In this article we will talk about them. So, what kind of cats are called Hemingway cats?

Snowball

This kitten was given to the famous writer by his friend, Captain Stanley Dexter, back in 1935. The pet had to bring Hemingway luck, because according to an old legend, common among sailors, such cats are real talismans. They were taken with them on long voyages captains of ships, then to necessarily return back.

Snowball (as Hemingway called his kitten) had six fingers on each foot. This little fluffy lump grew, became an adult cat and for many years lived side by side with the famous writer, having opened in his life a new era.

A Few Words about the Feline Feature

Polydactyly is an anatomical abnormality. It is characterized by the fact that on the legs of the animal there are more fingers than is prescribed by nature. In normal cats have five fingers on the front legs, four - in the rear. With polydactyly, the number of fingers is increased, and the paw at the same time looks unusual, strange.

It is known that polydactyly is inherited. That is, if a cat has this deviation, with 50% probability it will be passed on to its offspring. Another hypothesis of the occurrence of polydactyly is that it can be caused by violations of embryonic development. Unfortunately, what factors can lead to such a deviation has not yet been established.

No inconvenience, however, this feature does not cause cats. It does not affect the behavior of animals either. If desired, the owners of such an unusual kitten can go to the veterinary clinic, where the extra fingers are simply removed surgically. But Ernest Hemingway of such manipulations with his pupils, of course, did not.

Cat's paradise

As already mentioned above, a few years later in the writer's house there were still animals. At Snezh there was a love with the fine representative of its or his kind, on light there were kittens. Some of them were also six-fingered. All of them remained to live in the estate of Hemingway.

Years went by, the number of cats grew. By the end of the Second World War, twenty writers had already lived in the writer's house. And Hemingway loved all of them.

"I miss you"

Everyone knew about the warm affection of the talented writer to his pets. And journalists in those days repeatedly visited the estate to see how Ernest Hemingway and his extraordinary cats live. Entertaining materials, individual pictures and even whole photo-reports appeared in the press. And, of course, everyone was interested in the same six-fingered cat Hemingway - Snowball. His pictures were printed next to the master's photos.

I got another press from the Hemingway cat. It was described the case when the writer had to shoot his pet, which was hit by a car. The animal was very tormented, so the master had no other choice. That day journalists came to the house to a famous writer by chance, and it so happened that they found tears in front of this life-seeing man ...

Later in a letter to his close friend Hemingway wrote about what he wanted to say to his departed pet, how much he misses him. "I had to shoot people, but I never experienced such severe pain as when I was holding you, broken, dying, but purring ..."

Fifty-seven Hemingway cats

The following fact is interesting. In 1957, fifty-seven representatives of the feline lived in the writer's estate. Hemingway's first six-fingered cat , Snowball, was an ancestor for many of them.

To the house the writer's wife ordered to attach the tower. She believed that Hemingway would be able to write in solitude, without being distracted by anything. However, the writer himself continued to create in his bedroom, and the tower was given to cats who freely settled on the first floor.

His love for fluffy pet animals Ernest Hemingway carried through all his life. And, of course, this strong attachment could not not affect the writer's work.

Cats in the work of Hemingway

At the very beginning of his writing, Ernest Hemingway created a short story in which one of the main characters was a cat. It was just three pages of a story about two Americans, a married couple staying at an Italian hotel. The wife sees a cat sitting in the rain outside the window, and goes downstairs to pick him up in the room. The owner of the hotel sends for the girl a maid with an umbrella. The cat, however, has already gone somewhere, and the girl returns to her husband's room. There between the spouses there is a small skirmish, but the room soon comes with a maid holding a cat in her arms. "The owner asked you to convey," she says. And this is all that Hemingway wanted to say to the reader. "Cat in the Rain" - this is the name of this story, which makes people think about people, their relationships, their characters and actions.

The novel "Islands in the Ocean", published by the writer's widow after his death, tells the story of the appearance of the cat Boyce in the house of Hemingway. His Ham picked up his favorite restaurant with a kitten. This cat Hemingway used in the house a privileged position: he could get to the owner in bed and eat with him from one bowl. It is said that the writer's pet adopted from him and love of sweet tropical fruits.

Hemingway House Museum and its inhabitants

After the death of the writer, his house on the island of Key West became a museum. And all the cats that lived there before, remained in the usual place. Ernest Hemingway himself bequeathed his pets and their descendants an indefinite content. In this case, cats should be allowed to be where they want, to give attention, they should be tasty to feed.

For fluffy residents of the museum equipped with automatic feeders, which they can attend at any time of the day or night, and drinking fountains. One of these fountains was personally made by Ernest Hemingway, having adapted for this purpose an old urinal from the neighboring bar. And he still works, cats use it.

At the museum there are more than fifty representatives of the cat family, about forty of them are descendants of the same Snowball, they have pronounced polydactyly. At the same time, because of their free crossing, there are very interesting variations in the manifestation of the feature-seven and eight fingers on the front legs. Color these cats also have very different, there are also descendants of the black and white handsome Boyce.

On the island there is also a cat's cemetery, where the residents of the museum and the pupils of Ham himself are buried "gone to the rainbow". Each small tombstone contains the names and dates of birth and death of cats.

National treasure of America

Several years ago, the inhabitants of the Ernest Hemingway home-museum were threatened. According to the law of the State of Florida, to which the island of Key West belongs, at home each citizen can contain no more than four cats.

The Department of Agriculture filed a lawsuit against the administration of the museum. The statement stated that the content of such a number of cats is illegal, as well as demonstration to their visitors for money. The lawsuit lasted for several years, but the staff of the museum defended their pets. Now the cats living on the territory of Ernest Hemingway's house are considered the national treasure of America and are officially protected by law.

How to communicate with cats Hemingway?

Come to his house museum on the island of Key West, Florida. Here you can not only learn about the life of a famous writer and join his work, but also get acquainted with the numerous cats, descendants of Snezhk, who settled with Ham in the distant 1935.

Museum cats are accustomed to the attention of visitors. They behave calmly, many even climb on their knees to the guests and begin to purr.

And another interesting fact about cats is Ernest Hemingway. In life, he called his pets so that their nicknames contained a consonant "C". And after the death of the writer of cats began to be called in honor of celebrities. Now on the island live Audrey Hepburn, Charlie Chaplin, Sophia Loren and Pablo Picasso.

Ernest Hemingway loved cats. They accompanied his life and creativity, helped to find inspiration and tune in to the working wave. The writer took care of his furry pets, and they answered him with a purring purr. What kind of cats did Ernest Hemingway like? The answer is simple: he loved everyone, even a little special.