I’m a dog guy. I love dogs
and I’ve had dogs nearly all of my life.
But nine years ago I brought
in a feral kitten whose siblings had been poisoned by a cat-hating neighbor.
Previously, I hated cats and loved when my late dog Duchess would chase them from my yard.
Previously, I hated cats and loved when my late dog Duchess would chase them from my yard.
But the feral kitten we named
Kit won my heart. She has become my constant companion
around the house.
While raising the kitten I
thought of some of my favorite writers who loved cats, such as Ernest Hemingway
(seen in the above photo), Mark Twain and Raymond Chandler (seen in the below
photos). I’m still a dog guy, but now I know why they loved cats.
Ronnie Casey at
redbluffdailynews.com offers a piece on Hemingway, Twain and other famous men who loved
cats.
With Father’s Day tomorrow,
it might be just a perfect time to recognize a number of men who challenge the
female stereotype of “crazy-cat” person.
One of the most macho cat
lovers that ever existed was writer Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961). He was an
American author, journalist, and winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the
Nobel Peace Prize for his work. Famously known for his hard drinking, adventurous
lifestyle ways of deep-sea fishing, hunting, boxing, and bullfighting, he was
definitely a pussycat when it came to the felines.
This brawny man known for his
love of big game hunting truly enjoyed returning home to his little “purr
factories” as he so fondly called them. However, the one feline in Hemingway’s
life who undoubtedly was the most special was Snowball. The popular story on
how Hemingway acquired Snowball is that a ship’s captain, Stanley Dexter, gave
the author the six-toed while ball of fluff after he admired the cat’s
polydactyl condition. Hemingway believed men should be “macho” so he did not
hesitate in giving Snowball the chance to sow his wild oats with as many “loose
and free-lovin” female cats as he could find. Due to those glorious unions,
each of the 40-50 polydactyl “Hemmingway cats” that still live on the property
of the Hemingway Home and Museum in Key West, Florida, are presumed to be
descended from Snowball’s adventurous ways.
You can read the rest of the
piece via the below link:
You can also read my Crime Beat column
on the kitten killers and my cat via the below link:
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