Hemingway And Me Are Cat Lovers

Some years ago, I visited Ernest Hemingway’s former home in Key West, Florida. The home is now a museum and as a Hemingway aficionado, I enjoyed seeing the home and the mementos of the late, great writer.

Roaming and lounging around the Hemingway home were numerous cats, many of them 6-toed cats, the descendants of Hemingway’s cats when he lived there. The cats were interesting, but at the time I was a dog lover and not fond of cats. 

But about 12 years ago a feral cat litter of kittens who made a home under my neighbors’ deck were poisoned, we suspect, by another neighbor that did not like cats. I was not a cat lover at the time, but I thought the kittens were cute and it pained me to watch them suffer and die one by one. 

The runt of the litter survived and my wife and I took her in. We named her Kit and she is a clever and amusing addition to our household. 

Although I remain a dog lover, and I still mourn my late dog Duchess (who hated cats), I’ve come to appreciate cats, just as Hemingway once did.

You can read my Crime Beat column on the kitten killers and how we took in Kit via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/01/kitten-killers-and-how-dog-guy-came-to.html 

Note: The above photos are of Hemingway's Key West home, a cat who lived in the home, and our cat Kit. The below photo is of me and my infant daughter Brittany and Duchess.