Hemingway’s six-toed cats (5 photos)

"I didn't like cats at all before, I thought they were from the devil, but then I got old and..."

A writer-warrior, a lover of real manly pastimes, such as rhinoceros hunting or giant tuna fishing, Hemingway was by no means known as a "cat person" - until his friend Captain Stanley Dexter brought home a strange kitten, on whose velvet paws there were six toes instead of the usual five.





The kitten, named Snowball, won Hem's heart - first with his unusualness, and then with all the feline charms of this tribe. Was it because of this six-fingered cat and the abundant feline offspring that followed that Ernest was nicknamed "Papa" in Key West?



The family of six-fingered, or even seven-fingered little predators, traces its lineage back to 1935. In 1957, 57 animals already lived in a special room at his villa: 43 adult cats and 14 kittens.





Ernest Hemingway lived in Key West for ten years, and owned a small estate until he fired his last shot without a farewell note in 1961. He was broken by a serious illness and an even more deadly treatment - electroshock therapy.



And the fame of non-standard cats over the years has almost equaled the fame of their owner...