Mariel Hemingway (pictured) said Sands is an 'admirable person for trying to stay there and save the cats and the house,' but ultimately 'it's just a house'. You can visit the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, where the cat colony still thrives — and some of the kitties are descendants of Snowball, Hemingway’s original polydactyl. But these cats don’t care about none of that. This house is such an attraction in Key West that tourists lined up down the street to get inside. BUT his house has cats. Ernest Hemingway received a cat named Snow White in the 1930s. Today, the Hemingway House in Key West is the Hemingway Home and Museum. The Hemingway Home’s app lists each cat’s name, birthday, and favorite spot to hang out. 'Save the cats! Hemingway kept the all-white cat, named Snow White. The Sponsor a Pet program is handled by The Petfinder Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, to ensure that shelters and rescue groups receive donations in the easiest way possible. Just remember, you may pet the cats, play with the cats, and photograph the cats, but please don’t pick them up. Almost 50 cats happily roam the property — all descendants of Snow White. One story in the Fort Lauderdale News claims that there was a lot of alcohol involved, which, while impossible to verify, pretty much tracks. One ship captain actually gave a polydactyl kitty to the famous American author, Ernest Hemingway. OK Close this dialog He's dead. Most of them were probably there solely to pet the 6-toed cats and couldn’t give a hoot about Hemingway or recall anything he wrote, if they even read his novels in the first place. You can access the studio only via a set of steep stairs, and a gate blocks the doorway, but it’s worth climbing up to view this peaceful sanctuary if you can. Thank you for helping homeless pets! If you’re interested in visiting the Hemingway House, you can do so 365 days a year, including all holidays. Prices are $14 for adults, $6 for children ages 6-12 and children under 5 are free. About half of the cats have six toes, but all carry the polydactyl gene, meaning the “normal” cats can still produce six-toed kittens. So why the name Hemingway cats? You know what Ernest said, “This was a big storm and he might as well enjoy it. The famous Hemingway House cats In the 1930s, sea captain Stanley Dexter gave Ernest Hemingway a white six-toed cat … Well, not his cats exactly. Dead people don't really have cats. Hemingway named all of his pets after famous people, a tradition that’s still followed today. The Hemingway House Museum sits right in Irma's path. This sweetie was a gift from a sailing captain named Stanley Dexter, a colleague of Hemingway’s who, along with cats, loved the sea. This kitten was unique because she had six toes on her front paws. Fifty-four six-toed cats. In keeping with Hemingway’s own cat-naming tradition, they’re all named after famous people. 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