The Hemingway House in Key West is an idyllic paradise for a family of cats who are descended from one called “Snowball” owned by the notorious writer himself.

According to the tour guides at the home, Hemingway, was pleased to get a six-toed cat, prized by sailors for their good luck on ships. He kept several of the cat’s offspring saying “One cat leads to another.”

The animals are now part of the attraction at the historic home in Key West where Hemingway wrote the final draft of “A Farewell To Arms.”

Since one cat wandered off property and was hit by a car in 2005, some animal rights groups have complained that enormous fences should be installed or that the animals be kept in cages. People magazine wanted us to get a group of the famous felines together for a portrait. Apparently they’d never heard the phrase “Like herding cats.”

We called up some tiger-tamers in Tennessee and they laughed at us when we said we needed to get several semi-feral cats lined up in a row for a picture. One of the managers of the Hemingway House got a good chuckle out of it, too. She told us the only time she’d ever seen them that close together was when they were all extremely hungry after a hurricane.

We didn’t get exactly the image we came for but the cats got a lot of extra treats out of the deal.

Read the full article in People here.

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