Hemingway’s Six-Toed Cats

If you visit Key West, Florida, you can tour the residence where Ernest Hemingway wrote and found inspiration. You may also come across 50 or so six-toed cats meandering inside the house and grounds. These polydactyl cats are all descendants of a cat the novelist received as a gift in the 1930s. Recently, the USDA has stepped in, saying the cats need to be caged. But there’s no need. Hemingway made sure his cats were protected: He built high walls and provided them with an enclosed habitat where they could freely live and breed. The USDA should know better. Never go against Papa!