Title Hemingway's Six-Toed Cat Snowball — The 50 Polydactyl Descendants at the Key West Museum and Their Deep Connection to Literature

The Genetics of Polydactyl Cats | The Current 50 Residents of the Hemingway Museum | The Cats That Changed Literary History

Key West, Florida, 907 Whitehead Street. The moment a tourist buys a ticket to the Hemingway Home and Museum and steps inside, they quickly notice something unusual. The brochures explain Hemingway's life and works. A first edition of The Old Man and the Sea hangs on the wall. The study features the actual typewriter he used. But right on top of that typewriter sits a cat. You might think it should be shooed away, but the staff doesn't mind at all. There are cats on the study sofa, cats on the bed, and cats in the garden. Everywhere you look, there are cats. About 50 of them, in fact. And if you look closely at their paws, you will see something fascinating: they have six toes.

A Gift Named Snowball

In the early 1930s, Ernest Miller Hemingway lived in Key West. At the time, he was already a massive star in the American literary world, having published The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms. He had purchased a Spanish-style mansion and settled in Key West with his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, spending his days writing and fishing in the Straits of Florida. Then, a gift arrived. A sailor friend, Captain Stanley Dexter, brought him a white cat. Its name was Snowball. Snowball had a unique trait: six toes on its front paws. A typical cat has five toes on its front paws and four on the back. Snowball had one extra on each front paw. Dexter was a sailor, and there was an old belief among seafarers: six-toed cats were better at keeping their balance on ships, better at catching mice, and, most importantly, brought good luck. They were believed to protect the ship from storms. Hemingway welcomed Snowball. And Snowball made the Key West mansion its home. The cat roamed Hemingway's study, the very room filled with the sound of his typewriter, where Death in the Afternoon was written and The Snows of Kilimanjaro was born.

The Science of Six Toes — This is Not a Defect

To understand why Snowball was special, we need to briefly delve into genetics. The medical term for a six-toed cat is polydactyl. In Greek, poly means many, and dactyl means digits or fingers. This trait is expressed by a single dominant gene. If one parent is polydactyl, about 50% of the kittens will be born with the same trait. The important thing is that this is not a defect. Polydactyl cats have the exact same lifespan and health as regular cats. In fact, some studies suggest their wider paws give them better balance. These broad polydactyl paws are sometimes affectionately called mitten paws. The cat with the most toes on record is Jake from Canada, who holds the Guinness World Record with a total of 28 toes, seven on each paw. There was a reason sailors considered these cats lucky. On a stormy deck, those wide, six-toed paws certainly provided better traction. It was not just a superstition; it was a belief born from observation.

Hemingway and His Cats — The Writer Who Lived with Thirty Felines

Hemingway loved cats. Truly and deeply. During his time in Key West, he lived with up to 30 cats. This is not an exaggeration. It is a fact repeatedly mentioned in the memoirs of his neighbors and the records of his visitors. His home was essentially a feline commune. Hemingway named his cats. And not just ordinary names—he started a tradition of naming them after famous people. World-renowned politicians, movie stars, and sports legends. This tradition continues today at the Hemingway Home and Museum. Among the current cats at the museum, you will find names like Ernie (Hemingway's own nickname), Babe (after Babe Ruth), Mark Twain, and Jimmy Buffett. But for Hemingway, cats were more than just pets. He once noted that a cat has absolute emotional honesty, pointing out that while human beings, for various reasons, may hide their feelings, a cat does not. The core of Hemingway's literature is the Iceberg Theory: only one-eighth of the iceberg is above water, while seven-eighths remain hidden below. It is about capturing maximum emotion with minimal words. Perhaps he saw this in cats—beings that reveal everything without explaining anything.

The Cat Beside the Typewriter — The Relationship Between Writing and Cats

If you look at photos of Hemingway's study, there is almost always a cat present. Next to the typewriter, on the desk, on top of piles of manuscripts. Was it not distracting? Quite the opposite. Hemingway said he wrote better when his cats were around. This is not just sentimentality. Modern psychology supports it. A cat's purring generates vibrations between 25 and 50 Hz. This frequency range is known to induce alpha waves in the human brain. Alpha waves represent the optimal state for creative thinking, where relaxation and focus occur simultaneously. Simply put, being with a cat actually aids creative work. It was not just Hemingway. Countless writers throughout history have written alongside cats. Mark Twain claimed he could not write without a cat. Edgar Allan Poe wrote much of his work with his cat, Catterina, sitting on his shoulder or lap. Fyodor Dostoevsky, Victor Hugo, T.S. Eliot, Raymond Chandler, Stephen King—all were passionate cat lovers. Is all this a coincidence? Probably not. Cats provide writers with the two things they need most: solitude and companionship. A cat does not talk to you. It does not demand explanations. But it ensures you are not alone in the room. During the long hours of writing, it becomes a presence that shares the silence.

Snowball's Legacy — A Gene Spanning 90 Years

Snowball passed away a long time ago. The exact date was not recorded. Hemingway also passed away in 1961. Long after he had left Key West, Snowball's descendants remained in the mansion. The mansion became a museum, and the cats stayed. The museum did not kick them out; instead, they began caring for them meticulously, knowing that these cats were Hemingway's living legacy. Today, about 50 cats live at the Hemingway Home and Museum. Roughly half of them have the polydactyl trait. The rest have a normal number of toes but still carry the polydactyl gene from Snowball's bloodline. All the cats receive regular check-ups from a veterinarian, are spayed or neutered, and have their health closely monitored. The museum staff even includes a dedicated cat caretaker who looks after them every day. These cats roam freely throughout the entire museum. They sleep on Hemingway's bed, sit in front of his typewriter, and take afternoon naps by the pool. They remain unfazed even when tourists come up to take their pictures. Just like Snowball did 90 years ago, they know this place belongs to them.

What Even a Hurricane Could Not Defeat

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the southern United States. Key West, which was near Katrina's path, was battered by strong winds and heavy rain. The Hemingway museum had to decide what to do with the cats. An evacuation order was issued. The staff debated whether to evacuate with the cats or leave them at the museum. Moving 50 cats was practically a massive logistical challenge. The decision was to stay. Some staff members remained behind to protect the cats. As the hurricane passed, the cats and the staff weathered the storm together inside the museum building. Remember why Snowball was given to Hemingway by Captain Dexter in the first place? Because sailors considered the cats a symbol of good luck in storms. And these descendants truly survived the hurricane. After Katrina, the museum resumed normal operations, and all the cats were safe.

The Battle with the Federal Government — Protecting the Cats

The most dramatic chapter in the history of the Hemingway cats was not a natural disaster, but a battle with bureaucracy. In 2003, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) notified the Hemingway Museum that because they were exhibiting the cats, they needed to obtain a zoo license and follow relevant regulations under the Animal Welfare Act. The museum objected. These cats were not exhibition animals. They were born in this house, they lived in this house, and this house was their home. To manage Hemingway's cats by the same standards as zoo animals was to completely misunderstand their nature. The legal battle dragged on for over a decade. Numerous hearings were held, and appeals were filed repeatedly. In 2013, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the USDA. Ultimately, the museum agreed to comply with certain regulations, resulting in improved medical facilities and better fencing for the cats. But the core remained unchanged. The cats still roam the museum freely. They sleep in Hemingway's bed and sit next to his typewriter. Not even the federal government or the courts could stop that.

Beyond Key West — The Geography of Polydactyl Cats

As the Hemingway cats became famous, interest in polydactyl cats grew. There is an interesting fact about them: their distribution is geographically skewed. They are particularly common along the East Coast of North America, especially in and around Boston, and in Wales in the UK. Is this a coincidence? Researchers believe it aligns perfectly with the routes of sailors. Sailors, who considered polydactyl cats lucky, brought them on their ships, spreading the gene at every port of call. Boston was a major port for Atlantic trade, and Wales is home to a concentration of port cities on the west coast of Britain. Key West was also a crucial port connecting the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Cats traveled the world on ships, spreading their genetics. Captain Dexter, who gifted Snowball to Hemingway, was part of that very flow. The genes of these cats, sailing with luck on their side, were passed from port to port, creating the distribution we see today.

The Typewriter Has Stopped, But the Cats Remain

Hemingway left this house in 1939. After meeting his third wife, Martha Gellhorn, he moved to Cuba, and later to Idaho. He packed his typewriter. He packed his fishing rods. But he left the cats behind. This might sound cruel. However, from another perspective, the cats already belonged to the house. Just as Hemingway once belonged to Key West, the cats belonged to Key West. If Hemingway was a transient being, the cats were meant to stay. And that is exactly what happened. Hemingway moved to Cuba, to Paris, to Africa, to Idaho. In his twilight years, unable to write anymore, he took his own life in 1961. His typewriter was placed inside a glass case at the museum. His novels became classics of world literature. And Snowball's descendants still live in that very house. Even at this moment, under the afternoon sun of Key West, a six-toed cat is probably sitting in front of Hemingway's typewriter. The sound of typing is no longer heard. But the cat does not mind. It knows that this spot belongs to it. Just like Snowball did, 90 years ago.