We dog people like to say Key West is a dog town, but that’s not exactly true. It’s a fine town for dogs, but in reality, cats own the place. If you think otherwise, either you’re not walking your dogs often enough or you just plain don’t know Key West cats.
Granted, it’s complicated, because cats are cats and Key West is Key West. You know what I mean. Complicated and quirky. One human family with cats.
Throughout the island, cat food and water bowls are set out on steps, curbs and sidewalks. Cats live under cars. On porches. In yards. Some are friendly. Some are not. Some are feral. Some aren’t. And some, it turns out, are a little of both.
Cats end up on the streets for many reasons. As a community with a large population of transient residents, people come and go. Some of them leave their pets behind and many of those pets are cats. It’s a big reason some end up homeless. Or with a home, but not an owner.
“In Key West,” my friend Colette explained, “some cats come with the house.”
We were sitting under an umbrella at Simonton Beach. At first, I didn’t quite understand. Did the cat convey like the light fixtures? That couldn’t be. It wasn’t.
Years ago, when she moved into her new home in Bahama Village, she noticed a cat hanging out in the yard. The next day, it was still there. She left out bowls of food and water, but soon, the former renter, who got the kitty at the SPCA, showed up to claim his cat. He took it home. But he kept coming back. One day, he came over with a bag of cat food and said, “I give up. He’s yours.” So she kept it.
I knew Colette was a dog person, so the cat acquisition surprised me.
“If you inherit a Key West cat,” she explained, “you have to keep it. If you don’t, it’s bad luck.” Bad luck? She shrugged. “It’s a Key West thing.”
She and her partner named it “TC” for “The Cat,” which stayed outdoors, only coming in when her partner was in the house. They both continued to care for TC until he met his untimely end under a termite tent.
That’s a Key West thing, too.
On the other side of Old Town, Sue and her husband discovered they inherited a cat when they moved into their new home and found a big blue Russian in the yard. The next-door neighbors explained it belonged to the former owners who couldn’t take the cat where they were going. Before leaving, the owners made the neighbors promise they would take care of it if the new owners wouldn’t.
Sue had a beagle, but as “Misha” was an outdoor cat, it wasn’t a problem with her or her dog. Misha took over the front porch and ruled the roost for many years until he began wandering farther and farther. Eventually, he was hit by a car.
When a cat ventures outdoors, there is always the risk that it may run into danger. In our conversation about Key West cats, Tiffany Dunsmore of the FKSPCA emphasized that the safest situation for a cat is living indoors. Outdoor cats run the risk of getting hit by cars, attacked by animals, eating poison or being somewhere they shouldn’t — like under a termite tent. Even if a cat stays outdoors on the property, they can be bullied out of their yard by feral cats who want to take over the territory. Many people don’t realize there is a difference between feral cats and “outdoor cats.” Ferals live outdoors but are basically wild animals that have no experience with people and no desire to be with them. Most are fiercely territorial. I call them “gangsta cats.”
The FKSPCA has a robust trap, spay and neuter plan that helps keep down the feral population. If you’ve ever seen a cat with a clipped ear, you’ll know it’s a feral that has been fixed and returned to the streets. “It’s inhumane to try and domesticate feral cats,” Dunsmore said. “Fixing and releasing them is the best way to manage the population.”
Outdoor cats are more diverse. Some are pets that live indoors but also roam around during the day. Others are yard cats, which stay on the property. Or they are “block cats,” which own a section of street and are often taken care of by several neighbors. Many are strays that may have been pets at one time, but have spent time on the streets and like it there.
If you feed them and gently get to know these cats, they might decide to hang out with you. They may even allow you to take them indoors at night and snuggle with you.
Both Sue and Colette continued to help cats after their “inherited cats” passed on. In Colette’s case, two more kitties showed up soon after TC died. Sue also found herself unexpectedly caring for cats when a neighbor at her old place called and pleaded for her to help rehome three cats that had shown up in the yard of her former home.
After getting the cats to the shelter, Sue and her husband ended up adopting one of the kittens, a bright orange cutie named “Sunkist.” Once again, she had taken on a cat that came with her home, even though she no longer lived there.
So, now you know. Cats come with houses here. If you don’t believe me, try asking someone who has lived in Key West for a while and moved a time or two. The last person I asked said her house came with five cats. And yes, she kept them all.
Because in a small town like this, we all have a responsibility to take care of each other. After all, we’re one human family. With cats.
(Do Have a Key West story to tell? Join Keys Weekly columnist and award-winning writer Janice Gary for Your Key West Stories: Writing Tales of Desires, Dreams and Life on the Rocks, a workshop at The Studios of Key West Nov. 7 and 14. www.tskw.org/classes)
