Cat Stories | Top Cat Choice

Cat Stories

Musicians

2 articles

Freddie Mercury and Delilah

Freddie Mercury lived with multiple cats throughout his life and famously dedicated a song to one of them. The story of Delilah, the tortoiseshell who appeared in his final years and inspired a track on Innuendo, the Queen's last studio album with Mercury.

Ariana Grande's rescue cats

Ariana Grande lives with multiple rescue cats alongside her rescue dogs. The pattern of her adoptions, the species and ages, and what her advocacy has changed in the public conversation about cat rescue in the US.

Actors & TV

1 articles

Vivien Leigh and Boy, the Siamese who slept on the set of A Streetcar Named Desire

During the 1950 shoot of A Streetcar Named Desire, Vivien Leigh brought Boy, her Siamese cat, to the set. He was a steady anchor through her bipolar crises and a documented fixture of Hollywood's golden age.

Athletes

1 articles

Athletes and their cats

Serena Williams named her cat Karueein in a GQ interview. Roger Federer mentioned his household cats in Vogue. The documented cases of elite athletes living with cats are few, and the pattern is consistent.

Writers

3 articles

Colette, the French writer who turned her Chartreux cats into literature

French writer Colette spent her life surrounded by cats. Her real Chartreux, called simply La Chatte, inspired Saha, the feline lead of her 1933 novel. Here is what can be verified about her cats and her books.

T. S. Eliot and the real cats behind Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

T. S. Eliot's cat book, published in 1939, grew out of private letters to the children of his Faber colleagues. Macavity, Mungojerrie, and the rest were real cats before they were musical characters.

Hemingway's polydactyl cats at Key West

Ernest Hemingway received a polydactyl kitten from a ship captain in 1935. Nearly a century later, the Hemingway Home and Museum in Key West houses 60+ descendants, half of them six-toed. The genetics, the cultural history, and what it tells us about cat populations.

Historical Figures

2 articles

Winston Churchill and Jock, the ginger cat written into the will of Chartwell

In 1962, John Colville gave Churchill a ginger cat with white feet and a white bib named Jock. The former prime minister's wishes turned the presence of a cat like that at Chartwell into a permanent condition, kept by the National Trust to this day.

Theodore Roosevelt and Slippers

December 1906, the White House. Slippers, a gray polydactyl cat with six toes on each front paw, falls asleep in the middle of the rug during a diplomatic reception and forces ambassadors and their wives to walk around him. Roosevelt lets it happen.

Artists

1 articles

Andy Warhol's twenty-five Sams

Before the Campbell's soup cans, Andy Warhol self-published a small book of lithographs about his cats. The house on Lexington Avenue held more than twenty of them, almost all named Sam.

Politicians

1 articles

Abraham Lincoln and Tabby

In 1861, Secretary of State William Seward gave the newly inaugurated president two tabby kittens. One was named Tabby. Lincoln fed him with a fork at official dinners, to the dismay of Mary Todd and half the cabinet.

Guides

1 articles

Caracat

A hybrid between Caracal and Abyssinian, the Caracat is one of the most extreme wild-cat hybrids in active breeding. Not recognized by major US registries, legal status varies by state, and ownership comes with veterinary, behavioral, and ethical challenges most buyers underestimate.

Names

1 articles

Complete guide

Cat Names: How to Choose the Best One (and the Most Popular in 2026)

It may look like your cat ignores its name, but research has shown it can tell its name from other words. How to pick one your cat learns fast, the mistakes to avoid, and a broad list of popular cat names in the US in 2026.