Buzz
The internet has revolutionized the way we share information, and cats have become some of its biggest stars. Felines like Maru, Lil Bub, Grumpy Cat, and Colonel Meow have captured hearts worldwide with their quirky personalities and distinctive looks. Others, such as Mayor Stubbs of Talkeetna, Alaska, and Tama, the famous stationmaster cat from a Japanese railway, have risen to fame far beyond their local communities.
However, cats were already beloved long before the web came to be. Some achieved feats that were remarkable even by human standards, while others simply captured the imagination of the public. These cats—adventurers, wartime icons, seers, and political figures—gained renown primarily through the power of print media.
1. MATT CONQUERS THE MATTERHORN.
Standing at 14,692 feet, the Matterhorn presents one of the most challenging and iconic climbs in the Alps. This legendary Swiss/Italian peak is often called the Mountain of Mountains. But in August 1950, an unlikely climber—a tiny kitten—managed to scale it all on his own.
The kitten, known as Matt, was described by fellow climbers as a black-and-white ball of fluff about 10 months old. According to the mountaineers who shared his extraordinary journey with news outlets afterward, Matt lived at the Hotel Belvedere on the Hornli Ridge, a popular spot for alpinists before they began their climbs. (However, other reports suggest Matt was actually owned by Josephine Aufdenblatten of Geneva.)
It’s unclear how Matt began his ascent, but it’s possible he followed a group of climbers who either didn’t notice the tiny feline or thought he would turn back once he was out of sight. Regardless, by the end of the first day, he reached Solvay Hut and rested there with other climbers. On the second night, Matt made it to the “shoulder” of the peak, where climbers spotted him. When they reached the summit, they were surprised to find the brave kitten had already arrived. According to The Times of London, the climbers shared their meal with the fearless feline adventurer, while UPI reported that Matt sauntered down to an Italian hut to snack on mice.
The climbers took Matt with them on their descent, and he was later escorted back to the Hotel Belvedere by another group of climbers. There, the kitten resumed his hotel life. On the 25th anniversary of his climb, The Times of London reprinted the story and received a letter from one of the climbers who had returned Matt to the Belvedere. He confirmed the details, but added one correction—he remembered Matt as being just 4 months old at the time.
2. NAPOLEON FORECASTS THE WEATHER.
Napoleon, a short-haired Persian cat, had a peculiar gift: he could sense impending rain, and his predictions were remarkably accurate—at least, that’s what his owner, Mrs. Fanny Shields of Baltimore, claimed. Mrs. Shields noticed that Napoleon typically slept on his side, but whenever rain was on the way, he would sleep on his stomach with his forelegs outstretched and his head nestled between them.
In 1930, during a prolonged dry spell in Baltimore, Mrs. Shields decided to test Napoleon’s weather skills. The city had gone without rain for 43 days, and meteorologists forecasted the dry streak would continue. However, on his ninth birthday, Napoleon assumed his “rain’s coming” position, prompting Mrs. Shields to call the local newspaper. She confidently predicted that rain would fall, and sure enough, Baltimore experienced a brief but steady rainstorm that afternoon.
Over the years, newspapers in the area reported on Napoleon’s rain predictions, which were almost always accurate. When he passed away, the Baltimore Sun even printed an obituary for the famous weather-predicting feline.
3. ALBERT GOES MIA
Albert was no ordinary cat—he had a job to do. Stationed at the Wrenthorpe Yard in England, he was responsible for keeping the rat population under control. But, like many creatures (humans included), Albert occasionally found the allure of travel more enticing than his duties. Soon, newspapers around the world began to cover Albert’s adventures as he made his way far from his post.
In October 1933, London’s Morning Post reported that Albert, the famous rat-catching cat, had hopped aboard a freight train and disappeared. Despite a search by railway workers along the track, Albert wasn’t seen again until nearly a year later, in August 1934, when he was found hunting vermin in a railway yard in Doncaster
After being spotted on a rhubarb farm, Albert returned to Wrenthorpe just before Christmas in 1934, this time on his own. He resumed his rat-catching duties, as reported by the Montreal Gazette in March 1935, although the paper remained skeptical. “How long this newfound virtue will last is anyone’s guess,” the newspaper noted.
By 1937, Albert was still residing in Wrenthorpe, and the yard remained rat-free, according to the Adelaide Advertiser from South Australia. Perhaps he had grown tired of his adventures by then.
4. FÉLICETTE MAKES HISTORY AS THE FIRST CAT IN SPACE.
Eilemaa, via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 4.0
Félicette, a petite black-and-white feline, was far from a conventional astronaut. Yet, she made history by venturing beyond Earth’s atmosphere before most humans, following only a handful of Soviet cosmonauts and American astronauts.
On October 19, 1963, the Glasgow Herald reported that France had successfully launched a cat into space using one of their Veronique rockets from a Sahara launch site. Equipped with electrodes to track her physiological responses, Félicette was housed in a small capsule that detached at the rocket’s peak, allowing her to parachute safely back to Earth. She was recovered alive by French scientists.
Félicette was selected from a group of more than a dozen cats trained by the Centre d'Enseignement et de Recherches de Médecine Aéronautique (CERMA). Her training involved enduring long hours in confined spaces and being tested in compression chambers and a centrifuge to simulate space conditions.
Ultimately chosen for the mission, Félicette spent several minutes in microgravity before parachuting back down. Electrodes implanted in her brain transmitted vital data to scientists on the ground, helping advance the French space program. She was even commemorated with her own postage stamps in recognition of her contribution.
Félicette remains the only known cat to have traveled to space and returned safely, though she was sadly euthanized months later for further study. A second French feline astronaut also made it into space but did not survive due to retrieval complications. In 2013, Iran announced plans to send a cat into space, but no launch has taken place to date.
5. FAITH SAVES HER KITTEN DURING THE BLITZ.
During World War II, one British cat became famous for her bravery when she saved her kitten amidst the chaos of the Blitz. Faith, a tabby cat residing at St. Paul’s Church on Watling Street, had a kitten named Panda, who was black and white. On September 6, the day before the German air raids began, Faith moved Panda from their cozy perch on the upper floor to a safer “hidey hole” in the church’s basement, anticipating the coming danger.
On September 9, the church was bombed and destroyed. Had Faith and Panda remained on the upper floors, they would likely have perished. But Faith’s decision to relocate them to the basement saved their lives. A plaque mounted in the church’s sole remaining tower in 1948 read, “Four floors fell in front of her; fire, water, and ruin surrounded her,” yet she stayed calm and steadfast, waiting for help.
Faith lived for another eight years, returning to her duties as the church’s resident cat, though her original church had been reduced to rubble. Panda, meanwhile, became the beloved cat of a local care home. For her extraordinary courage, Faith was honored with a medal by the Greenwich Village Humane League in New York after her wartime actions were discovered.
6. KIDDO HIDES ABOARD THE AIRSHIP AMERICA.
Wikimedia Commons
Kiddo, the gray cat, never signed up to be an airship passenger, and by all accounts, he wasn’t thrilled about the idea. Just before the airship *America* departed from Atlantic City on a record-breaking journey across the Atlantic in 1910, Captain Walter Wellman and his crew decided to play a prank and smuggled the young feline aboard. Once Kiddo realized he was trapped, he began howling loudly. The crew attempted to lower him onto a nearby boat (aviation folklore even claims that the first wireless message sent from an aircraft was “Roy, come and get this goddam cat”), but rough seas made it impossible. Reluctantly, Kiddo was hauled back aboard the airship, stuck with his fate.
The navigator of the flight might have been pleased, as he had argued to keep Kiddo aboard for good luck. But luck wasn’t on their side after all—just 38 hours into the flight, the airship’s engine failed, and the *America* descended into the ocean. It took another 33 hours before the crew saw the *Trent*, a mail steamer, and managed to signal for rescue. All were saved, including Kiddo (who got lucky), but the airship drifted off to sea (not so lucky).
Although the *America* didn’t make it across the Atlantic, the crew—especially Kiddo—became famous. Kiddo was adopted by Mrs. Melvin Vaniman, wife of the ship's engineer, and spent several months touring with her and the *America*’s lifeboat. After Melvin Vaniman tragically lost his life during another Atlantic crossing attempt, Kiddo was put on display at Gimbel’s department store in New York. Eventually, he found a new home with Wellman’s daughter, Edith.
7. THE MUNICH MOUSER MOVES TO 10 DOWNING STREET
The tradition of British Prime Ministers owning cats dates back to the 1500s, when Cardinal Wolsey brought his cat along while serving as Lord Chancellor. However, it wasn’t until the 1920s that it became somewhat official, with a cat named Rufus—nicknamed Treasury Bill—taking up residence in 10 Downing Street. Since then, several Downing Street cats have earned their place in the spotlight, with some, like Wilberforce and Humphrey, gaining special recognition.
One notable cat from Downing Street was Neville Chamberlain’s feline companion, the Munich Mouser, also known as the Black Cat of Downing Street. When Chamberlain moved into 10 Downing Street in 1937, *LIFE* magazine referred to the Munich Mouser as a symbol of change for England, describing the large black cat slipping through the fence around the prime minister’s residence and lounging on a sunny windowsill. The Black Cat stayed at No. 10 even after the Chamberlains moved out and Winston Churchill’s family took over. Sadly, the cat passed away at the age of 7 in 1943.
This enigmatic feline captured the hearts of many, including Alice Newkirk from Northeast Harbor, Maine. When she read in the *New York Herald Tribune* that the Black Cat of Downing Street had passed, Newkirk wrote a letter to the editor, which was published in several newspapers. In her letter, she described the correspondence her own black cat, Phoebe, had shared with the Munich Mouser. Newkirk and Phoebe even sent a Christmas gift—a special can of cat food—to their pen pal, and in return, Mrs. Chamberlain thanked them for the gesture. Their gift was just one of many received by the Black Cat, which also enjoyed a whole fish that year, according to Newkirk.
8. POOLI SERVES IN IWO JIMA WITH THE USS FREMONT.
Wikimedia Commons
Ships in the U.S. Navy are often home to feline companions, known as ships’ cats. These mousers serve as both protectors of food supplies from rats and mice, and provide comfort and companionship to the sailors during their long voyages across the seas.
One such cat was Princess Papule, a kitten born on the Fourth of July in 1944 at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. She was brought aboard the USS Fremont by sailor James Lynch. Princess Papule, affectionately known as Pooli, traveled across the equator with the ship and participated in various naval battles in the Pacific Theater, including the Battle of Iwo Jima. However, according to her post-war owner, Pooli wasn’t exactly a brave war hero.
According to *The Los Angeles Times*, when battle stations were announced, Pooli would seek refuge in the mail room, curling up inside a mail sack for safety. As reported on July 4, 1959, on her 15th birthday, her crew considered tossing her overboard as the ship neared San Francisco, fearing she might be quarantined. However, Pooli was protected and allowed to return to the mainland.
A special photo published on Pooli’s 15th birthday depicted her in her wartime uniform, adorned with three service ribbons and four battle stars. A collection of images hosted by the U.S. Naval Institute also includes Pooli and numerous other ships' cats, alongside those rescued from battlefields during World War II.
9. THE AUDITORIUM THEATRE MOURNS MIKE, ITS MASCOT.
Mike became the unintentional official mascot of the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. In 1893, while escaping a political parade, the cat made her way into the historic theater during the same year that the theater hosted the pageant 'America' and the World’s Columbian Exposition took place in the city. A bellboy named her Mike, and when it became apparent that she intended to stay, she was given a small rug in her favorite resting spot.
Mike developed a reputation for being a fierce dog-hater, even attacking the dogs belonging to famous English stage stars such as Olga Nethersole and Mrs. Patrick Campbell. Despite her animosity toward dogs, these two stars, among other luminaries from the worlds of theater, dance, music, and opera, were honored to have the chance to pet the beloved theater cat. Mike’s obituary, published by the San Jose Evening News in 1903, even included these stars’ names. Mike also mingled with royalty, the Roosevelts, and other prominent figures of her time.
10. CLEMENTINE MAKES AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY.
In *The Incredible Journey*, two dogs and a cat embark on a perilous journey to reunite with their family, whom they believe have left them behind. The story, beloved by many, has been adapted into two films, but it remains a work of fiction.
However, sometimes truth mirrors fiction. In 1971, *The Gadsden Times* shared the incredible true story of Clementine, a cat who traveled over 1600 miles to find her family after they had moved away and unintentionally left her behind. The remarkable twist? She had never even visited their new home.
When Clementine’s family moved from Dunkirk, New York to Denver, they left her behind with a neighbor as she was expecting kittens. However, once she had weaned her litter onto solid food, she vanished. Four months later, her family was astonished to find Clementine at their new home in Denver. The unique cat, identifiable by her seven toes on each front paw, distinctive spots on her stomach, and a scar on her left shoulder, had traveled over 1600 miles to reunite with them.
Clementine’s story is not unique. Several other cats have embarked on similar journeys, driven by a desire to find someone, with no knowledge of where they were going. One report from France tells of a cat that traveled to find a family member stationed 75 miles and a mountain range away. Numerous other cats have returned to their homes from far-off places, sometimes hundreds of miles away.
The mystery of how Clementine found her family, despite having never been to their new home or traveling so far before, left scientists at Duke University puzzled. They speculated that extrasensory perception might be the answer to this phenomenon, which they named “psi-trailing.” To this day, no one has been able to explain how such a remarkable feat was possible, and the mystery remains unsolved.
