U.S. PRESIDENTS AND THEIR CATS! by Yvonne Saxon

 

 Of all the pets that have come with Presidents to the White House, I believe the cats have stolen the show! Martin Van Buren's tigers really did until Congress made him give them to a zoo, and Coolidge's lion cubs for a time, but the real stars were the domestic cats!

The first president to have a cat in the White House was Abraham Lincoln. Because the Lincolns left their dog in Springfield, Illinois when they moved to Washington, Secretary of State William Seward gave them two cats. Tabby and Dixie took up residence in August of 1861. Mary Todd Lincoln, when asked by a reporter about Lincoln's hobbies, commented with one word: cats. Lincoln was said to have quipped once that Dixie was smarter than all the members of his cabinet!

Rutherford B. Hayes and First Lady Lucy Hayes were given a Siamese cat in 1878 by the American Consul in Bangkok. Siam, according to records, was the first Siamese cat in the United States. Unfortunately she fell ill within nine months, and even though the President's personal physician was called in, his treatment of fish, oysters, cream, duck, and chicken didn't help, and she didn't recover.