Ernest Hemingway wrote amazing novels that are still considered classics to this day. Perhaps what inspired Ernest Hemingway to write was his love of cats.

According to the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum curator Dave Gonzalez, a local captain who regularly chatted with Hemingway on the nearby docks, gave the author a kitten from his six-toed cat named Snowball. The female cat’s name? Snowball Jr.

Sailors consider many-toed cats as extra luck, which is much-needed for those on the sea. As a result, many six-toed cats roaming around Hemingway’s home are descended from that original six-toed cat.

If you need inspiration to write, perhaps you should surround yourself with more cats. At the very least, you’ll be inspired to shove them off your keyboard or away from your monitor so you can actually use your computer.

To read more about Ernest Hemingway’s cats, click here.