LONG LIVE THE CAT

Mathilda III, the famous long-haired cat who ruled the Algonquin Hotel in New

York is with us no more. After a seven-year stretch of greeting guests at reception and ensuring that the crab cakes were prepared just so, Mathilda III retired to Duluth (where Bob Dylan comes from), where she spent her last year “being a cat” as the New York Post put it. Her position at the Algonquin — which has had a cat-inresidence since the 1920s — has been taken by a marmalade tabby named Billy.

South Africa has its own legendary hotel cat in the form of Skabenga at the Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga Rocks. Skabenga, pictured below, arrived unannounced sometime in the past and enjoyed the handouts from kind guests and staff. Like most opportunistic individuals of his kind, he made himself smartly at home and has been greeting guests ever since. There was a short intake of breath when he disappeared some years back but was later returned unharmed — no questions asked. Like Mathilda III at “The Gonk”, Skabenga’s biography has been written and he also has a Facebook page and receives fan mail.

● algonquinhotel.com

● oysterboxhotel.com