How many cats does Martha Stewart have?

We don't know how many cats Martha Stewart has today (but it might be 2 Bengal cats) at this time 😒😢, but we do know that she has had, over the past 40 years, at least 20 cats. Martha Stewart has also adopted many other animals over this time including two dozen dogs, canaries, parakeets, ponies, donkeys, 10 horses, goats, sheep, guineafowl, turkeys, geese and 10 chinchillas. She is clearly a big fan of animals and likes to live with and care for them.

We do know that she has at least 2 cats at the moment because today, October 12, 2022, we can report that Martha Stewart has expanded her feline family. On her Instagram channel, she reported on Tuesday that she has welcomed two Bengal cats to her farm menagerie. One of them she has called Kipling. She describes Kipling as "curious" and a "mischievous feline!".

Martha's 2 new Bengal cats Oct 2022. Photos: Martha Stewart.

She said that they are acclimatising to their new surroundings which is a farm and therefore I would suggest good surroundings because they can go outside safely (I hope) and enjoy things. She said that her Bengal cats are "adventuresome, very fast and devious". The "devious" reference is probably to their ability to escape any confinement. In July, 6 of her pet peacocks were killed by coyotes in broad daylight, she said.

Her animal menagerie is possible because her estimated wealth today is around $400 million, down from a high of $2 billion at her wealthiest. The reduction in her wealth was due to a criminal conviction after a charge of nine counts of securities fraud and obstruction of justice.

My reading of the situation is that it was quite a minor crime relatively speaking as she was alleged to have gotten inside business information in order to avoid over $45,000 in stock losses.

She appears to have made a bad judgement over a relatively minor issue which cost her around $1 billion at the end of the day but in leaving herself with 400 million she's not going to starve at the age of 81.

She has the means to look after a lot of animals and good for her. We don't know how many cats she had or has at any one time, but she's been through some tragedies.

RELATED POST: 123 celebrated ailurophiles (cat lovers).

Martha and her late Princess Peony a calico Persian. Image: TMZ composite.

News media on Monday, 4 April 2022 reported that Martha Stewart was mourning the death of one of her cats, a beautiful calico Persian, after she was mistaken as an intruding animal by her four pet dogs. The Persian cat concerned was called Princess Peony. She was about 12 years of age.

At the time Stewart said: "Burying the beautiful and unusual Princess Peony. the four dogs mistook her for an interloper and killed her defenseless little self. I will miss her very badly. RIP beauty"

It does seem a little odd that her dogs mistook a resident Persian cat as an intruder as stated. Apparently, they lived together for several years. Martha's love of animals resulted at one time in her having 25 dogs and 20 cats in and around her home.

There is a hint on the TMZ website that Princess Peony died for some other reason other than as stated. I guess we'll never know. One possibility for the attack by dogs on a resident cat is that the cat was bathed completely which removed her natural oils and therefore her body scent. 

As dogs and cats identify others through their scent, it is plausible to suggest that the dogs concerned no longer recognised Princess Peony and attacked her as a stranger as a result.

It's an example, if I am right, that it is normally unwise to bathe a cat in multi-animal homes. It is probably fair to say that Persian cats are more often bathed than other cats because of their long fur which needs to be kept in good condition to prevent it matting.