Florida Woman Leaves $2.5 Million Mansion, Inheritance To 7 Pet Cats

A wealthy Florida woman has passed away and has a very interesting stipulation in her final will: leave her inheritance and multimillion Tampa mansion to her seven pet cats.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Nancy Sauer passed away three days after she celebrated her 84th birthday on November 23, 2022. Since she had no more living family before her death, she made sure to pass on some of her vast wealth to her precious Persian cats.

Midnight, Snowball, Goldfinger, Leo, Cleopatra, Napoleon, and Squeaky are currently living in their late owner's mansion, which is valued at $2.5 million. Her will states that the 4,000-square-foot estate can only be sold until the last cat dies. The inheritance will cover their food, medical costs, grooming bills, and other necessities.

“She loved them so much,” Yana Alban, a friend of Sauer, told reporters.

The newspaper learned Sauer's husband, Ralph Sauer Jr., passed away in 1986. Sauer continued running the real estate development business alongside her son, Ralph Sauer III, until he died in 1999 at a "young" age. Following these tragedies, the widowed mother gave her love to her furry companions.

For the last six months, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay has been sending someone to check on the cats since they're not allowed to leave the estate. Reporters said a Hillsborough County probate judge ruled it would be best if the felines found forever homes.

Now these seven furry millionaires will are up for adoption, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay. They'll still keep a large chunk of change from the inheritance, but the amounts are still being sorted out.

“Cats shouldn’t be left by themselves in a big house," Sherry Silk, executive director of the Humane Society, said. "I am going to personally make sure that we can keep as many together as we can and that they go to the perfect house.”

Friends and neighbors remembered Nancy Sauer as a "proud mother, businesswoman, fashionista," and, most notably, a "cat lover."

Such occurrences may not be so strange, at least in Florida. In 2021, one of the wealthiest animals in the world put his $31 million mansion up for sale.