South Tampa cats left inheritance to go up for adoption after care concerns following owner’s death

TAMPA, Fla. - Seven ‘wealthy’ South Tampa cats are looking for forever homes after their owner's dying wish for them to be cared for after her passing wasn't being met. 

For many of us, our pets are like family. That couldn’t be truer for 84-year-old Nancy Sauer and her seven cats, especially after she lost her husband and her son. When she passed away in November her cats were the closest thing to family so she left them a good portion of her inheritance.

Sauer's dying wish was to make sure they all found loving homes and didn’t want any financial burdens to be a problem, so she made sure all their future vet bills, food expenses and grooming costs are taken care of for the rest of their lives.

The cats named Midnight, Snowball, Goldfinger, Leo, Cleopatra, Napoleon and Squeaky lived in Sauer’s million-dollar South Tampa home.

"She was a lot of fun and we miss her in the neighborhood. I really enjoyed just chatting with her," neighbor Leslie Farrell said.

One of Nancy Sauer's 'wealthy' cats.

Farrell and her son Connor have been Sauer's neighbors for the last 10 years. 

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"What she really wanted was for them to be cared for," Farrell shared.

Nancy Sauer's cats in a room at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay. 

All seven cats are now in the care of the Humane Society of Tampa Bay after one of Sauer's close friends reached out to CEO Sherry Silk. 

"The executor of her estate which is a personal friend called us to ask as experts what do we think of them because they were basically living in dog cages at the house," Silk said.

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As Silk explains, the executor had paid people to take care of the cats inside the home after Sauer passed away in November, but realized the people he had paid weren't caring for them properly.

"We met a couple of times and told him we could certainly if they would like us to. It would be lovely to find them all great homes from our shelter and get them out of those dog crates. Now, they're living, as you saw, in a big room and they've got the room to themselves so it's a much better living environment for them," Silk said.

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Silk says their new owners will be heavily vetted and will still be required to pay for all vet bills, food expenses and grooming costs upfront. However, the new owners will be reimbursed through the executor so no one bears any financial burdens all part of Sauer's wishes.

"That says she was a very wonderful, very special person. I guess she had cats all of her life. Like a lot of people cats and dogs are their four-legged family members," Silk said.

Farrell says it's a relief to know soon all seven cats will soon have forever homes.

"We know the Humane Society will vet very carefully who gets them and I think she'd be happy about that," Farrell said.

Sauer also left a donation for the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, but Silk says they don't yet know the amount. The cats will soon be up for adoption. They've already received dozens of inquiries from interested owners. 

So far, one of them, Snowball, who has a special heart condition, has already been adopted by a local veterinarian.