A City, Its People, and Two Stray Cats Who Call City Hall Home
- hshope
- Apr 14
- 4 min read
“I love that they’ve brought employees together. We even have a little kitty club now. They're morale boosters... honestly, they make this place feel like home."
In a city where humid air settles heavily over cement sidewalks and the sun rises slowly over small businesses and art-lined streets, it’s not just people who clock in at Hattiesburg City Hall each morning. Two cats—Hattie and Smoke—have claimed this place as home. And somewhere along the way, Hattiesburg claimed them right back.
"We call them our kitties," Sherry from City Hall says with a smile. "And we co-parent them."
Hattie came first—skinny, malnourished, and alone—one small tabby against the world in the fall of 2022. But it didn’t take long before he was a fixture on the front steps, a streak of orange weaving through the steady pulse of the city’s heartbeat.
“He was so friendly, even from the start,” Sherry remembers. “We started feeding him, and pretty soon, he was climbing into my lap in the office like he belonged there.”
They named him Hattie, after Hattiesburg—fitting for a cat who seemed destined to stay.
Smoke came later, in 2024—a scrappy little gray puffball who watched from the shadows, waiting for Hattie to walk away from the food bowl before sneaking in for a bite. “He ran from us at first,” Sherry says. “But it didn’t take him long to figure out we were his people.”
Now, they’re part of the daily rhythm of City Hall. You’ll find them under the stairs near the Saenger Theater, stretched out on the warm bricks watching traffic pass or tucked into a flower bed catching the last bit of morning sun. Their favorite spot? A table in the patio area where staff often sit with them for lunch or a quiet break.
"They’re here every morning, waiting to greet us," Sherry says. "They know when it’s time to eat." Most mornings start with the soft jingle of two little collars, a sound that has quietly become part of the building itself.
It didn’t take long for City Hall to claim them, not just as strays, but as family. “I think all of us who love cats see them as therapy animals,” one staffer shares. “It just brightens your day to see Hattie sunbathing on the sidewalk.”
They even have their own Instagram now—@CattiesburgKittyHall—a nod to the growing number of locals and visitors who stop by to see them. “Smoke likes to hide in the bushes and startle people walking by,” another staff member laughs. “They’ve kind of become our mascots.”
But loving them was just the beginning.
Hattie, who had been aging quietly beneath their care, started showing signs of pain. Smoke, still young, was reaching the age where he needed to be neutered. “We could tell Hattie was struggling,” Sherry says. “And Smoke was getting to that age—we knew it was time to get him fixed.”
That’s when the city staff did what Hattiesburg does best—they came together. “We talked to other cat lovers around City Hall and pooled donations for their care,” Sherry says. “It became a community effort.”
Smoke was neutered at Southern Pines Healthy Pet Clinic’s Midtown Surgery Clinic. Hattie was brought in for a dental exam at the Downtown Wellness Clinic, where everyone was surprised to learn Hattie wasn’t a ‘she’ as they’d first thought but a 12-year-old neutered male with the early stages of kidney disease. Now with extra care from the staff who’ve come to love him, Hattie is getting exactly what he needs.
These two aren’t just cats hanging around Hattiesburg City Hall. “They’re invaluable for workplace morale,” a staffer says. “When there’s a cat meowing at you first thing ‘cause he’s ready to eat, it makes work a little easier.”
Another puts it simply: “When the office atmosphere is too much, they’re the perfect reason to step away and reset.”
That’s the kind of connection that happens when people choose to care, even when they don’t have to. “I love that they’ve brought employees together,” one staff member shares. “We even have a little kitty club now. They’re morale boosters… honestly, they make this place feel like home.”
For Sherry, a lifelong cat lover, it’s simple. “This is the best of both worlds for me,” she shares. “They bring a smile to my face every time I see them. They’re just so appreciative of us taking them in, and I really do think they love being part of our City Hall family.”
Hattie and Smoke are the kind of story every town carries quietly, the ones not printed on plaques or posted on city websites. But they’re there, breathing life into the places we pass every day. It’s not the big moments that define a place; it’s the shared bowl of food, the morning greeting, the stray turned family. Hattie and Smoke aren’t on the payroll. They don’t file paperwork or attend meetings. But ask anyone who works here, and they’ll tell you that these two cats belong to City Hall just as much as the people do.
They belong to the community now. And maybe, in some small way, the community belongs to them, too.
At Southern Pines Healthy Pet Clinic, we see cats like Hattie and Smoke all the time, born outside, belonging everywhere. And while the streets may be their home, the truth is, they’re part of our neighborhoods. Part of us. We feed them, we care when they’re sick, and somewhere along the way, without even realizing it, we become their family.
By supporting the Dorothy Ricks Fund, you’re helping us care for outdoor cats just like Hattie and Smoke. Created in memory of Dorothy Ricks, this fund—alongside our grants and community partners—helps cover the cost of spaying and neutering community cats, giving them a chance to live healthier, safer lives in the neighborhoods they call home, beside us and with us.
Because every city has its stories. And sometimes, they’re covered in fur and waiting just outside the door.
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