For about a year, White Cat watched over the lawns of Kappa Delta (ΚΔ) and Delta Delta Delta (ΔΔΔ), pacing between the back porches and stealing the hearts of sisters on Sorority Row.
He was the guardian of East Panhellenic Drive. Some attempted to pet him.
Last week he was found dead, lying on the sidewalk between Kappa Delta and Tri Delta. The cause of death is unknown.
To most, he died without a name, just another stray cat that calls UF home, but to 22-year-old UF alumna Hayley Plant, he was a friend known as White Cat.
“White Cat and I bonded so much last year and I’ve gone into serious depression [about his death]...,” Plant posted on Facebook.
The news came as a shock to Plant, who said the animal was a young, spry cat.
One Kappa Delta sister described him as the John Mayer of felines because he didn’t care about anything and he loved the ladies.
Last Fall, Plant loaded the cat in her car to get him neutered. After the procedure, Plant took White Cat into the Kappa Delta mailroom and nursed him back to health. After he recovered, Kappa Delta’s house mother, Denby Smothers, made Plant take the cat to the wooded area near Royal Village apartments, an area known to house a large stray cat community.
White Cat eventually found his way back to Sorority Row and began prowling for hidden scraps of food purposely left behind by students.
The cat also bonded with Anne Cappello, a 21-year-old advertising and business administration senior in Tri Delta.
“I would always come up and say hi to him and pet him, and then actually one time we shared ice cream,” Cappello said.
About a week ago, Cappello was one of the first to hear about White Cat’s death after Sophie Gray, a 21-year-old elementary education senior, told her of a dead animal outside of their sorority house. Cappello immediately went to check and was stunned when she saw who it was.
“It’s sad that I’m not going to be able to see his face in the morning before I go to class,” Gray said.
“ ... he may have been the only cat to have ever shacked in Kappa Delta,” Plant said in her Facebook post. “He might not have been a looker but damn, he was a lover.”
A version of this story ran on page 5 on 9/10/2013 under the headline "Sororities mourn late, great White Cat"
