Allison Geyer
Ziggy, who was a fixture on Willy Street for years, prowling his new rural retirement home in Stoughton.
On any given day for the past decade, a walk down Williamson Street would likely lead to an encounter with a handsome black and white cat. He kept his own schedule, but you could often find him lounging on the stone wall next to Mother Fools Coffeehouse or napping in front of Broom Street Theater or dining on the patio at Taqueria Tres Amigos.
Perpetually dapper with his mustache, tuxedo and bowtie, Ziggy the Willy Street Cat was an unofficial ambassador. He has amassed hundreds of followers on social media, but Ziggy was even more popular offline, where his daily wanderings brought him in contact with people from all walks of life.
His human, Liz Vanderwerff, describes Ziggy as “responsible and routine.” He’s a creature of habit who took seriously his job of patrolling the block and visiting his many friends (and a few enemies). But those days are over. Ziggy’s reign on Willy Street came to an end in December when Vanderwerff and her husband, Nick Schmuhl, moved to a farmhouse in rural Stoughton.
It’s the retirement every hardworking city cat deserves — an idyllic country home with plenty of room to roam. Vanderwerff and Schmuhl were curious to see how Ziggy would react to the change in scenery. Surely, their independent boy would relish the opportunity to explore all this new territory. But something is different.
“He’s not behaving like I thought he would,” Vanderwerff says. On Willy Street, he couldn’t wait to get outside. But these days, he’s content to stay inside by the fire. Maybe the chilly weather has been a factor, but Schmuhl has another theory. “He just wants to be around people,” he says. “And we’re the only people now.”
Ziggy entered the public consciousness in 2013, when he went missing in a suspected catnapping. Desperate to find him, Vanderwerff and Schmuhl plastered the Marquette neighborhood with fliers and created a Ziggy Facebook page for updates. “People immediately knew who he was,” Vanderwerff says. “Everyone had their own little story about how they knew him. He had so many secret lives.”
Nearly three weeks later, Ziggy mysteriously turned up — perfectly clean and clearly well fed. He acted like nothing happened, but the neighborhood rejoiced. People started dropping by to sit with him. Others brought him treats, toys, love notes, and in one case, an entire tuna casserole. “Ever since then he’s had this wonderful cult following,” Vanderwerff says.
He had two best friends: Leon, a deaf man who would call Ziggy with a special whistle and give him entire slices of ham, and Jimbo, a patron of the nearby Luke House community meal site who occasionally bought cans of wet food for Ziggy. But not everyone agreed with Ziggy’s free-roaming ways, or his tendency to treat the neighborhood like his own personal buffet line.
Out in the country, Ziggy is adjusting to life away from his public — adoring and otherwise. But there are benefits to his new home. Always a full-figured lad, he’s dropped two pounds since the move, and his humans say there’s a new spring in his step. He particularly enjoys clawing his new apple trees. Although he’s gone from Willy Street, his spirit lives on in the neighborhood — you can still see his claw marks in a gingko tree near the Ingersoll intersection. And his humans continue documenting his adventures on social media.
“Ziggy was a dear friend, a daily companion, a shameless ham, a watchful eye, and a symbol of the neighborhood,” Vanderwerff wrote in a recent update. “He loved and was loved by many, and it truly was a beautiful thing.”
Ziggy facts:
Age: 13
Weight: 15-17 pounds
Mother: Hissy, a Vanderwerff family farm cat
Birthplace: A garbage can
Eats everything except: Dog treats
Cat stats:
Cats licensed with Madison(as required by city ordinance): 856
Estimated pet cats in Madison,according to the American Veterinary Medical Association: 57,226
AVMA estimate of pet cats in the U.S. in 2012: 74 million
Lifespan for house cats in U.S.: 12-18 years
Guinness record for oldest cat: Creme Puff, who livedto be 38
