You’ve seen the photo. It’s 1987, and David Bowie is looking incredibly sharp in a tailored suit, cradling a sleek, tan-colored Abyssinian. The lighting is perfect. The cat looks regal. Bowie looks, well, like Bowie. It’s one of those images that floats around Pinterest and Instagram every year on his birthday, usually captioned with something about him being a massive "cat person."
But here’s the thing. If you actually dig into the history of David Bowie with cat sightings, the reality is a lot more complicated than a single Greg Gorman photoshoot suggests.
Honestly, the internet has a weird way of rewriting celebrity history to fit a certain aesthetic. Because Bowie was ethereal and had those "alien" eyes, people just assume he spent his downtime surrounded by a clowder of kittens. He didn't. In fact, for most of his life, he was a dog guy.
The Mystery of the Mustique Cats
Let’s talk about Mandalay. That was the name of Bowie’s Balinese-style estate on the island of Mustique. It was a literal tropical paradise. When he eventually sold the place in 1995 to the publisher Felix Dennis, the deal famously came with a weirdly specific proviso: the new owner had to take care of the pets.
Those pets? They weren't just a pack of dogs.
Bowie left behind two cats named Turbo and Molly.
Turbo was apparently a bit of a terror. Felix Dennis once described him as a "fat little dog-cat" who bullied the other resident, a petite white female cat named Molly. Dennis even wrote an elegy for Turbo later on, which is kind of amazing when you think about the lineage of these animals. They went from being the companions of the Thin White Duke to being the subjects of poetry by a British billionaire.
So, yes, there was a period where he lived with cats. But did he "love" them?
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Some people in his inner circle have whispered over the years that he actually found cats a bit dirty. There's a rumor that he preferred the loyalty of dogs—specifically his German Shepherd, Essie, during the Berlin years, and later his beloved Max, the cockerpoo he shared with Iman and their daughter Lexi.
That Famous 1987 Greg Gorman Shoot
The "David Bowie with cat" photo everyone loves wasn't a candid shot of a man at home. It was a professional session with photographer Greg Gorman.
At the time, it was just another creative choice. The Abyssinian cat was a prop, chosen for its elegant, almost Egyptian silhouette that matched Bowie’s sharp features. It wasn't his pet. Still, that image has become the "proof" for the "Bowie was a cat lover" narrative.
It’s a classic example of how a single powerful visual can override decades of actual lifestyle choices.
The Cat People Connection
You can't talk about Bowie and felines without mentioning "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)."
This track is legendary. It was recorded in 1981 with Giorgio Moroder for the Paul Schrader film of the same name. If you haven’t heard the original version—the one with the slow, brooding baritone intro that eventually explodes into a rock anthem—you’re missing out.
Bowie wrote the lyrics specifically for the movie’s dark, psychosexual themes. He wasn't thinking about house cats. He was thinking about "were-cats" and bloodlust and "putting out fire with gasoline."
- The song was recorded at Mountain Studios in Switzerland.
- Bowie later remade it for the Let's Dance album because he wasn't happy with the first version.
- The remake features Nile Rodgers on production and a blistering guitar solo by Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Even though he was singing about mythical predators, the song cemented the feline association in the public's mind. It felt right. Bowie was a chameleon; he moved with a certain feline grace.
The Eye Myth (And the Cat Namesakes)
Then there’s the eye thing.
We’ve all seen the "Bowie cats" at shelters—the ones with one blue eye and one green eye. People call this "the Bowie look."
But let’s get the facts straight. David Bowie did not have heterochromia. That’s a common misconception. His eyes were both the same color. He had a condition called anisocoria, which means one of his pupils was permanently dilated.
It happened during a schoolyard fight over a girl in 1962. His friend George Underwood punched him, and a fingernail sliced the surface of the eye, paralyzing the iris. Because the pupil stayed wide open, it caught the light differently, making that eye look much darker than the other.
Cats with actual heterochromia are often named after him anyway. It’s a tribute, even if it’s based on a misunderstanding of his anatomy.
Why the Internet Loves This Version of Him
Why do we want him to be a cat person so badly?
Probably because cats represent a specific kind of "otherness." They’re independent, mysterious, and a little bit weird. That was Bowie’s brand for decades. Seeing David Bowie with cat imagery feels like a natural pairing of two symbols of cool.
In reality, his house in New York during his final years was a dog house. Max, the dog with the different colored eyes (yes, the dog actually had the trait Bowie was famous for), was the one by his side.
If you're looking for the "real" Bowie, look for the guy walking his dog in SoHo, not the guy in the 1987 photoshoot.
Actionable Insights for Fans
If you want to channel your inner "Cat Person" Bowie style, here’s how to do it without the misinformation:
Listen to the 1982 original version of "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" rather than the Let’s Dance remake. It’s rawer and much more atmospheric.
If you see a cat at a shelter with "Bowie eyes," remember it's likely heterochromia, which is a genetic trait. Bowie’s "look" was the result of a punch.
Check out the photography of Greg Gorman or Steve Schapiro. They captured the "staged" version of Bowie that we all find so captivating, even if it wasn't his day-to-day reality.
Stop worrying about whether he was a "cat person" or a "dog person." He was a person who loved his family and his privacy. He just happened to look better with an Abyssinian than most humans do.