Published Aug 31, 2026
Floppycats / Facebook.com
I’d like to propose a way the cat-loving community can honor and remember Dolly Parton: Let’s start a trend of naming calicos, with their coats of many colors, ‘Dolly Purrtons’! Or really, any female cat with a lively, lovely spirit could be a Dolly Purrton.
When Dolly died on August 25—breaking the hearts of adoring fans around the world, including myself – I upgraded my own namesake cat’s name from simply Dolly to “Dolly Purrton.” It’s a common name shelters use for incoming female cats without known names to make these cats stand out with an extraordinary and clever name. I think the name especially captures the spirited nature of calico cats, and the legendary Dolly Parton was filled with a larger-than-life spirit.
I named this struggling stray cat I rescued Dolly because of her “coat of many colors,” as a dilute calico, also known as a blue cream calico. Dolly the cat’s coat indeed has three colors – gray, cream, and white – and it reminded me of the iconic entertainer’s legendary garment, which young Dolly’s mother made as a patchwork of colorful fabric scraps. Dolly the celebrity, whose family was very poor and lived in a one-room house in rural Tennessee, got teased at school about her scrappy coat, but it became a beloved treasure and inspired Dolly’s autobiographical song Coat of Many Colors.
Dolly, a dilute calico with a “coat of many colors” in gray, cream, and white, was named in honor of Dolly Parton. Her patchwork-like coat inspired the playful name “Dolly Purrton.” Kellie B. Gormly / Cats.com
Like the famous Dolly – a lovely dynamo whom I had the tremendous, once-in-a-lifetime privilege of interviewing many years ago, while I was an entertainment writer at a newspaper – my cat came from a scrappy, difficult background. The cat has some behavioral issues resulting from her past – she can be very sweet and affectionate, but she easily gets irritated and swats or bites. But, I love her like Dolly Parton modeled loving people: accepting them as they are.
Of course, millions of people from all walks of life and belief systems not only loved Dolly Parton for her unmistakable, beautiful voice and talent, but for the kindness she radiated to the world. Dolly was a humanitarian who gave millions of dollars to causes including her signature project of children’s literacy with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. So, it’s no surprise that Dolly was an animal lover, too, and supported rescue organizations and wildlife conservation.
Dolly was primarily a dog person who had pet dogs throughout her life, and she launched a “Doggy Parton” pet apparel and accessory line in the flashy Dolly style, sold on Amazon. Dolly donated proceeds from Doggy Parton to Willa B. Farms Animal Rescue, a versatile rescue in Old Hickory, Tennessee – about 200 miles from Dolly’s Tennessee hometown of Sevierville. Willa B. Farms has animals ranging from dogs to cats, horses, goats, and more. On the charity’s “Meet the Animals” page, I see a tri-color feline with a coat of many colors! Some of the animals are available for adoption, including one beautiful female cat named Luna who looks to be a Balinese (a longhaired Siamese). If you are in the region, please go meet Luna and consider bringing home this special cat who has a connection to Dolly! And, we hope our readers will send donations to Willa B. Farms in memory of Dolly.
Dolly may have been a major dog lover, but she also seemed to have a fondness for cats, even if she wasn’t a traditional cat person. If you Google “Dolly Parton kitten,” you will find several vintage photos of Dolly holding a kitten. In this photo from around the 1970s, Dolly flashes her beaming smile and looks so happy as she cuddles an orange tabby kitten. On Dolly’s own Facebook page several years ago, she shared an adorable photo of her holding a black and white tuxedo kitten, along with this cute piece of Dolly wit: “Y’all wanna hear a bad cat joke? Just kitten!”
Back in the 1970s, Dolly also rescued an injured cat named Trampolina. As Dolly nursed the female cat back to health, she discovered that Trampolina was pregnant. Dolly fostered Trampolina and her babies, and got the mother cat spayed. She said that Trampolina was so attached to her that she followed Dolly around “like a little dog.”
Dolly Parton holding a Kitten, circa 1970s. ahistoryofcats_ / Instagram.com
Dolly’s influence reached the feline world in another unusual way: Did you know that there is a medical condition in cats named after the legend, who often joked about her large breasts that attracted so much attention? It’s true! Feline Mammary Hypertrophy – when a cat’s mammary glands are very enlarged and swollen – is informally known as Dolly Parton Syndrome. The condition sounds painful, but I can’t help but smile and giggle a bit at the slang name for it. And Dolly had such a great sense of humor that I am sure she would get a kick out of this disease name.
Since the heartbreaking news broke about Dolly’s death from cancer at age 80, tributes have been pouring in around the world, from celebrities and from everyday people on social media. I’ve seen several cat-themed posts of tribute to Dolly, including this announcement from April’s Kittens of a litter named after the entertainer and people and places associated with her. The mother, a tortie with a coat of two colors, is named Mama Dolly, and the babies are: Truvy, Jolene, Carl Dean, Pawton, and Tennessee. Awww, so cute! May these felines at April’s Kittens, a cat cafe and adoption center in Illinois, all find loving homes. Please consider sending a donation in Dolly’s memory to this rescue.
A cat model named Summer dressed up as Dolly, complete with a blonde wig and a flashy pink dress. The photo looks adorable with the matching tribute. I’ve also seen many funny “Toe Beans” videos on social media where a cat parent shows off the bottoms of their cat’s feet and sings the tune of Dolly’s megahit Jolene. But instead of saying Jolene four times, they sing this rhyming refrain: “Toe beans, toe beans, toe beans, toe beeeeans!” Many of these videos have been posted for a few years, but watching them is especially poignant and relevant now that our beloved Dolly is gone.
Like many fans, after her death, I searched for and bought some Dolly merchandise from the Internet, including pajamas and a DVD of her movie Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love. I searched for cat merchandise with a Dolly theme, too, hoping to find something that had Dolly Purrton on it. I found that in this delightful Dolly Purrton Catnip Record Mat, from the brand Crochet Kitty, which makes a line of celebrity cat record mats. Unfortunately, soon after I placed the item in my online Chewy shopping cart, the item sold out before I could purchase it.
Such demand for products, and the grief her death triggered, show the profound effect that the larger-than-life Dolly Parton had on so many of our lives. When I spoke to her on the phone for that once-in-a-lifetime interview almost two decades ago, the woman I spoke to was exactly the woman the world sees on the screen. What you see is what you get with Dolly Parton. She was so warm, so funny, so friendly, so animated, and just so … well, Dolly Parton. How really can we label such a phenomenal force of nature, often dressed in rhinestone-studded outfits?
We can’t. Dolly is just Dolly. She is her own brand, and she was one of a kind.
May we all be inspired to live more like Dolly, with generosity and joy and caring toward our fellow humans – and of course, to cats, too.
We, as the song goes, will always love you, Dolly. I hope to see many feline Dolly Purrtons!