The famous anecdote about Lovecraft and the kitten is from this period: Lovecraft was staying in the house of some correspondent of his who wanted him to write an article for his fanzine. So before going to bed, he left Lovecraft in a comfortable chair with plenty of writing materials to hand, and, on the way out, dropped a kitten in Lovecraft's lap to keep him company (Lovecraft famously loved cats, cats and ice-cream--although hopefully not both together). When the fan came back downstairs in the morning, Lovecraft was still sitting in the chair, the kitten asleep in his lap, and hadn't written a word. When asked why he hadn't written the article, Lovecraft replied "I didn't want to disturb kitty."
(Gardner Dozois, in Asimov's Message Board)
Other science fiction and fantasy writers who liked cats were Fritz Leiber and Cordwainer Smith.
Muezza is said to have been the Islamic prophet Muhammad's favorite cat. The most famous story about Muezza recounts how the call to prayer was given, and as Muhammad went to put on one of his robes, he found his cat sleeping on one of the sleeves, and instead of disturbing the cat he cut off the sleeve and let him sleep.
(Wikipedia page for Muezza)
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