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THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

THE CAT

A GUIDE TO

THE CLASSIFICATION AND VARIETIES OF CATS

AND A SHORT TREATISE UPON THEIR

CARE, DISEASES, AND TREATMENT

BY
RUSH SHIPPED HUIDEKOPER, M. D.

VETERINARIAN (ALFORT), ETC.

AUTHOR OF THE AGE OF THE DOMESTICATED ANIMALS,

CONTRACTION OF THE HORSE'S FOOT, IDENTIFICATION OF ANIMALS,

ETC.

WITH OVER THIRTY ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

1895

COPYRIGHT, 1895,
BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.

TO

JOHN P. RAINES, ESQ.,

President of the American Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals, New York,

in appreciation of his work, which has done so much to in-
crease the care of the home cat and to alleviate the suf-
ferings of the waif, this book is respectfully dedicated

BY
THE AUTHOR.

PEEFACE.

WHEN, a month ago, the National Cat
Show became an established fact, and
inquiries were being made in regard to the
classification and qualities of cats, I learned
that none of the booksellers in New York had
any literature upon the cat except a technical
book by St. George Mivart : " The Cat : An In-
troduction to the Study of Backboned Ani-
mals/' and the smaller book of Gordon Stables.
I determined to prepare the present guide,
which I present to the public interested in the
useful stable-companion and pretty house-pet.
Unfortunately, I was moving my office to the
New York College of Veterinary Surgeons at
the time, and many of my books, manuscripts,
and personal notes were boxed up and have
been unavailable for reference. I have drawn

vi PREFACE

freely from the list of books to be found in
the Bibliography. The illustrations are drawn
mostly from St. George Mivart's book, " The
Cat;" from "Our Cats/' by Harrison Weir,
F.R.H.S. 5 from Chauveau's " Anatomy" and
Raillet's " Zoologie." I am especially indebted
to ARTHUR ERWIN BROWN, Esq., superinten-
dent of the Zoological Gardens of Philadelphia,
for editing the chapter upon the Zoology of
the Feline Species ; and I am glad to avail my-
self of this public opportunity of repeating my
thanks to him.

RUSH SHIPPEN HUIDEKOPER.

New York College of Veterinary Surgeons,

154 East Fifty-seventh Street,

New York, April 16, 1895.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

ZOOLOGICAL POSITION OF THE CAT FAMILY,
WITH A DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF THE VARIOUS
FELINE SPECIES 1

CHAPTER II.

AN OUTLINE OF THE ANATOMY OF THE DOMES-
TIC CAT 21

CHAPTER III.

THE ORIGIN OF THE DOMESTIC CAT AND ITS
VARIETIES.

The Wild Cat 32

The Egyptian Cat 34

LONG-HAIRED CATS.

The Angora 40

The Persian 41

SHORT-HAIRED CATS.

The Tortoise-shell 46

The Tortoise-shell-and- White 49

The Brown Tabby 53

The Spotted Tabby 56

vii

viii CONTENTS

PAGE

The Short-haired White Cat 62

Self-colored Cats ..-..' 65

The Black Cat 65

The Blue Cat 65

The Black-and-White Cat 67

The Siamese Cat 69

The Manx Cat 71

CHAPTER IV.

CARE OF THE CAT.

Housing 75

Feed 78

Breeding 81

Gelded Cats 84

Transportation 85

CHAPTER V.

DISEASES OF THE CAT.

Evidence of Disease 87

Diseases of the Respiratory System.

Catarrh or Cold 89

Bronchitis 89

Broncho-pneumonia 91

Diseases of the Digestive System.

Gastritis . 93

Constipation and Diarrhoea 95

Jaundice 96

Constitutional Diseases.

Distemper 99

Glanders 103

Eczema 105

Canker of the Ear 105

Milk-fever .107

CONTENTS ix

PAGE

Nervous Troubles.

Convulsions or Fits 108

Epilepsy 109

Parasitic Diseases.

Fleas 110

Mange Ill

Follicular Mange 114

Stomach Worms 116

Tapeworm 118

Ringworm 120

Trichina 122

Strongyli 125

Diseases of the Eye.
Diseases of the Teeth.
Diseases of the Claws.

POISONS. 129

ADMINISTRATION OF MEDICINE 131

ANESTHETICS 134

DESTROYING CATS 134

CHAPTER VI.

ETYMOLOGY AND SYNONYMS OF THE CAT 137

EMBLEMATIC SIGNIFICATION OF THE CAT . . . 138

APPENDIX.. . 141

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

THE COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF THE DOMESTICATED
ANIMALS. By A. Chauveau, M.D., LL.D., etc. (English
translation). New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1891.

A MANUAL OF ZOOLOGY. By Henry Allegne Nicholson,
M.D., D.Sc,, M.A., etc. New York, D. Appleton & Co.,
1883.

ELEMENTS DE ZOOLOGIE MEDIGALE ET AGRICOLE. Par
A. Raillet. Paris, Asselin et Hougeau, 1886.

THE CAT : AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF BACK-
BONED ANIMALS, ESPECIALLY MAMMALS. By St. George
Mivart, Ph.D., F.E.S. With 200 illustrations. New
York, Charles Scribners Sons, 1892.

OUR CATS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM : THEIR VARIETIES,
HABITS, AND MANAGEMENT, AND FOR SHOW, ETC. By
Harrison Weir, F.R.H.S., President of the National Cat
Club. Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,
1889.

THE CAT : ITS NATURAL HISTORY ; DOMESTIC VARIE-
TIES ; MANAGEMENT, AND TREATMENT. By Philip M.
Rule. London, Swan Sonnenschein & Co.

DOMESTIC OR FANCY CATS (illustrated). By John
Jennings. London, L. Upcott Gill, 1893.

THE CAT : ITS HISTORY, DISEASES, AND MANAGEMENT.
BY the Honorable Lady Gust. London, Henry J. Drake.

CATS: THEIR POINTS AND CLASSIFICATION. By W.
Gordon Stables, M.D., C.M., R.N. London, Dean & Son.

THE DOMESTIC CAT. By Gordon Stables, M.D., C.M.,
R.N. London, George Routledge & Sons.

/

THE OAT

CHAPTER I.

ZOOLOGICAL POSITION OF THE CAT FAMILY,

WITH A DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF THE

VARIOUS FELINE SPECIES.

ZOOLOGICALLY speaking, the cat is a
mammal belonging to the order Carnivora,
or flesh-eaters. Modern classification, based
chiefly upon characters drawn from the bony
skeleton — which changes slowly with develop-
mental processes through the course of geologic
time, and preserves the evidences of common
ancestry much longer than the softer parts of
the organism — divides the carnivores into three
suborders, known as Cynoidea, containing the
dogs, wolves, foxes, and jackals ; Arctoidea, in-
cluding bears, racoons, and most of the SO-
IL

2 THE CAT

called fur-bearing animals — otters, weasels,
skunks, badgers, etc. ; and JEluroidea, with
four families: Viverridce — the musk-cats or
civets and genets, with the paradoxures and
ichneumons; Hycenidce — the three species of
hyena, with the aardwolf, or Proteles, of South
Africa; Cryptoproctidce, containing but one
savage little member, a native of Madagascar,
called "foussa"; and finally the cat's own
family, the Felidce.

The degree of perfection reached by any liv-
ing organism is simply the amount of speciali-
zation or adaptation which it has undergone
in its relations to the special natural conditions
under which its life is passed, and measured
by this standard, the cat is tlie most perfect of
carnivores. Feeding upon outer animals, which
it must pursue with noiseless stealth and cap-
ture by an exertion of supreme activity, the cat
has padded feet which make no sound in move-
ment ; muscles of enormous power and bulk in
proportion to its size, and attached to bones
addressed to each other at such angles as to
form the most complete system of springs and
levers for propelling the body known in the

ZOOLOGICAL POSITION 3

whole group ; the claws are sharper and curved
into strong hooks more than in any other mam-
mal, and by the action of special muscles are
withdrawn under the protection of sheathlike
pads, that they may escape wear and injury
when not in use ; 110 teeth are better fitted for
their work — the great canines for tearing,
and the scissor-like premolars for shearing off
lumps of flesh small enough to swallow ; while
the short and simple alimentary tract takes up
little internal space, and permits of a lithe and
slender form suited to the highest activity, at
the same time performing its digestive work
rapidly, and soon ridding the animal of the bur-
den of the enormous meals which those which
feed only when tlkey can are certain to indulge
in when the opportunity arises. In the eye,
the fibres of the iris, opening to the widest ex-
tent, expand the pupil to a full circle, admit-
ting every ray of light which can fall upon it
during the darkness of night, and by a rapid
and spontaneous contraction — in some species
to a narrow slit, in others to a ring as small
as a piiihead — shut off all excess of blinding
light at midday, and permit minute exactness

4 THE CAT

of vision under either extreme. Add to all
these that the coloring of cats is highly assim-
ilated, as it is termed, or suited to concealment
among the various shades of ground and fo-
liage among which it lives — as, for instance,
the tiger, buffy yellow, with vertical bars of
black, is said to blend perfectly with the up-
right yellow bamboo stems which stand out
against the gloomy interspaces of tropical jun-
gles ; and the leopard and jaguar, of a similar
yellow, with dark spots and rosettes, living
largely in trees, are not readily perceived
among the mottling of light and shade result-
ing from the maze of leaves, boughs, and wan-
dering rays of sunlight ; while the cats of one
color, like the lion and puma, are of neutral
shades of gray or yellow, harmonizing well
with earth tints on open plains, and inconspic-
uous under any surroundings. It is thus seen
that, with all mammals in the field, none prob-
ably is so well armed for the battle of life as is
the cat.

This general type of structure is common to
all cats, such variations as there are, being only
in minor characteristics, but slightly related to

ZOOLOGICAL POSITION 5

their life habits. And psychologically, too,
there is quite as much uniformity j all cats
are carnivorous, preferring to discover and kill
their own prey; all are ferocious and sangui-
nary 5 loving retirement ; moving with conceal-
ment and stealth ; never affronting danger, but
fighting desperately when injured or when
escape is no longer possible. All climb with
ease, excepting only the tiger and lion, whose
bulk has probably deterred them from acquir-
ing the habit. So persistent are the characters
both of body and mind in this family, that in
spite of thirty -five centuries or more of domes-
tication, the household tabby to-day preserves
far more of its ancestral traits than any other
of the four-footed associates of man.

Cats are found all over the world, except in
the Australian region, Madagascar, and the
West Indies. They are mainly tropical and
heat-loving, although a few species range far
to the north, as the tiger in Asia and the puma
in America. The short- tailed lynxes also pre-
dominate in northern regions.

The}' are naturally a well-marked group, and
for the present purpose may be regarded as
2

6 THE CAT

forming a single genus, Fells; the characters
upon which most of the genera were based,
which various systematists have attempted to
set off from the main stem, being uncertain,
variable, and hard to specify. Some members
of the genus vary greatly in size and color, and
we have far from complete knowledge of all
the different kinds of cats under nature, but
those most commonly recognized at the present
time may be briefly recounted :

1. The TIGER (Felis tujris). The title of
" king of beasts " has long been conferred upon
the lion, but by right should be borne by
the royal tiger — his superior in beauty, size,
and strength. The ingenious observations
upon the muscular capacity of animals made
by the Rev. Mr. Houghton, at Dublin, showed
the strength of the tiger to exceed that of the
lion by a full quarter ; and on a few occasions
when they have been matched together, the
tiger has always proved the victor — in modern
days as well as in the arenas of Rome.

Tigers are found all through southern Asia,
and away to the north in Siberia and Korea,
and in the larger islands of the Indian Archi-

ZOOLOGICAL POSITION 7

pelago, excepting Borneo and Ceylon. Their
vertical bars of black and yellow need no de-
scription; the sexes are alike, save that the
female is somewhat smaller and less power-
fully built. A full-grown male should measure
about ten and a half feet from tip of nose to
end of tail, and in good condition should weigh
about four hundred and fifty pounds. Twelve-
foot tigers are never seen in life, and owe their
existence only to wilful or careless measure-
ment, or more commonly to stretching of the
elastic skin when freshly removed. Tigers
thrive well in captivity, but do not, as a rule,
breed freely. Strange to say, hybrids with the
lion are not uncommon in menageries.

2. The LION (F. leo) has a very extensive
geographical range over the whole of Africa
and southern Asia into India, arid, as might be
expected in encountering such a variety of
climates and surroundings, lions from different
parts sometimes present marked contrasts in
appearance. Some are lighter or darker in
color; some males have an enormous growth
of long dark hair about the neck and shoulders
and on the under side of the body, while in

8 THE CAT

others it is little more developed than in the
female. But these differences are purely indi-
vidual, and have no specific value. Indeed, Mr.
F. C. Selous, the famous hunter and explorer of
South Africa, says that in wild lions the mane
never reaches the development shown by many
specimens in menageries. Young lions are
spotted all over the body at birth ; the spots
usually disappear at from two to three years of
age, about the time the mane begins to show,
but not infrequently they remain indistinctly
on the sides and abdomen throughout life.
African lions are usually larger than Asiatic
specimens, the male being always the larger,
and scaling perhaps four hundred pounds in
weight, with an extreme length of ten to ten
and a half feet.

3. The LEOPARD (F.pardus) covers very much
the same countries as the lion, but is more con-
stant in its yellow background of color, covered
with rosettes of black spots. It varies greatly,
however, in size, some specimens — especially
old males — in India reaching a bulk double
that of average individuals. Some naturalists
and almost all sportsmen erroneously regard

ZOOLOGICAL POSITION 9

these large examples as a distinct species, which
they call the panther. Black leopards are not
uncommon, in which the spots show faintly in
certain lights, outlined in different degrees of
black j these are only what is called melanistic
individuals, and make their appearance in the
same litter as cubs of ordinary color. Leopards
are from five to eight feet long, and are small
enough to climb trees without difficulty.

4. The OUNCE (F. undo) is peculiar in that it
is rarely found below the snow-line in the
Himalayas of India, which it inhabits up to an
altitude of eighteen thousand feet; it is also
found in central Asia, always at great eleva-
tions. It is about the size of the leopard ; but
as with most inhabitants of cold climates, the
fur is long and dense, and the tail is much more
bushy than in any other cat, though tigers from
Siberia often exhibit these characters as well.
The ounce is pale yellowish gray, spotted all
over, though the spots show less tendency to
form rings or rosettes than in the leopard. The
only specimen of this animal which has been
brought alive out of its native country was ex-
hibited in the Zoological Gardens at London

10 THE CAT

in 1894. The name "snow-leopard" is often
applied to it.

5. The PUMA (F. concolor) inhabits all of con-
tinental America from Hudson's Bay to the
Straits of Magellan — a range more extensive
than that of any other cat. It is an adaptable
animal, and is equally at home in the cane-
brakes of the lower Mississippi, the jungle-
swamps of Brazil, or at altitudes of twelve
thousand feet in the Rockjr Mountains. In
North America they are usually gray in color,
and without spots when adult, though the cubs
are spotted like young lions and probably the
young of all the one-colored cats. In tropical
regions they show a disposition to rufous tints,
and skins from South America are sometimes
of a rich red tan. This species is known by
many vernacular names, "panther," "cou-
gar," "lion," and "mountain-lion" being
among them. The latter names appear to have
arisen from the fact that the early discoverers
of America took the puma to be a female lion
— an animal which it resembles in a general
way, owing to its uniform color and the ab-
sence of a mane.

ZOOLOGICAL POSITION H

They are conspicuously secretive, even in
this wild and shy family, and in mountainous
regions, where their tracks may be daily seen,
it is an unusual event to come upon the animal
itself. Eight feet in length, including the tail,
and one hundred and fifty pounds' weight, would
be a large specimen of this species. The head
is smaller than in most cats ; the muscular sys-
tem is powerful, and the activity is prodigious.

6. The JAGUAR (F. onca) much resembles the
leopard. The body-color is of a rather deeper
yellow, and sometimes has almost a rosy tinge ;
the rings formed by the dark spots are, as a
rule, larger than in that species, and frequently
inclose several irregular marks or spots of the
same color. White specimens have been known,
and black ones occur as in the leopard. They
are heavily built animals, ordinarily about the
size of the leopard, but with a slightly shorter
tail. Sometimes, however, a large size is reached,
Baron Humboldt having seen one as large as
an average tiger; and D'Azara, another well-
known South American traveler, states that he
once knew a jaguar to drag off the body of a
horse and swim with it across a wide and deep

12 THE CAT

river. The species has been known to occur
as far north as the Red River in Louisiana ; it
was formerly not uncommon on the lower Rio
Grande in Texas, and ranges far to the south
in Uruguay and Argentina.

7. The CLOUDED TIGER (F. macrocelis). This
fine species, about six and a half feet long, is
last in the list of large cats. It inhabits south-
eastern Asia, with some of the outlying islands.
It is of a brownish gray, with darker patches
irregularly disposed in vertical markings.

8. The THIBET TIGER-CAT (F. scripta), re-
stricted to Thibet, and similar to the last spe-
cies, but much smaller.

9. FONTANEIR'S CAT (F. tristis), pale gray,
variously spotted, and marked with rusty
brown ; found in China.

10. The GOLDEN CAT (F. moormensis), about
four feet in length, uniform red-bay in color,
with a few indistinct spots on the sides. This
beautiful species comes from India, where its
exact range is not fully made out.

11. The FISHING CAT (F. mverrina), a heavily
built cat, gray in color, very irregularly marked
with dark-brown spots. The body is about

ZOOLOGICAL POSITION 13

thirty inches in length, and the tail about ten.
It is an inhabitant of southern Asia and Ceylon.
Alone among cats, it lives upon fish and fresh-
water mollusks, which it captures for itself.

12. The BENGALESE CAT (F. lengalensis), a
very beautiful species from northern India, of
a tawny or fulvous gray, with the usual irreg-
ular dark markings. Specimens of this and
the two preceding species are at present living
in the collection of the Zoological Society of
Philadelphia.

13. The WAGATI (F. ivagati). This is also a
Bengalese cat, yellowish in color, and more or
less spotted or striped.

14. The MARBLED TIGER-CAT (F. marmorata),
a spotted, yellowish-gray cat of medium size,
inhabiting Burmah, Malacca, Java, and Borneo.

15. The SERVAL (F. serial), a moderately
large African cat of rusty or tawny color, with
black spots on the body and rings on the short
tail, and with very long legs ; an inhabitant of
the whole of Africa.

16. The GOLDEN-HAIRED CAT (F. ruttta), a
reddish-brown cat with small dark spots, found
on the west coast of Africa.

14 THE CAT

17. The GRAY AFRICAN CAT (F. neglecta), a
small gray, spotted species inhabiting Gam-
bia.

18. The SERVALINE CAT (F. serralina), very
similar to the last, but yellowish instead of
gray, and found in Sierra Leone.

19. The OCELOT (F. pardalis), a beautiful and
very variable cat, sometimes gray, often yel-
low, but always elegantly marked with spots,
streaks, and blotches of dark and occasional-
ly brownish gray. Full-grown specimens are
sometimes four feet long, and the sexes are
similar. The range of the species is about the
same as that of the jaguar, but they are more
common than the latter in the southwestern
United States. These animals are said to be
easily tamed, but in the experience of the
writer they are usually savage, and less readily
domesticated than many other members of the
family.

20. The MARGAY-(-F. tigrina), a spotted, gray-
ish cat found in the low woodlands of Central
and South America.

21. GEOFFROY'S CAT (F. guigna), a small
spotted cat of South America.

ZOOLOGICAL POSITION 15

22. The OCELOT-LIKE CAT (F. pardinoides), a
small species from Bogota, South America.

23. The YAGUARUNDI (F. yaguarundi). This
animal and the succeeding one are remarkably
different from most cats in external appear-
ance. The body is long and slender, the legs
short, the neck long, and the head elongated
and flattened, so that the animal at a first
glance has the aspect of a large weasel, rather
than one of the Felidce. This species is of a
dark gray, sometimes brownish, often almost
black, and is of uniform color. The body is less
than two feet long, and the tail is of equal length.
It is found from the Rio Grande to Brazil.

24. The EYRA (F. eyra), similar in form to
the last, but usually of a reddish-tan or brown-
ish-yellow color, and considerably larger. Its
range is about the same.

25. The COLOCOLLO (F. colocollo), a whitish-
gray species, about the size of the common cat,
with black stripes on the back, sides, and side
of the face ; an inhabitant of Guiana and north-
western South America.

26. The RUSTY-SPOTTED CAT (F. rubiginosa),
a graceful, pretty little cat of a greenish gray,

16 THE CAT

sometimes with a rusty tinge, with elongated,
sparsely scattered black spots, which give it
almost the color of the rich moss-colored bark
of a tropical tree ; an inhabitant of Ceylon and
portions of continental India.

27. The CHINESE CAT (F. chinensis), pale yel-
lowish gray, with dark-brown spots, and white
on the under surface of the throat and body ; an
inhabitant of Canton and the island of Formosa.

28. The SMALL CAT (F. minuta), much like
the Chinese Cat, but smaller and with spots
rather more elongated; an inhabitant of the
Indian Archipelago.

29. JERDON'S CAT (F. jerdoni). This cat is
much like the last two species, but has a
shorter tail, darker and more distinct spots.

30. The JAVAN CAT (F. javanensis), known
only from a skin in the British Museum.

31. The BUSHY-TAILED, RED-SPOTTED CAT (F.
euptilura), about the size of the house-cat ; gray ;
spotted ; from Shanghai, China.

32. The SMALL-EARED CAT (F.microtis) j Mon-
golia.

33. The LARGE-EARED CAT (F. megalotis).

34. The FLAT-HEADED CAT (F. planiceps), a

ZOOLOGICAL POSITION 17

dark-brown cat with silvery tips to the hairs ;
from Malacca, Sumatra, and Borneo.

35. The BORNEAN BAY CAT (F. badia), an-
other unspotted variety.

36. The EGYPTIAN CAT (F. caligata). This
species varies from a pale yellow to gray, with
darkish bands on the legs and toward the end
of the tail, and distinct horizontal bands on the
sides of the face. This long-tailed cat is prob-
ably one of the main sources of origin of the
domestic cat.

37. The WILDCAT (F. catus) is found through-
out Europe and western Asia, although it has
become extinct in England. The color is dark
gray, banded and spotted, and the tail is com-
paratively short.

38. The INDIAN WILDCAT (F. torquata). This
cat much resembles the European Wildcat, but
is lighter in color, not so distinctly banded, and
more graceful in its form.

39. The COMMON JUNGLE-CAT (F. chaus), an
inhabitant of India, of moderate size.

40. The ORNATE JUNGLE-CAT (F. ornata],
from northwestern India; pale brown, with
very small spots.

18 THE CAT

41. The STEPPE CAT (F. caudatus), an in-
habitant of Bokhara.

42. SHAW'S CAT (F. shawiana), from Turkes-
tan.

43. The MANUL (F. manul), the beautiful
wildcat of Thibet, Mongolia, and Siberia. It
is smaller than the common cat, with long, soft
hair, yellowish white in color, with some black
markings on the legs and body.

44. The STRAW or PAMPAS CAT (F. pajeros).
This cat represents in South America the
Manul of Asia.

45. The NORTHERN LYNX (F. lyncus), a mod-
erate-sized cat, with a heavy body, powerful
limbs, a very short tail, and sometimes with
tufted ears, inhabits the northern portions of
Asia, Europe, and America. The relationships
existing between these cats are even yet some-
what obscure, but it seems best to regard them
all as of one species, of which the Canada lynx
and the red lynx, wildcat or catamount, of the
United States may be well-marked varieties.
The color ranges from gray to reddish brown,
always more or less spotted and banded, and
much lighter on the under side of the body.

ZOOLOGICAL POSITION 19

Northern specimens are heavily furred and
have very large feet, serving the purpose of
snow-shoes during winter. There is much di-
versity in size, the southern form being smaller
than the Canada one, which may reach three
feet in length of body, the tail being about
five inches. A mounted specimen from north-
ern Europe, in the British Museum, is quite
as large as an average leopard. They are ex-
tremely shy animals, and in captivity appear
to suffer from the publicity which must needs
surround them. In fact, they are among the
most difficult of all cats to domesticate, and it
is rare to see the slightest disposition to be-
come tame.

46. The PARDINE LYNX (F.pardina), the lynx
of southern Europe.

47. The CARACAL (F. caracal). This is a lynx
of slender form and very variable color, found
from India and central Asia in to Africa.

48. The CHEETAH (F. julata). The skull of
this cat is quite different in some details from
that typical of Felis, and the claws cannot be
drawn entirely back into a sheath ; the legs are
also very long. The species is usually, there-

20 THE CAT

fore, regarded as forming a distinct genus,
CyncBlurus. The color is yellow, more or less
pale, and the whole body is covered with small
dark spots. The head is small, the neck some-
what arched, and in full-grown males a short
mane is often developed. The long legs give
this curious cat somewhat the form of the
greyhound. It is of comparatively gentle dis-
position, and in India, as is well known, is very
generally used for hunting or coursing ante-
lope upon the open plains. The animal is a
native of India, southwestern Asia, and a large
portion of Africa. A not very well character-
ized species, known as the woolly cheetah, is
said to exist in South Africa,

Many other supposed species of cat have
been described; but most of them rest upon
imperfect and insufficient material, while many
of the others may be regarded as individual
variations from some of the above better-
known forms. With increased knowledge of
portions of the earth which at present are little
known, others will doubtless be added to the
list.

CHAPTER II.

AN OUTLINE OF THE ANATOMY OF THE
DOMESTIC CAT.

THE skeleton of the cat differs from that
of man and those of the other domestic
animals only in trivial details which allow such
modification as is needed by the habits of the
animal.

Figures 1 and 2 give the outlines of the
external conformation of the cat, and the
same animal in section, showing the propor-
tionate relations of its skeleton to its exterior
as a whole. To any one familiar with the skel-
etons of other animals it will be seen at once
that the thorax or chest, as shown by the curves
of the thirteen ribs in Figure 2, is very small
in proportion to the body when compared with
that of other animals. This means a small
lung space, which leaves behind it, however,
3 21

22

THE CAT

FIG. 1. — EXTERIOR OF A CAT.

FIG. 2. — RELATIVE PROPORTION OP SKELETON TO THE
EXTERIOR OF THE CAT.

ANATOMY 23

an immense area for the digestive tract and
the organs of propagation. The head is
rounded, and the jaws are rather short. The
eyes are large, and separated by a considerable
interval. The ears become narrow as they as-
cend, and each stands with its deep concavity
directed forward and outward. The neck is
a little shorter and less voluminous than the
head. The front limbs are shorter than the
hind limbs., and consist each of an upper arm,
a forearm, and a paw with five short toes.
Each hind limb has a thigh, a leg, and a foot
with four toes. The proportions of the body
are such that both the elbow and knee are
placed close to the trunk. It will be seen
that the shoulder-blade, the arm, and the fore-
arm lie at very closed angles, as do also the
thigh, leg, and foot of the hinder extremities.
This conformation indicates at once a charac-
ter of action of the cat with which we are all
familiar. The small lung area allows of quick,
active movement, but not of prolonged work.
The large space for digestive tract and prop-
agation shows that the animal is capable of
taking advantage of all the luxuries of food,

24 THE CAT

with a space for storage, or is, again, able to
resist the demands of a long famine. The an-
gular joints of the legs show power and possi-
bility of quick movement, without, however,
great speed or extension of stride.

It must be understood here that the enor-
mous jumps which the cat is capable of tak-
ing are due to the great power and the closed
angles of the joints of its legs; whereas the
stride of the animal at a walk, trot, or run is
very limited.

Figures 3 and 4 show the skull of the cat
and its dentition. It will be seen that the
cat's teeth are set at more or less of a hooklike
angle, with the points turned toward the inside
of the mouth, which gives it a very powerful
hold of anything which it grasps. The cat has
thirty teeth in all. It will be seen in Figure 4
—which represents the teeth of one side of the
jaw — that there is first in front a row of in-
cisors (three on either side — six in all), which
are very small, and are practically rudimentary
in this animal • then two enormous tush teeth,
which enable it to grasp its prey in the shape
of the mouse, bird, or a simple piece of meat,

ANATOMY

25

FIG. 3. — SKULL OF THE CAT.

FIG. 4. — PERMANENT DENTITION OF THE CAT.
i, Incisors; c, Canines or tushes; pm, Premolars;
m, Molars.

26 THE CAT

and hold it firmly; then posterior come the
premolars — three in the upper jaw and two in
the lower jaw of each side ; and behind these
the molars — one in each jaw. In the tempo-
rary or milk dentition of kittens the molars are
absent, leaving but twenty-six teeth. These, it
will be seen (Figure 4), have enormous strong
roots set in the jaw-bone, while the points are
sharp and cutting; which allows of the man-
gling of any solid food which may be taken,
while it does not permit of grinding it, as is
necessary in the herbivorous animals, or even,
to a certain extent, in the omnivorous animals.
The cat, like the dog, after having once grasped
its food, tears it to a certain degree, and then
swallows it whole, when its powerful stomach
and organs of digestion allow of the rapid dis-
integration of what it may have swallowed.

The muzzle of the cat is soft, with long coarse
hairs, ordinarily called the "whiskers" (riltrix-
sce), which are really organs of touch. These,
like the hairs on the end of a horse's muzzle,
or those pf most of the domestic animals, are
deeply imbedded in the skin, touching at their
roots sensory nerves, which indicate to the ani-

ANATOMY 27

mal, when nosing over foreign objects or when
feeling its way in the dark, that its head is
coming in contact with foreign bodies; and
they are really organs of self -protection. These
are seen represented in Figure 5, which also

FIG. 5. — MUZZLE OF CAT, SHOWING ABOVE, NOSE-
POINT AND NOSTRILS- COVERED WITH DENSE Mucous
MEMBRANE ; AT SIDES, VIBRISS^E ; AND BELOW, THE LIPS
AND CHIN.

represents the lips — the upper and hrvver lip —
the nostrils, and the point of the nose. And
it will be understood in the description of the
various cats in the latter part of this book that
when the nose is spoken of as being black or
pink, it is meant to indicate that this col-
oration applies to the mucous membrane sur-

28

THE CAT

rounding the nostrils, as is seen in the figure,
represented by the two dark orifices of the
nostrils, surrounded by the grayish hook-lines
turning in opposite directions.

The pads of the feet of the cat consist of
bulbs of a fibre-elastic, fatty material, covered
by an excessively thick and dense epithelial

RIGHT FOREPAW OF A CAT.

membrane, which is, however, nothing but a
modification of the connective tissues and epi-
thelial covering which form the skin of the
rest of the body, but is condensed in order to
meet the requirements of the extra friction
which is demanded of those parts of the feet
which come in contact with the ground and
must bear the animal's weight. These pads in
the forefeet are seven in number, as shown
in Figure 6. In the hind feet there are only

ANATOMY 29

five. Each pad consists of a mass of fibrous
tissue and fat, and a large triobed one is
placed beneath the ends of those bones on
which the animal rests in walking, as repre-
sented in the figure here given.

One essential character of the anatomy of
the entire cat tribe consists in the arrangement
of the claws at the end of each toe. While the
nails of the fingers and toes of man and of the
toes of the elephant, the hoofs on the extremity
of the legs of the horse, cattle, and such, ani-
mals, are fixed and practically immovable, and
while these same appendages in the claws
of the dog and many other animals are fixed,
while slightly movable in the softer tissues
which imbed them, in the feline species they
are excessively movable. In the cat tribe there
is in the soft tissue which covers the third pha-
lanx, or the last joint of the toes, a pocket or
socket which holds the claw. Under ordinary
circumstances, and when the animal is at rest,
the claw is drawn back into the socket, and
held imbedded there by an elastic ligament,
as will be seen in the upper illustration of
Figure 7. When, however, an animal of the cat

30 TIU-: CAT

tribe wishes to grasp anything, and use its
claws, it flexes the bones of its digital extremi-
ties, and tightening the tendon which is seen
on the imder-surface of both illustrations of

FIG. 7. — UPPER FIGURE : CLAW AT REST, HELD BACK
BY ELASTIC LIGAMENT. LOWER FIGURE : CLAW DRAWN
DOWN BY CONTRACTION OF TENDON BELOW, ELASTIC
LIGAMENT STRETCHED, AND CLAW PROTRUDING.

Figure 7, it draws the claw forward and
downward, thereby stretching the elastic liga-
ment. This can readily be verified by taking
your own cat at perfect rest, and after patting
it gently on the head, pass the hand down over
the ends of the toes, when you will find that

ANATOMY 31

the claws can scarcely be felt; however, the
instant the cat has been wakened and starts
to play, or resists the handling it has been sub-
jected to, the claws protrude as the paw and
the foot are flexed.

It is not in place here to go into detailed
anatomy of the cat. Reference has already
been made to the slight development of the
respiratory system. The digestive system of
the cat is comparatively simple. The stomach
is ample, and the intestines which follow it,
while convoluted in order to be contained in a
limited space, are not subject to the constric-
tions which are found in the horse and some
of the larger domestic animals, and it is rare
that we have in the cat troubles coming from
obstruction of the digestive tract, unless the
animal has by accident swallowed some enor-
mous foreign body.

CHAPTER III.

THE ORIGIN OF THE DOMESTIC CAT AND
ITS VARIETIES.

I HAVE referred tersely in Chapter I. to
the Wildcat, the Egyptian Cat (which un-
doubtedly originally was a Wildcat), and the
American Wildcat ; but I now repeat a descrip-
tion of these, as they are unquestionably the
source of origin of the Domestic Cat.

THE WILDCAT (F. catus).

While the Wildcat of western Europe is
undoubtedly one of the strongest factors
in the origin of the ordinary short-haired
house-cat of to-day, and the description of it
should be original, and that of the house-cat
by comparison, the latter is so much more
familiar to us all that it is simpler to describe
the Wildcat by comparison. The Wildcat
32

VARIETIES

33

differs from the house-cat in being larger and
stronger in its body. It has a head which is
broader and more heavily boned, and a short,
thick tail which does not taper. Its whiskers
are more abundant, and the pads of its feet

FIG. 8. — THE WILDCAT.

are, in the males, of a deep black. In color it
is a yellowish gray, with a dark longitudinal
mark along the back, and it has dark stripes
descending more or less vertically on the sides
and transversely on the legs. Its tail is ringed
with black, and is black at the end. In other
words, it is marked much like the domestic
Tabbv.

34 THE CAT

THE EGYPTIAN CAT (F. calif/afa).

The Egyptian Cat is a native of northern
Africa, and was the parent of the cat tamed
by the Egyptians, and undoubtedly also one
of the originators of our own house-cats. The
Egyptian Cat is considerably smaller than the
European Wildcat. It is of a yellowish color,
darker on the back, and very light on the belly.
The stripes on the body are not well marked,
though slightly more so on the legs. The tail
is slightly ringed.

THE AMERICAN WILDCAT (F. ly-ucu* rufus).

The American Wildcat is very similar in
formation, color, and character to the Wild-
cat of Europe, but is somewhat stronger and
stouter. It undoubtedly has been a factor in
the breeding of certain domestic cats in Amer-
ica, but so little so that no importance need be
attached to it.

It can now be accepted that the so-called
Domestic Cat of to-day is the descendant of
certain wild species existing on the several con-

VARIETIES 35

tinents ages ago, when the first members were
subdued, subjugated, and, by handling, reduced
to house-pets, or at least to that semi-domesti-
cation which renders them familiar with man,
and useful in stables and granaries for the
destruction of small vermin, or to be petted in
dwellings as companions.

The domestication of the cat took place at a
very ancient period. From its small size, and
the fact that it is not a choice article of diet, it
is not wonderful that we find few or no traces
of the smaller varieties of the cat in the dol-
mens or kokkenmoeddings of Denmark and
northern central Europe, nor in the caves of
the troglodytes of France, Siberia, and the
British Islands. The first evidence of the cat
in connection with man is to be found in the
ancient monuments of Egypt, Babylon, and
Nineveh.

In the Egyptian Gallery of the British Mu-
seum is an excellent painting of a tabby-cat,
which seems to be aiding a man who is captur-
ing birds. The cat is mentioned in inscriptions
as early as 1684 B.C., and it was certainly domes-
ticated in Egypt thirteen hundred years before

36 THE CAT

Christ. The earliest known representation of
the cat as a domestic animal and pet is at Ley-
den, in a tablet of the Eighteenth or Nineteenth
Dynasty, wherein it appears seated under a
chair. In Egypt it was an object of religious
worship and the venerated inmate of certain
temples. The goddess Pasht or Bubastis, the
goddess of cats, was, under the Roman empire,
represented with a cat's head. A temple at
Beni-Hassan, dedicated to her, belongs to the
period of Thothmes IV., of the Eighteenth Dy-
nasty, 1500 B.C. Behind this temple are pits con-
taining a multitude of cat mummies. The cat
was an emblem of the sun to the Egyptians. Its
eyes were supposed to vary in appearance with
the course of that luminary, and likewise to un-
dergo a change each lunar month, on which ac-
count the animal was also sacred to the moon.
Herodotus recounts instances of the strangely
exaggerated regard felt for it by the dwellers
on the Nile. He tells us that when a cat dies
a natural death in a house, the Egyptians shave
off their eyebrows • and that when a fire occurs
they are more anxious to save their cats than
to extinguish the conflagration.

VARIETIES 37

The cat was a common animal, known to the
Greeks at the period when Athens represented
the civilization of the world j and later, in the
Greco-Italian civilization of Herculaneum and
Pompeii, in the south of Italy, and in the pe-
riod of Roman supremacy, it was a well-known
animal and the pet of courts and ladies' bou-
doirs. The first account of its domestication
in Great Britain comes at a comparatively late
period.

A canon enacted in the year 1127 forbade
any abbess or nun to use more costly fur than
that of lambs or cats ; and the cat was an ob-
ject of the chase in royal forests, as is shown
by a license to hunt it of the date 1239, and
by a similar charter given by Richard II. to the
abbot of Peterborough.

In resume, from the foregoing it is evident
that the domestication of the cat, or at least
its subjugation, which renders it a companion
of mankind, took place at a very early period,
probably synchronous with the first civilization
of man himself. As pussy is an animal which,
while savage, wild, and unmanageable in early
age and its natural state, is yet small enough

38 TllK CAT

to be easily handled, and sensible enough to
become reasonably sociable when it has good
care and plenty of food, we can readily imagine
that even in the earliest of times the young
of the Wildcat was caught and brought home
to the caves or tents of the first of mankind,
to be a companion and pet of the children. Its
thrifty, useful habits of mousing and killing
vermin made it useful, so that it was probably
protected and cared for at a period when man-
kind first laid up storehouses of grain for
winter or future use. I doubt if to-day the cat
in the largest city of Europe or the United
States is any more of a domestic animal than
it was when the nomad Aryan traveled from
Asia to the west of Europe.

We have seen from the foregoing that the
Domestic Cat probably comes from several
sources. The Long-haired Cats derived their
origin from the Indian, Bengalese, and various
smaller Wildcats of Asia and southern Russia,
and are known as the Asiatic, Eastern, or Long-
haired Cats.

VARIETIES 39

LONG-HAIRED CATS.

THE ASIATIC OB EASTERN CAT.

The Long-haired Oats, otherwise known as
the Asiatic or Eastern Cats, vary only slightly
in conformation, but greatly in color and in
the quality of their coats. The coat may be
woolly in texture, may be coarsish in texture,
or it may be as fine as silk • but more com-
monly there is a mixture of an upper coat of
silk}^ hairs with a close, woolly under coat grow-
ing, around the roots of the former. An im-
portant quality in all Long-haired Cats is the
frill or " lord mayor's chain, " which is a crest
of hairs around the neck at the line where the
fur of the cheeks pointing downward meets
that of the neck pointing forward. They
vary in their eyes, ears, and the length and
form of the tail. The Long-haired Cats include
the various families known as the Angora, the
Persian, the Russian, the Chinese, and the In-
dian.

40 THE CAT

THE ANGORA.
(Called also Angola.)

The Angora Cat, which has a close relation
to the Persian, comes from the province of
Angora, in western Asia, which is also well

FIG. 9. — ANGORA.

known for its goats, with fine, silky, long hair,
which is nsed in the manufacture of soft
shawls. The Angora has a small head, with
a rather short though well-defined nose, more
angular than the Persian. The eyes should be
large and full, and harmonious in color with

VARIETIES 41

the coat of the animal. The ears are rather
large, with a tuft of hair at the tip ; but they
do not look large, as they are imbedded in the
long fur which covers the head and neck. The
body should be long and graceful, and covered
with a long silky hair, finer than that of the
Persian, and hanging in tufts and clusters,
with a slight tendency to woolliness at the base
of the hairs ; the legs somewhat short ; and the
tail long and curving toward the end. The
hair on the tail should be long at the base and
shorter toward the end of the tail.

The colors of the Angora Cat are varied. The
black Angoras and dark slate-colors should
have orange eyes; and they, with the blues
and the whites, are the most valued, although
the light fawns or reds and mottled grays are
much esteemed. Mr. Weir says that he does
not believe that long-haired Tabbies can be
true Angoras.

THE PERSIAN CAT.

The Persian Cat differs from the Angora
in several essential details. The head is
rather larger, with ears less pointed, although

42 THE CAT

these also have tufts of hair at their points.
The eyes are large and full. The Persian is
larger in the body, and has broader and
stronger loins, and from its stronger con-
formation equals in its activity and strength
the graceful form of the more tiger-like An-
gora. The tail in the Persian is rather longer,
turns slightly upward at its tip, and has a
greater growth of hair at the end, instead of
at the base of the tail as in the Angora. The
colors of the Persian are variable; they may
be white, black, blue, chinchilla, smoke, and
variable degrees of Tortoise-shell and Tabby ;
but Mr. Weir is again authority for the state-
ment that the Tortoise-shell and the dark-
marked Tabby are not Persian Cat colors, but
are obtained by crossing with the Short-haired
Tortoise-shell and also with the English Tabby.
The black is the most valued of colors in the
Persian. A good, rich, deep black, with orange-
colored eyes and long flowing hair and a heavy
mane, constitutes the most perfect form. The
next color in value is light slate or blue, which
may vary much in its shades from a lilac hue
to a deep-blue tone. Then follow the various

VARIETIES

43

mixed colors of black and orange, not dis-
tinctly blotched enough to be called a Tortoise-

FIG. 10.— A PERSIAN.

shell, nor banded enongh to be called a Tabby.
The Tortoise-shell and the Tabby are never so
well marked in the Long-haired Cats as in the

44 THE CAT

Short-haired ones, because the longer hairs of
the former blend with one another and do not
allow so distinct a line of demarcation.

SHORT-HAIRED CATS.
THE EUROPEAN OR WESTERN CAT.

The Short-haired Cat, otherwise known as
the European or Western Cat, is the one de-
rived from the European Wildcat, with an in-
termixture of the blood of the Egyptian Cat.
Whatever may have been its original form —
which was probably simply a modification of
the form of the Wildcat — and its color —
which undoubtedly at first was the same as the
grayish coat of the Wildcat — it has changed
but little except as to a modification of size and
a change of color, which is no more odd than
the alterations of color of any other animal
removed from its natural surroundings and
living in civilization. The varieties we make
of the Short-haired Cat of to-day are really
somewhat arbitrary, and based upon color ; but
we do find that certain deviations of conforms-

VARIETIES , 45

tioii correspond with certain varieties of color j
and it is a fact that by selection of the breed-
ing of like and like, the probability is that the
progeny will be like the parent ; and yet this is
not a fixed fact. We have curious and inex-
plicable variations of color, especially in the
breeding of the cat. One of the most curious
of these is exemplified in the Tortoise-shell. It
is easy to obtain a beautifully marked female
Tortoise-shell ; it is difficult to find a good male
Tortoise-shell ; yet, having found both, and hav-
ing bred them, while the young females may all
turn out good Tortoise-shells, the average male
will be a red or yellow Tabby. Careful selec-
tion and breeding in cats has been an object of
attention only for a comparatively few years.
It is but a matter of less than half a century
since cat shows have been in vogue, and that
much attention has been paid to these animals ;
and undoubtedly in a few years, when we pay
the same attention to the breeding of our cats
which we have to that of the thoroughbred
horse and all our sporting-dogs, we will obtain
more definite and satisfactory results.

The exhibit division and classification of the

46 THE CAT

varieties of cats — which, as I have just said, is
based principally on color — will be found in
the Appendix.

It will be seen that in the Prize List of the
National Cat Show (vide Appendix) the classi-
fication of color is not quite so extended : and
justly so, as it will require a certain amount of
time and more systematic breeding to divide
the classes of cats more rigidty. The general
divisions will now be given in detail, with a
short outline of each variety, and then a resume
of the character or qualities which the animal
should present as to the conformation and shape
of its head, the color of its eyes, the form and
feathering of its ears, the conformation of its
body, with the set of the neck and the shape
and carriage of the tail, the color and quality
of its coat, and the character which is wanted
in the appendages of the extremities.

THE TORTOISE-SHELL.
(Sometimes called Spanish Cats.)

HEAD. — The head of the Tortoise-shell should
be rather small, broad across the forehead and

rARIETlES 47

between the eyes, rounded on top, with a nose
rather longish, the whole having a somewhat
bullety appearance. The head is carried on a
rather longish neck, which adds grace, under
somewhat savage aspect, to its appearance.

EYES. — The eyes are round, brilliant, and
vary in color from a bright amber to an orange-
yellow ; the darker the hue the better.

EARS. — The ears are medium in size, rounded
at the apex, and broad at the base, giving them
an angular form. They should be set well
apart and carried well cocked or erect, giving
a bright appearance.

CONFORMATION. — The Tortoise-shell is rather
a smallish cat ; but allowance must be made
for the fact that the immense majority of Tor-
toise-shells are females, which in all the cat fam-
ilies are smaller than the males. The bodies
are rather long, giving the animal the graceful
turn of the tiger or leopard.

TAIL. — The tail is long, thick at the base,
tapers toward the end, and has an upward
curve. Patches of color on the tail should be
as distinct as they are on the body.

COAT — COLOR AND QUALITY. — The Tortoise-

48 THE CAT

shell in color is black, red, and yellow ; the less
black the better. The three colors should be
distinct, in well-defined patches, with sharp
lines of demarcation between them. The color
should be rich and deep, and any blur in the

FIG. 11. — TORTOISE-SHELL CAT.

marking or intermixture of the color becomes
a weak point in it. The hair should be short,
lie close to the body, silken in texture, and have
a glossy or brilliant appearance. According to
the markings, a Tortoise-shell may be a very
homely animal or a most beautiful one. Any
white absolutely disqualifies the animal. There

VARIETIES 49

is a popular superstition that Tortoise-shells
are all females; but this is not the case, for
while females are in the majority, males are
often to be found, and sometimes are grand,
beautiful, large animals.

MERITS. — The Tortoise-shell is one of the
best of hunters of all the families of the cat,
is a most patient mouser, and is brave to the
extreme. It is not over-affectionate, and some-
times even sinister and most ill tempered in its
disposition.

THE TORTOISE-SHELL-AND- WHITE.

Another variety of the Tortoise-shell which
is frequently seen is one in which there is an
intermixture of a certain amount of white,
which is usually seen in a blaze on the face,
a white breast, and white forelegs and hind-
legs, the latter not usually having so much
as the former.

HEAD. — The head is small, broad across the
forehead and between the eyes. It is round
above and depressed toward the lips.

EYES. — The eyes are orange-yellow, full,
large, round, and lustrous.

50 TU-E CAT

EARS. — The ears are medium in size, narrow
and round at the apex, and broad at the base,
giving them a conical form. They should be
well set and erect.

FORM. — The body is long and narrow, crested
by a long, slender, and graceful neck. The
shoulders are sloped in harmony with the lithe
body, which, with the shortish legs, gives this
cat the typical feline gait.

TAIL. — The tail is thicker than that of the
Tortoise-shell — especially so at the base —
although some Tortoise-shell-aiid- White Cats
have a rather thin tail. The thick tail is, how-
ever, preferable. The tail should be marked
with black, red, and yellow blotches, and not
white.

COAT — COLOR AND QUALITY. — The hair is
somewhat coarser than in the pure Tortoise-
shell. More white is allowable in the Tortoise-
shell-and- White than in the Black-and- White
Cat. If the white is entirely district, with a
clear line of demarcation between it and the
black, yellow, and red, as exists between these
latter colors, a considerable amount of it is per-
missible, and adds to the beauty of the animal.

VARIETIES

51

There should be no approach whatever to the
Tabby bands or the brownish and grayish
color of the Tabby. It is a curious fact that

FIG. 12. — TORTOISE-SHELL-AND-WHITE.

the male kittens from the Tortoise-shell-and-
White Cat usually come a Red Tabby, or a Red
Tabby and White. A good strong blaze on

52 THE CAT

the face, four white feet, a white breast — but
the latter not surrounding the neck like a
collar — is very popular, and is called "Dutch-
rabbit markiugs." These cats, however, should
have good, distinct Tortoise-shell markings over
the back and tail.

SIZE AND CONDITION. — The Tortoise-shell-
and- White is decidedly larger than the Tor-
toise-shell in size, and is lithe and elegant in
its motion. It is especially beautiful when
young, but is apt to become lazy when old —
the more so the more white there is in its
markings. These cats are excessively cleanly,
and vain of their white, spending much of their
time in keeping themselves clean.

TABBIES.

The Tabby is one of the commonest of col-
ors, and is found in many breeds of the cat;
and still a very well-marked Tabby is com-
paratively rare. The Tabbies are divided into
the Banded Tabbies and the Spotted Tabbies.
The name of " Tabby" is derived from "Atab"
— a street in Bagdad celebrated for the manu-
facture of its watered or moire silks, which

VARIETIES 53

when sold in England were called "atabi" or
"taffety"; and from the similarity of the
stripes of the banded and the brindle cats, the
latter were called " Tabby." Weir says that in
the south of England (Norfolk and Suffolk) the
Tabby is called a Cyprus Cat j and he found in
Bailey's Dictionary (1730 A.D.) that "Cyprus"
was a kind of cloth made of silk and hair, show-
ing wavy lines on it, and coming from Cyprus.
Evidently, therefore, the " Taffeta " or " Tabby "
indicates the striping, and not the color.

The Tabby presents numerous varieties in
color and shade, but may be divided into four
general classes :

1. The Brown Tabby.

2. The Spotted Tabby.

3. The Blue or Silver Tabby.

4. The Red Tabby.

The Broivn Tally.

The Brown Tabby has a ground color of
a rich, reddish dark brown, with no white,
and even, regular bars and bands of solid,
shining black over the face, head, breast, sides,

back, belly, legs, and tail. The face, legs,
5

54

THE CAT

breast, and belly should have more of a rich
red orange tint than the back. The bands
should be graceful in curve, distinct, and

FIG. 13.— A WELL-MARKED TABBY.

clearly denned, so that there is a perfect de-
marcation in the line between the black and
the brown, and not mixed and blurred. The
Banded Tabby should not be spotted in any
way, beyond a few spots which almost always

VARIETIES

55

FIG. 14. — BADLY MARKED TABBY (BANDS TOO BROAD).

occur on the face and sometimes on the fore-
legs. "The clearer, redder, and brighter the
brown the better."

56 THE CAT

HEAD. — Not too large j not too wide j rather
longer than broad.

NOSE. — Deep red, bordered with black.

EYES. — Orange, slightly greenish in shade.

EARS. — Medium.

LEGS. — Rather long, for grace of action.

BODY. — Long and narrow, with deep chest.

TAIL. — Long and tapering.

FEET. — Black j black pads and claws, yellow-
ish white around.

Black lips and brown whiskers are allowable,
but orange-tinted are far preferable, and pure
white should disqualify.

A Brown Tabby should be orange-brown.
The dark brownish-gray Tabbies are simply
ordinary Tabbies.

The Spotted Taltiy.

The Spotted Tabby may have any base color
which is common to the cat. This base color
may be brown, red, or yellow; but whichever
color it is, it must be spotted with black.
There should be no bands whatever, for when
these exist it makes a poorly marked Banded
Tabby. What were lines in the Banded Tab-

VARIETIES

57

by should be interrupted regularly, leaving
black spots, which in a well-marked Spotted
Tabby appear in lines, straight, or with grace-

FIG. 15. — A SPOTTED TABBY.

58 THE CAT

f ul curves in the neighborhood of the neck and
shoulders, but always interrupted into spots.
The spots should be medium in size, and the
better and more distinctly denned they are the
better the Tabby. If spots exist on the face
they are especially valuable. There should be
no white. The general conformation given for
the Banded Tabbies applies to the Spotted
Tabby ; but the nose should be dark red, and
the eyes a yellow-orange ; the less greenish the
better.

In the Brown Spotted Tabby the pads of the
feet are always black, and in the Yellow or
Red Spotted Tabby they may be pink. (The
spots should not be annulated.) The Spotted
Tabby is usually a very large cat, a great
mouser and hunter, a brave animal, well capa-
ble of taking care of itself against other cats
and dogs, and approaches in its general char-
acteristics in many ways to the Wildcat.

The Blue or Silver Tabhy.

HEAD. — Its head is small and broad, with a
long, sharp nose.

EYES. — The eyes are orange for the Blue

VARIETIES

59

Tabby, yellow for the Silver Tabby, and for
both should be large, piercingly bright, and
lustrous.

•
*>• • >

FIG. 16. — A GOOD SILVER TABBY.

EARS. — The ears are medium or somewhat
longish.

FORM. — In form these cats have long, nar-
row, graceful bodies, with long neck and exces-
sively graceful general contour.

60 THE CAT

TAIL. — The tail is long, thick at the base,
curves upward, and should have rings.

COAT — COLOR AND QUALITY. — The hair
should be short, even, smooth, and silky. The
base color should be a distinct blue or a silver-
gray striped with black. In the Blue the color
should be a rich, deep, bright blue • in the
Silver very much lighter, but of a very bright
color. The black bands should be jet-black,
and narrow, clear, and sharply denned. The
cushions of the feet are always black. The
Blue or Silver Tabby is usually a much
smaller animal than the Brown Tabby.

The Red Tabby.

HEAD. — The head is smallish, with the nose
long and tapering.

EYES. — The eyes may be orange-colored or
yellow in color, but should be deep-set, full,
round, and lustrous. A beautiful rich yellow
is perhaps the preferable eye.

EARS. — The ears are medium in length.

FORM. — The form should be long, narrow,
and graceful, like the Silver Tabby, and, like

VARIETIES 61

it, it should have a long tail, thick at the
base, curved upward, and surrounded with
rings.

COAT — COLOR AND QUALITY. — This cat
should have short, even, smooth silky hairs
like the Blue Tabby. The color should be of
a deep, rich, reddish brown, bright red, or
yellow. The belly and inside of the legs are
of a brighter color 5 the ears and the nose of a
deeper color. The bands are formed of a much
darker red, which, however, should be as dis-
tinct from the lighter base color of the animal
as possible • and the rings should be especially
well marked around the throat and chest. The
Red Tabby should have no white whatever.
In size it corresponds much to the Brown
Tabby.

This cat is an important factor in breeding
Tortoise-shells. In fact, many of the male
kittens in the litter of a Tortoise-shell are
Red Tabbies, while the females are Tortoise-
shells.

They are good-natured domestic cats, great
mousers, and hunters for birds, as they climb
well 5 and they are also expert fishers.

62 THE CAT

WHITE CATS — SHORT-HAIRED.

HEAD. — The heads of White Cats are
rather small, and round above. The forehead
is broad across and broad between the eyes.
The nose is rather longish.

EYES. — The eyes should be blue — that beau-
tiful soft blue of a good turquoise, or the sky-
blue of a perfect, clear day. Yellow eyes, how-
ever, are permissible ; but the yellow should be
a clear, rich yellow. Greenish eyes are a seri-
ous defect. The eyes should be large, round,
full, and soft in their appearance, and should
be of the same color. Eyes of a different color
are not allowable, though these we sometimes
find — one blue and the other yellow, or one
green with the other of either color.

EARS. — The ears are medium in size, narrow
and round at the apex, and broad at the base,
and are feathered on the inside.

FORM. — The White Cat has a long, narrow
body, with a long, slender, graceful neck. It
has a shoulder well sloped, and legs of medium
length, slender and delicate, with small round
feet.

VARIETIES

63

TAIL. — The tail should be long, thick at the
base, and tapering toward the end. It should
be carried low, almost trailing on the ground.

COAT — COLOR AND QUALITY. — The White

FIG. 17. — WHITE SHORT-HAIRED CAT.

Cat should have a very short coat, even in
length, and tying close to the body ; it should
be of a silky texture and glossy appearance.
The most choice color is a delicate yellowish
white — sometimes a slightly bluish white. The
gray-white is a decidedly inferior color. A

64 THE CAT

long coat on a White Cat indicates some inter-
mixture with the Angora. White Cats are sel-
dom of great size, and they have graceful, easy
movements, but are not languid. The White
Cat is of a timid disposition, very fond of pet-
ting and cuddling 5 it is quiet in its manners,
delicate in its temperament, and honest in its
character. It would much prefer to be fed
from the saucer, and from the table while lying
on a chair, than to go roaming for prey or
stealing from the kitchen. White Cats are,
however, sometimes excellent mousers, and are
especial pets with millers, as their color can
scarcely be seen among the sacks of flour.
White Cats are very often deaf, and some-
times blind, without any appearance of organic
change in the eyes.

The Albino, which is a white cat with pink
eyes — due to an absence of pigment in the iris
— must not be included in the group of White
Cats, as it may come from any breed, when
the absence of color is due to a physiological
aberration during development.

VARIETIES 65

SELF-COLORED CATS.

The Self-colored Cats are those which are
entirely of one solid color, which may vary
in its hue or tint, but must not have any
intermixture of white or of any other color.
The Self-colored Cats are the Black, the Blue,
the Red, and the Yellow. Whatever the color,
it should be distinctive and of a rich lustre.
The black should be a jet, shining black, the
blue of a rich slate or true blue, and the red
and yellow of rich colors. The description of
the Blue Cat for conformation will suffice for
all of the Self-colors.

THE BLUE CAT.

The Blue Cat is called the "Maltese" in Amer-
ica. This cat has been known under various
names in England. It was first shown as the
"Archangel Cat/' then called the "Russian
Cat/' also the " Spanish Blue" and " Chartreuse
Blue/'' and recently has been called the " Amer-
ican Blue." This latter name is probably due
to the fact that the Maltese for some years has
been a very favorite cat in America, and has

66

THE CAT

probably been bred more carefully than any
other breed of cat, so that its representatives
formed a distinctive type of good quality.

HEAD. — The head should be small, broad at
the forehead and between the eyes, rounded

FIG. 18.— BLUE CAT.

above, and tapering to the lips below. The
nose should be long, and the end of it black.
EYES. — The eyes should be :

Orange-yellow for the Blue Cat ;
Orange for the Black Cat ;
Yellow for the Gray Cat ;
Gold for the Red Cat.

EARS. — The ears are medium in length, some-
what pointed.

VARIETIES 67

FORM. — The Self-colored Cats should have
a narrow, long body, lithe in appearance, with
a long and graceful neck on which the head is
well poised. The legs are medium in length,
with small round feet.

COAT — COLOR AND QUALITY. — The coat
should be short, with hairs of even length ly-
ing closely to the body, and silky and glossy,
with a rich lustre of whatever the color of the
animal may be. The Blue should be a rich
light blue ; and it is decidedly preferable in all
the Self-colors that the tint should be perfectly
even over the whole body, and not shade off
into a lighter one.

BLACK-AND-WHITE CATS.

The Black-and- White Cat should have the
same general conformation, head, set of ears,
and carriage of tail as has already been given
for the Tabbies.

EYES. — The eyes vary somewhat from an
orange-yellow to a green, or that rich green
called " sea-green."

COAT — COLOR AND QUALITY. — The black of

68

THE CAT

the top of the head7 body, and tail should be a
dense, bright, rich black, and the white mark-
ings should be distinctive. It has a white
nose running somewhat to a point between the
eyes, and the white extends down the throat,

FIG. 19.— BLACK-AND-WHITE CAT.

forming a shield on the breast. There should
be no black on the lips. The feet are white, as
are the pads underneath them. There should
be a perfectly clear, distinctly curved outline
at the point of juncture of the two colors. The
coat should be thick, silky, and glossy. Some-

VARIETIES 69

times it is slightly ticked with white, which,
if it occurs evenly, is not a serious blemish.
Black-aiid- White Cats are usually large, with
stout legs, and the ankles of the white ones
somewhat close, which gives them great power
of movement. According to the care which
the Black-aiid~ White Cat receives, it tends more
than any other cat to become fat and indolent,
or ragged and wretched, as the case may be.
The Black-and- White Cat is affectionate and
cleanly, but is a selfish animal, and is not one
for children to play with.

THE ROYAL CAT OF SIAM.

The Eoyal Cat of Siam is an odd but rather
attractive cat, from its graceful form, and from
the peculiar, strikingly marked black head, tail,
and extremities.

HEAD. — The head is small and broad at the
eyes, but narrows above at the forehead. The
nose is long and broad, the cheeks narrow, and
the lips full, giving a sort of square appearance
to it.

EYES. — The eyes are almond-shaped, placed

70

THE CAT

at an angle in the head, reminding one exactly
of those of the Chinese or other Mongolians of
the human race. They are of a rich opalesque
blue, but appear reddish at dusk and at night.
EAES. — The ears are large and wide, with
few hairs on the inside.

FIG. 20. — ROYAL CAT OF SIAM.

TAIL. — The tail is short and thin, but should
be perfectly regular and have no break or kink
in it.

COAT — COLOR AND QUALITY. — The coat is
short, somewhat woolly, but soft and silky.
The preferable colors are a dun or fawn color,
although they are sometimes a silver-gray or a

VARIETIES 71

light orange. Tlie entire mask of the face and
ears and the legs and tail are black. The Royal
Cat of Siam is a small animal, narrow in the
body, lithe and graceful. The legs are thin
and short. The neck is long and small, and
the feet are long.

THE MANX CAT.

The Manx Cat differs from the ordinary cat
only in being tailless, or nearly so, the most
choice families not having any tail at all. If
they have a short rudimentary tail it should
be boneless j but sometimes they have short,
thin, twisted tails, or tails in the shape of a
knob. Some Manx Cats, however, have very
long tails, even ten inches in length. The hind
legs are proportionately longer and somewhat
heavy, which gives the cat when running or
jumping somewhat of the action of a rabbit;
but this is more imaginary than real, and the
supposed similarity is due rather to the char-
acter of the tail. Most Manx Cats are rather
smallish, with a head small for their size, set
on a thick and long neck. The eyes are large,

72

THE CAT

round, and full. The ears are medium-sized,
rounded at the apex, and hairless within. The
Manx Cat varies in color, running to Tabbies
and all the mixed colors. A white Manx Cat

FIG. 21.— MANX CAT.

is practically unknown, and black ones are ex-
cessivety rare. The Manx Cat really can be
classed as a monstrosity, having been devel-
oped probably by the interbreeding of some
freak of nature in the form of a cat which in-
habited the Island of Man at an, early period.

VARIETIES 73

An ordinary cat can easily be rendered tail-
less if operated on at a young age j and as this
is often done, especial attention should be paid
to see that the absent tail is natural and that
there is no scar as evidence of operative inter-
ference, or, as such things are called in dog
shows, "faking."

CHAPTER IV.

CAEE OF THE CAT.

THE care of the cat is of very much more
importance in the close surroundings of
city life than it is in the country, where the
animal has as much freedom as the barefooted,
half-dressed boy who can be trusted to run the
farm over, and is supposed to be safe whether
rooting in the garden of vegetables, sunflowers,
and hollyhocks, playing in the calf -pen, or in-
vestigating the poultry or pigs. In the country
the cat has the opportunity of finding mice,
birds, and its feral prey, and can always fall
back on a goodly feed from the milk-pan of
the dairy and the rear of the kitchen. It
breeds as it pleases, and demands little care or
attention beyond the interest the children or
housewife take in the kittens which appear
from some corner, after they are able to run
74

CARE OF THE CAT 75

themselves, and meet a fate of selection, when
the one or two are to be kept and the rest to
be drowned.

In the city arid large towns it is different.
The cat in the environment of civilization must
be fed, looked after, and guarded in its mo-
ments of freedom; and a guide to the care of
the cat applies rather to city cats than country
ones, except such portions as are needful for
the finer-bred cats, which require special care
at all times.

In towns the cat should wear a collar on
which the name of the owner is engraved;
although there is the serious objection to a
collar that it breaks the hairs and marks the
neck. In New York the Society for the Pre-
vention of Cruelty to Animals is empowered
with a most satisfactory law for the protection
of cats and is most liberal in its care of them
(vide Appendix).

HOUSING.

The cat is an excessively cleanly animal,
and when housed should be provided with
means for remaining so. A small box, or —

76 THE CAT

what is better, as it can be well washed — a
galvanized flat pan such as is used for roasting
meat, should be placed in some well- ventilated
corner out of sight, and kept filled about an
inch deep with sand, clean earth, or sawdust.
Perhaps the latter is preferable, as it can be
burned. The litter should be changed fre-
quently.1

There should be in some convenient corner
— near the window, in order to get sunlight if
possible, at the same time not in a draft — a
basket kept filled with clean oat straw or with
flannel. While a flannel cushion looks the
prettier, clean oat straw, in which the cat can
turn and roll, allows it to keep its coat much
cleaner and in better order; but the straw, of
course, has the disadvantage of getting scat-
tered over the floor when the animal leaves its
basket. Wherever it is possible, the basket
should be in the sunlight, as cats love to bask.
The basket and its filling must be kept abso-

1 For an extended and complete description of the
housing of cats on a large scale — " catteries " or " cat-
runs" — see "Domestic and Fancy Cats," by John
Jennings.

CARE OF THE CAT 77

lutely clean. If the animals are at all troubled
with fleas or other insects, the bedding can be
sprinkled with a little flowers of sulphur, which
will drive them off .

In cleaning the cat never use a comb; it
breaks the hairs and renders the coat rough.
Brush the coat well with a soft brush, or with a
mitten which is known as a bath-mitten. The
coat of the cat can be improved very materially
by washing j but this is difficult unless the ani-
mal is very tame, and even then can only be
well done by its absolute owner or an attendant
of whom it is fond. To wash a cat, make a
soft soap-sud, comparatively thick ; apply com-
mencing at the hind quarters and tail, and
gradually rub in until the ears are reached.
After the soap-suds have been thoroughly
rubbed in, dip the animal, hind feet first, into
a tub of tepid water, when it can be gently
patted over with the hand, and then dipped
into another tub of tepid water, to rinse it off.
The animal should then be wrapped up in a
soft bath-towel and the excess of water pressed
out ; and it should then be put into a basket of
clean oat straw and kept in a warm place, where

78 THE CAT

it will finish the drying and cleaning for itself
by rolling in the straw and by licking itself,
after which it can be brushed with a soft brush.
For a simpler form of dressing to make the
coat shiny, the animal can be sponged over
with a very little perfectly fresh olive or cocoa-
nut oil, or with a little perfectly fresh cream,
which is then wiped off with a sponge slightly
damped, or with a towel, and the animal put
into the basket of oat straw to clean itself.

FEED.

In the country, or in a small house where the
cat has full freedom of the kitchen and back
yard, very little attention is required in regard
to feeding, as the animal will pick up from the
scraps the very diet which it is best for it to
have. When cats, however, are kept in closer
confinement, and in city houses, more attention
must be paid to their food ; for inattention to
this is the principal cause of most of the mala-
dies with which they are affected. In the first
place, the dishes from which a cat is fed must
be absolutely and immaculately clean, and at

CARE OF THE CAT . 79

each fresh feed should be scalded before they
are used again. Milk is not only the tradi-
tional diet of the cat, but also forms one of
the principal articles of food for it. The milk
should be perfectly fresh, as sour milk is apt to
produce digestive troubles, especially diarrhoea.
Sour milk, however, is useful sometimes as an
adjunct in the treatment of worms. While the
cat drinks a considerable quantity of milk, it
prefers water when it is really thirsty, although
it takes only a very small quantity of this. The
water, like the milk, should be in an absolutely
clean pan. There is a very useful pan — which
can be found in porcelain at the china-shops,
or can be readily made by a tinner — consisting
of a pan divided in the center by a partition,
in which the milk is placed at one side and the
fresh water at the other • this insures that the
water is emptied out each time the milk is re-
placed, in order to clean the pan and allow it
to be perfectly fresh. Bread (preferably stale
bread) and the ordinary crackers, water bis-
cuit, or oatmeal biscuit, can be added to the
milk. Spratt's Patent has a cake for cats
which is very useful for occasional diet. Oat-

80 THE CAT

meal porridge forms an excellent diet, and
vegetables should be given from time to time.
Most cats are very fond of asparagus and cel-
ery, but will at times eat almost any vegetable.
In cases of diarrhoea or looseness a little boiled
rice is a good addition to the milk. There seems
to be a prejudice on the part of some people
against the feeding of meat to cats, which is
unwarranted 5 and a cat is better for an occa-
sional feed of meat — even once a day in small
quantities. They much prefer it raw, and pre-
fer mutton to beef. The traditional cat-meat
of the " cat-meat man," which is known so well
in England, is made of horse-flesh, and is a
wholesome, good food; but the marketing of
that is practically unknown in America. Fish
is a very favorite diet with the cat, and can be
given from time to time ; but the fish should
be perfectly fresh, as all meat ought to be, for
putrid meat is much more apt to produce diges-
tive troubles in cats than it does in the other
carnivora ; in addition to which, its use by the
animal gives it an offensive odor in the house.
In resume, the diet of the cat, with a basis of
sweet, fresh milk, can be made up of any of

CAEE OF THE CAT 81

the foregoing articles, if care is only taken to
insure the absolute cleanliness of the pans from
which the animal is fed, the good condition of
the food itself, and that the diet shall be varied.
Often when a cat has been kept on one diet
steadily for some time it loses its appetite, and
appears dumpish, or even ill, when a simple
change of food will bring it back to itself at
once. Boiled liver is useful once in a week or
ten days, or when the cat is a little off its feed,
as it acts as a laxative. It is not, however,
good diet for regular use.

BREEDING.

The period of gestation in the cat varies
from fifty-six to sixty-three days. The cat
will breed some three or four times in the
year, and has a variable number in each litter
of its kittens — sometimes two or three only,
and sometimes five or six. A young cat is apt
to have but two or three at its first pregnan-
cies, and when it reaches the age of four or five
years it has a larger number, which diminishes
again as the mother becomes older. Long-

82 THE CAT

haired and more highly cultivated cats have
smaller litters than the common Tabby which
has the run of the barn and, stable.

The Wildcat breeds twice a year, and has a
somewhat longer period of gestation — about
sixty-eight days.

A female cat, or the " queen " cat, as she is
called, is usually ready for her first pregnancy
at six months of age ; but it is not advisable to
breed her before she is nine months to one year
of age, as at the earlier period she has not
attained her growth, and pregnancy is apt to
stunt her in size.

The stud cat should not be used until he is
one or perhaps two years of age j and he should
be in perfect condition of health, with a good
coat on him, when given service. When the
queen cat gets ready for service she gives un-
mistakable evidence of it by her peculiar meows
and in other ways which are familiar to every
one. She should be immediately shut up in a
room or loft where she is inaccessible to any
cat but the stud who has been chosen for her.
The period in the " queen " lasts for some four
to ten days; but to be absolutely safe it would

CARE OF THE CAT 83

be well to extend the confinement to twelve
days. The tom-cat who has been selected for
her can be placed in the room with her for a
period of twenty-four hours, extending from
one day over the night until the next day,
which is quite as satisfactory as if he remained
with her for a longer period. The queen cat
usually becomes sterile at about the age of nine
years ; but Jennings gives an example where a
cat had kittens in her nineteenth year.

The average life of a cat which has been well
taken care of, and has not met with accident,
is from twelve to fifteen years. The oldest cat
whose age is authentically known is given to
be twenty-four years.

The kittens are born blind and deaf and
almost absolutely helpless. At the end of
about nine days their eyes begin to open and
they are able to use their legs, when they are
first seen by the public and fit to be handled.
They can be weaned at the end of the third
week, but it is preferable to allow them to re-
main with the mother for a longer time. If
any of the kittens are to be destroyed or re-
moved from the mother, the whole litter should

84 THE CAT

not be taken at once, but the young ones should
be removed one or two at a time, which leaves
the others to gradually diminish the milk-sup-
ply of the mother. If the whole litter is re-
moved at once the mother is very liable to be
affected with milk-fever — a severe fever, with
local inflammation of the mammary glands,
which may destroy them for future use.

Kittens lose their temporary or milk teeth
and acquire their full dentition of permanent
teeth at between five and seven months of age ;
so that if a kitten has its entire permanent
dentition, with the teeth completely out of the
gums, it can be assumed to be over six months
of age, and is to be regarded as such by the
judge at cat shows.

GELDED CATS.

The operation of rendering the cat neuter
is comparatively common, and has many ad-
vantages for some classes of cats; the cats
grow larger and lose the strong odors which
are sometimes offensive in the tom-cat around
an apartment, and the cats become home bodies,

CARE OF THE CAT 85

not having the temptation of " toms " to waii-
der into the world. The gelded cat is quite as
good a mouser and is as brave as any other cat,
although it is apt to become fat and lazy if not
forced to a certain amount of exercise. The
operation is usually done at about six months
of age, but if done properly can be done on a
cat of any age. Female cats are sometimes
operated upon, but in these the operation is
attended with considerable danger.

TRANSPORTATION.

In carrying the cat from one location to
another, or in sending it to and from shows,
the greatest care must be used to see that the
case in which the animal is carried is suffi-
ciently strong to resist injury from other boxes
or articles of luggage, and that it is provided
with proper air-holes to insure perfect and free
ventilation. It should be lined, so that the
animal will not injure its coat on any rough or
jagged surface, or on the heads of nails or
screws which have been carelessly left in it.

The author has a basket, purchased in Paris,
7

86 THE CAT

in the form of a good-sized hand-bag, built
with a floor, ends, rear, and top, quite strong
enough to prevent breaking, although it is very
light. This is covered with leather to represent
a traveling-bag. The front has a wire screen
which can be dropped and buckled, and this is
covered by a loose flap of leather similar to
the rest of the case, which can also be buckled
down. When closed, ample entrance of air is
left for ventilation, and the bag has exactly
the appearance of an ordinary traveling-bag.
When in a railroad-car or elsewhere, the leather
flap can be lifted up, leaving the cat secure, but
at the same time allowing it to see its owner or
be amused with surrounding objects.

CHAPTER Y.

DISEASES OF CATS.
EVIDENCE OF DISEASE.

WHENEVER a cat becomes ill from any
disease which is more than trivial,
whether it be a fever, an inflammation of one
of the organs, or an injury which is somewhat
serious, it shows that it is ill more decidedly
than any other animal. It appears more sick
with troubles of the same severity than do other
animals. With the commencing illness the cat
loses its appetite, and seeks a dark corner,
where it wants to remain out of sight. The
nose becomes hot, there is inappetence or total
loss of appetite, the coat becomes dry and
harsh, and the animal lies quiet, sleeping most
of the time, unless there is any degree of pain,
when it gives evidence of it by constant crying.
At the first symptoms of digestive troubles,
and even in fevers and other troubles, if the
87

88 THE CAT

cat can reach a grass-plot it immediately eats a
quantity of grass, which it swallows and retains
until the stomach is irritated, producing vomit-
ing, and acting as a laxative to the intestines.
This can be considered a natural febrifuge, just
as one would give a child or a person a little
nitre or a small dose of Rochelle salts at the
commencement of an illness. At this time it
is well to give cats a small dose of Glauber's
salts or of castor-oil, exactly as one would do
for a child, or to place a half-teaspoonful of
bicarbonate of soda or flowers of sulphur in a
saucer of milk, and put it with the cat in a
quiet, darkened room.

The diseases of cats, like those of other ani-
mals, are divided into diseases of the respiratory
system, which include colds, catarrh, bronchial
troubles and other diseases of the lungs ; dis-
eases of the digestive system, including those
of the stomach, the intestines, and the liver;
constitutional diseases, such as fevers, infec-
tious distemper, glanders, and eczema ; para-
sitic diseases, such as fleas, mange, and worms ;
nervous troubles; and local diseases of the
eyes, teeth, and claws.

DISEASES OF CATS 89

DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM.
Catarrh or Cold.

A cat may take cold in the head just as a
baby might do, with inflammation of the mu-
cous membrane lining the nose, the pharynx
or larynx. The symptoms are a discharge
from the nostrils, more or less difficulty of
breathing, due to the obstruction of the nos-
trils, which are filled with matter, and choking
of the throat, due either to the inflammatory
condition of it or to the discharge accumulat-
ing in the throat. In the former case pressure
on the throat will produce a spasmodic cough,
and show that there is a tenderness of this or-
gan. Simple catarrh is attended with but little
fever or constitutional disturbances.

Bronchitis.

Bronchitis is an inflammation of the tubes
leading from the lungs to the exterior. In
this the cough is more violent ; there is a dis-
charge from the nose and throat, but the
amount of phlegm is increased after an attack
of coughing. By auscultation, or examining

90 THE CAT

the chest-sounds by the ear, mucous rales can
be heard as the air passes through the matter
which partially fills the bronchi.

Simple colds and bronchitis do not require
much treatment. The cat should be placed in
a quiet, darkened corner, and be protected from
drafts. It should not have food forced upon
it, although it should have a small saucer of
water, in which can be placed a little bicarbo-
nate of soda or flowers of sulphur, and a small
saucer of fresh milk, which it can take if it
wants. It is better to place only a small quan-
tity of milk at a time, as the owner can then
judge how much the cat is taking, and there is
no chance of the milk souring. If there seems
much fever, a drop or two of aconite can be
placed in two tablespoonsful of wrater in the
saucer, and renewed when the water is finished.
If there is much inflammation of the throat, a
dose can be given every few hours of one grain
of quinine, two drops of fluid extract of bella-
donna, and five drops of syrup of squills, in a
teaspoonf ul of sweetened water ; and the throat
and sides of the body can be rubbed with cam-
phorated oil.

DISEASES OF CATS 91

Broncho-pneumonia.

Broncho-pneumonia is the ordinary form of
pneumonia in the cat. It may occur primarily
after exposure to cold, or it may be the sec-
ondary result of a bronchitis which has lasted
for some little time. The pneumonia in the
cat, like that in the dog, is a broncho-pneu-
monia, or a pneumonia due to filling up of iso-
lated little lobules in the lung of the animal,
and differs from the ordinary pneumonia of
man arid the horse, in which latter the inflam-
mation invades a whole lobe of the lung. In
broncho-pneumonia there is more fever than in
simple bronchitis. The constitutional symptoms
and debility of the animal are more marked,
with usually a total loss of appetite. On aus-
cultation, in addition to the mucous rales which
are heard in bronchitis, we have " sibilant "
rales, or sounds of more or less sharpness, like
those of a whistle, which are due to the hepa-
tization or filled-up lobules pressing upon and
compressing the lumen of the air-tubes which
lead to lobules of sound lung-tissue. Broncho-
pneumonia in the cat may also be caused by

92 THE CAT

the presence of parasites lodged in the lung-
tissue and an irritation producing an effusion
and filling the air spaces. ( Vide Parasites, Fig-
ure 30, p. 125.) This form of broncho-pneumo-
nia at the outset resembles in its symptoms an
ordinary broncho-pneumonia, but is to be
diagnosed later, either by the detection of the
parasite in the discharge which the animal
coughs up, or by the fact that the broncho-
pneumonia does not run its regular course, but
gets better in a few days, or gets decidedly
worse, with more lung-tissue filling up; and
that it assumes a chronic form, with the local
symptoms of sibilant rales to be heard, un-
changed in size and location, accompanied by
the absence of the severe constitutional symp-
toms.

One finds in certain books a description of
consumption of the cat. If by consumption
the authors mean tuberculosis (which the word
technically does), they are absolutely in error ;
for tuberculosis is almost an unknown disease
in the cat, and even by inoculation can only be
produced in animals which have been rendered
lymphatic by a prolonged close confinement.

DISEASES OF CATS 93

In the commencement of broncho-pneumonia
the same treatment can be used as for colds
and bronchitis. If the disease continues it is
well to give, in addition, thirty drops of whisky
or brandy in a spoonful of water several times
in the day. Should the animal become very
much debilitated and absolutely refuse to eat,
it can be given a teaspoonful of a mixture of
the yellow of one egg beaten up, four table-
spoonsful of milk, and two teaspoonsful of
whisky every few hours j but it is not advisable
to force food on it except in extreme cases.
In addition to the milk which is kept at the
side of the cat, it can be tempted from time to
time with a small bit of raw beef pounded into
a pulp, and with a small saucer of the juice of
the beef, or of the pure beef-juice as it runs
from a cut of roast beef.

DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.
Gastritis.

Gastritis, or inflammation of the stomach,
is produced by overfeeding and too frequent
feeding, or feeding with irritating food, or by

94 THE CAT

the ingestion of foreign bodies or poison in the
stomach. It may also be secondary to consti-
tutional diseases.

The symptoms of gastritis are vomiting, first
of the contents of the stomach, then of a thick,
frothy mucus, and later, perhaps, of blood.
The animal shows pain upon pressure on the
stomach just at the lower border of the last
ribs, which is more or less severe according to
the intensity of the inflammation.

If the cat is in freedom, and is able to get at
fresh grass, it will itself eat a sufficient quantity
to act as an emetic, which affords temporary
relief. In the house-cat this can be replaced
by a dose of a strong solution of Glauber's
salts — a teaspoonful to a quarter-tumbler of
water — of which several teaspoonsful can be
given. This will act as an emetic, and a cer-
tain portion will be absorbed and act as a laxa-
tive. Should the vomiting continue, and there
be much pain, give five to ten drops of pare-
goric, with two or three drops of extract of
ginger, and a teaspoonful of a solution of
gum arabic and water, and repeat every few
hours.

DISEASES OF CATS 95

Constipation and Diarrhoea.

Constipation is much less frequent in the cat
than in other animals. On the contrary, there
is a tendency in the cat, especially in the house-
kept one, to a certain amount of looseness of
the bowels, which would be looked on in other
animals as suspicious. When this looseness
becomes excessive, and the discharges become
watery, or mixed with mucus, or even bloody,
it takes the name of diarrhoea. When the
diarrhoea becomes chronic, or is excessively se-
vere, it takes the name of dysentery. In this
case there is usually great straining, with very
little discharge at each evacuation, and some-
times protrusion of the mucous membrane at
the anus. Diarrhoea is frequently produced in
the cat by feeding it out of soiled pans in
which the milk or other food has been allowed
to ferment. It is produced by irregular feed-
ing— overfeeding the animal at one time and
allowing it to starve at another. The use of
fat meat, of putrid meat, and of too much liver
or sour milk are also causes.

90 THE CAT

Jaundice — Yellows.

Jaundice, while it is the term frequently
used to indicate a disease, is only a symptom
of a disease, as evidenced by the yellow colora-
tion of the mucous membrane of the eyes, and
even, in severe cases, of the skin over the sur-
face of the body and of the discharges. Jaun-
dice is due to a disease of the liver, which may
be either a temporary congestion or a chronic
anatomical change in the structure of the liver,
which in either case interferes with the func-
tion of this organ, and prevents its eliminating
the bile, which is a waste product of the blood.
This bile, then, not being carried off by its
natural emunctory, must find some exit from
the body, and is carried to the surface of the
mucous membranes and skin, which are more
important excretory glands for waste matter
than they are usually given credit for. In case
of congestion of the liver, examination of the
right-hand side of the body, just under and
behind the last ribs, will show a tumor or
swelling, and a certain degree of tenderness,
according to the acuteness of the congestion.

DISEASES OF CATS 97

III case of chronic disease of the liver, hyper-
trophy or cirrhosis, the liver may be enlarged
or diminished in size. The liver may also be
affected with hydatids or other parasites, which
produce similar symptoms.

In cases of constipation an examination
should be made of the rectum, and a thorough
examination of the abdomen should be made
by manipulating the walls until the contents
can be felt 5 for constipation in the cat is in
the majority of cases due to a mechanical ob-
struction. I have at various times found this
obstruction to be a bone which has been swal-
lowed, bits of coal, pebbles, or a button which
has been swallowed and acted as a nucleus for
the accumulation of food around it, or balls of
hair, called asgagropila, which have been made
by the felting of the hair which the cat has
licked off of its own sides. In one case the ob-
struction was a small fish-hook, which had passed
through the entire length of the intestinal tract,
and had lodged within an inch of the orifice
of the anus. In this case I judged that the
point of the hook had been protected during
its first passage in a bit of hard fish-gill, which

98 THE CAT

only had become absorbed, leaving the point
free when it had nearly been passed. If any
obstruction is found it should be removed, and
the evacuation of the accumulated matter has-
tened by a dose of one or two tablespooiisful
of castor-oil, or a somewhat larger quantity of
syrup of buckthorn. The intestine of the cat is
such a simple tube that by careful manipulation
almost any obstruction can be worked down.

In case of diarrhoea the diet must be regu-
lated from the outset. The animal can be
given, at intervals of two hours, a powder made
of one-eighth grain of calomel and five grains
of saccharated pepsin. It should also be given
small doses (thirty drops to one teaspoonful) of
syrup of buckthorn, which, by stimulating the
secretion from the surface of the intestine,
relieves its congested condition. Should the
diarrhoea be more severe, or become chronic,
and be mixed with blood, tending to dysen-
tery, or should the animal seem to be in much
pain, as shown by its cries, and by tenderness
upon pressure over the belly, give thirty-drop
doses of paregoric, with teaspoonful doses of
the mixture of chalk (Mistura Greta). This

DISEASES OF CATS 99

can be repeated every two, three, or four hours,
according to the continued severity or the sub-
sidence of the symptoms. In chronic cases,
also, which tend to debilitate the animal, a half-
teaspoonf ul dose of brandy can be added to the
other treatment.

In jaundice the calomel must be used in one-
tenth or one-tAvelfth grain doses, with a few
grains of saccharated pepsin, given once every
hour for a period of twelve or eighteen hours,
and then followed by a full dose of castor-oil,
or, perhaps preferably, by a purgative dose of
sulphate of soda (thirty grains to one table-
spoonful of water). Then for a day or two keep
the animal on a moderate diet of milk, with a
half-teaspoonf ul of bicarbonate of soda in each
saucer of water ; and at the end of that time the
calomel can be repeated in the same doses, at
an hour's interval each, for eight or ten hours.

CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES.
Distemper.

Distemper is a contagious and infectious
fever of the cat, complicated by inflammations

100 THE CAT

of the various organs of the body. Distem-
per is usually a disease of young cats, which,
having once had it and having recovered, are
protected from future attacks. It is, however,
sometimes seen in older cats, especially so when
the disease occurs in enzootic or epizootic form.
Fleming, in his work upon " Sanitary Medi-
cine," tells us that in the fifteenth century, and
at several periods later, there were extensive
epizootics of distemper, which destroyed num-
bers of cats throughout central Europe and the
British Islands. The last considerable epizootic
in England was in 1796. This extended also to
the Low Countries, or the Netherlands. The
same epizootic extended to America in 1803.

The first symptoms of distemper are those of
fever, with the combination of symptoms which
are described above under Evidences of Dis-
ease. These may be more or less severe ac-
cording to the gravity of the attack. Shortly
after the commencement of the fever we find a
watery discharge from the eyes, which may be-
come mattery later j a discharge from the nos-
trils of a thick mucus at first, and matter later,
which may even be tinged with blood. The

DISEASES OF CATS 101

disease may be followed later by any of the
diseases of the respiratory system or of the
digestive system, which in their local appear-
ance are the same as those already described
under diseases of these systems, but which are
more severe than they are in their sporadic
form, because they are grafted onto the body
of an animal already suffering from fever and
weakened by it.

Let it be understood, however, that in cases
which have been going on for some little time,
while the present condition of the animal is
perfectly evident, it is not possible to make a
diagnosis between these two following con-
ditions :

1. A cat which has been infected first with
distemper, has developed fever, and has the
complication of a severe broncho-pneumonia
or of a severe diarrhoea, or is excessively debili-
tated and weak • or

2. A cat which has been affected with a se-
vere bronchitis and broncho-pneumonia, or a
severe diarrhoea which is continued for some
little time, and has produced by the local irrita-
tion and inflammation a fever which is secon-

102 THE CAT

dary, and from which the cat has been weakened
and is greatly debilitated.

The conditions to be found. upon physical
examination in these two cases are absolutely
identical, and the treatment for it is practical^
the same. Suppose, however, that not one cat
alone, but several, are found in the same house
or stable in the same condition, or in variable
degrees pointing toward the same disease, or
that we have from the owner a history that
during the last few weeks, or for a longer or
shorter period, other cats have been presenting
the same symptoms, then we can assume it to
be distemper.

Treatment of Distemper. — The cat with dis-
temper must be isolated at once, and put into
a quiet room where it is well protected from
drafts of air, while still supplied with fresh air.
It should be kept warm. At the outset, before
the complications become marked, it can have
a little bicarbonate of soda, or sulphur, in its
water or milk, and a very light laxative. It
should never be given an active cathartic, as
this tends to excite diarrhoea. The catarrh,
bronchitis, broncho-pneumonia, and diarrhoea

DISEASES OF CATS 103

which complicate distemper must be treated at
the outset exactly as the same diseases would
have been treated in their sporadic form. The
strength of the animal must be kept up, but do
not force food unless it is absolutely necessary.
The local diseases complicating distemper re-
quire more stimulating treatment than they
do "in their simpler form, and the best stimu-
lant is small doses of twenty to thirty drops of
whisky or brandy.

Glanders.

It is not the place in a book of this sort to
go into any extended description of glanders,
as it is rarely found in cats other than in those
around knackers7 yards, in zoological gardens,
or in the post-mortem rooms of a veterinary
college; but practitioners should always bear
in mind the susceptibility of the feline race to
this disease. Glanders is a constitutional dis-
ease accompanied by the formation of tubercles
over the mucous membrane of the respiratory
tract and over the skin, which break down into
ulcers, and of tubercles in the lungs themselves

104 THE CAT

and in some of the other organs, which grow
into small, hard, fibrous tumors. The ulcers
in the nostrils or on the surface of the skin ex-
tend and destroy the tissues rapidly, produc-
ing an offensive discharge. The tubercles of the
lungs cause broncho-pneumonia, which is usu-
ally fatal. Glanders, while a disease proper to
the horse, is contagious to both man and the
domestic cat, and all the rest of the cat tribe,
as well as to other animals.

I have seen a number of lions die in a me-
nagerie from having eaten glandered meat. In
the post-mortem house of a veterinary college,
in which I had just made an autopsy upon a
glandered horse, as I was washing my hands I
noticed a cat with a litter of kittens eating at
some of the organs which I had placed to one
side for demonstration. I had the cats imme-
diately locked up, and in four days all of them
were infected with the disease and had to be
destroyed.

There is no treatment, and the animals must
be immediately destroyed and the greatest pre-
caution taken in regard to disinfection.

DISEASES OF CATS 1Q5

Eczema.

Eczema is the cutaneous manifestation of a
constitutional trouble of a gouty nature. Ec-
zema consists of a hyperemia of the skin, fol-
lowed by exudation and desquamation of the
cuticle. The symptoms are rough, dry hairs
which become brittle and break off, an oily-
appearing exudation around the roots of the
hairs, and dry scabs which, as they peel off,
leave little ulcerated surfaces. This eruption
takes place principally along the line of the
back and at the root of the tail, but in some
more severe cases may extend to the sides of
the body, legs, neck, and face. Eczema is
sometimes called the "red mange," but is to
be distinguished from the mange, which is a
parasitic disease, the lesions of which appear
on the under surface of the body and in the
softer skin of the inside of the thighs.

Canker of the Ear.

Canker of the ear is one of the forms of ec-
zema. It consists of a discharge, at first brown-

106 THE CAT

ish, which may afterward become mattery,
from the inside of the external ear. If this
continues, the delicate skin lining the ear be-
comes ulcerated and excessively painful. The
cat scratches at its ear in attempting to relieve
the pain, and produces wounds on the ear itself,
which from constant rubbing and irritation
become chronic ulcers.

The cause of eczema is a lymphatic condi-
tion in the constitution of the animal. Certain
families are more lymphatic than others, and
they are predisposed to it. Constant confine-
ment in the house, want of exercise, and over-
feeding are the principal exciting causes.

We also have, however, another form of ec-
zema which is due to want of nutrition. This
we sometimes find in young, half-grown kit-
tens, or cats which have been badly nourished
or almost starved.

The treatment of eczema is based, first,
essentially, upon a strict attention to diet and
regime. An over-fed cat must be starved —
a poorly fed cat must be properly nourished.
Diuretics and laxatives in the form of five-grain
doses of Rochelle salts or Glauber's salts, and

DISEASES OF CATS 107

one-grain doses of iodide of potash can be com-
bined with tonics. The best of the latter are
quinine, Huxham's tincture, and syrup of wild
cherry bark. Fowler's solution may be used
in two-drop doses. Baths of sulphur water
are beneficial. If there is much irritation an
ointment of one part bitrine ointment and
eight parts of lard is soothing and healing.
In canker of the ear, iodoform as a powder, or
mixed with balsam of Peru, can be dropped
into the ear. Once a day the ear should be
cleansed with a pleget of cotton on a match or
small probe.

MUk-fever.

When an entire litter of kittens has been re-
moved from the mother at once, the accumula-
tion of milk swells the mammary glands, and,
if not relieved, cakes, and produces a local in-
flammation in this organ, which ends with the
formation of abscesses, and is excessively pain-
ful. The irritation of this mammitis, as the
local trouble is called, produces a considerable
amount of fever, attended with vomiting and
sometimes diarrhoea. A wound or other injury

108 THE CAT

to the mammary glands of a cat wlio is nursing
her young may produce the same disease.

Milk-fever is to be treated with the ordinary
remedies for fever, and a local application to
the mammary glands of belladona ointment,
alone, or mixed with mercurial ointment.

NERVOUS TROUBLES.
Convulsions or Fits.

Convulsions or fits in the cat occur occa-
sionally. The symptoms vary considerably
according to the period of the convulsion in
which the animal is seen, and according to
the severity of the attack. At the outset the
animal becomes excited, runs, jumps, and if
caught, struggles to escape without using any
special judgment or volition. It may froth
at the mouth, the legs become rigid, or the
muscles contract and become relaxed alternate-
ly in quick spasms. Following this comes a
period of depression, in which the animal may
lie in a state of coma, absolutely senseless
and apparently dead. From this condition it
may awake to a renewed attack of spasm, or it

DISEASES OF CATS 1Q9

may gradually sleep it off, and be apparently
perfectly well, except somewhat weakened and
depressed for a short period. Convulsions in
cats are far more frequent in young animals
than in old, and are usually due to digestive
irritation — either that of overfeeding or of
the ingestion of irritating food. In summer-
time they are often the result of heat, perhaps
also at other times from the same cause j but I
myself doubt if heat alone is frequently a cause,
unless combined with an overloaded stomach.

Epilepsy.

In epilepsy, with few premonitory symptoms,
unless it be a single scream, the cat falls to the
ground, its mouth frothing, its eyes rolling in
the sockets until the whites show, the legs
stretching in spasms, with moments of tempo-
rary relaxation, and then a complete subsidence
of the symptoms, when the animal falls to sleep
to wake up apparently unharmed. If the cat
has frequent attacks it becomes very much de-
bilitated and loses its vivacity. The diagnosis
of epileptic attacks from those of ordinary con-

110 THE CAT

vulsions is based upon the absence of delirium
and the presence of the pivoting eyeballs in
epilepsy. Sometimes in epilepsy the cat may
bite its tongue or injure its lips against
the ground in its struggles, when we have a
mixture of blood with the froth in the mouth.
The first thing to do for a cat in convulsions
is to prevent foolish meddlers from scaring it
to death. Wrap it up at once in a soft cloth so
that it cannot injure itself. A small dose of
chloral or laudanum may be useful to quiet the
attack, but combine this with a full dose of
castor-oil or syrup of buckthorn. Bleeding at
the ear, cold water over the head and body,
and such measures have been recommended,
but I prefer a warm, soft blanket.

PARASITIC DISEASES.
Fleas (P. serraticeps).

Fleas are not nearly as common on cats
as they are credited with being. The flea
on the cat is not the same one which affects
people, and if transferred to man, does not
remain. They can be readily got rid of by

DISEASES OF CATS HI

sprinkling the cat's basket, or its back, with
flowers of sulphur, Persian insect-powder, or
powdered tobacco, which can then be well
brushed out; or the cat can be sponged over

FIG. 22. — PULEX SERRATICEPS.
(Enlarged 30 diameters.) t

with a five-percent, solution of carbolic acid.
Persian insect-powder, however, is the prefer-
able treatment. In using it, place the cat on a
large newspaper, and after brushing the powder
out, burn the paper and contents, as the flea is
not killed — only stunned for the moment.

Mange (Sarcoptns notocdres, var. Cati).

The ordinary mange, or sarcoptic mange, is
due to a small parasite which burrows under
the skin, where it deposits its eggs, which, upon

112 THE CAT

hatching, become very irritating to the skin, as
the yonng insects grow and tunnel ont to the
surface, where they breed, for the next gener-
ation again to burrow and deposit its eggs.
The sarcoptic mange may appear first on the
face and sides of the cheek, or upon the insides
of the armpits and thighs; and it gradually
extends over the softer skin of the inside of
the thighs, the under surface of the belly, and
even, in extreme cases, over almost the entire
body. The itchiness produced by the mange
causes the animal to scratch and rub itself,
which further irritates the skin, producing
abrasions which scab over; and as the scabs
are in turn scratched off, they leave irritating,
bleeding, and ugly ulcers. In severe cases the
constant irritation and worry to the animal
cause it to lose its appetite, and it may become
excessively debilitated and emaciated. The
cause and effect then become retroactive, as
the mange will extend more rapidly on a debil-
itated animal, and the increase of the mange
increases the debility.

There are a great many remedies for the
mange, and it is not so much the choice of the

DISEASES OF CATS

113

remedy to be used as the manner of its applica-
tion which is efficacious. One of the simplest
modes of treatment is sulphur ointment. One
dram of flowers of sulphur to the ounce of
pure lard should be well rubbed into the skin

Back. Belly.

FIG. 23. — SARCOPTUS CATI (FEMALE).

and all parts affected, and repeated for several
days in succession. The skin should then be
well sponged off with a little soap and tepid
water, and allowed to remain clean for a day
or two. The body should then be well brushed
with a moderately stiff brush, which will re-
move any scabs on the skin, when the ointment
is to be reapplied for several days. A mixture

114 THE CAT

of one part of coal-tar, one part of oil of cade,
and six or eight parts of benzine is an excellent
remedy, although less cleanly. It should be
applied with a moderately stiff brush daily for
four days in succession, when the animal should
be sponged off with tepid water and soap, and
at the end of two days the application renewed.
If the animal is much debilitated it can be put
on a tonic treatment of one grain of quinine in
thirty drops of whisky three times in the day,
or upon teaspoonful doses of a mixture of equal
parts of syrup of wild-cherry bark and Hux-
ham's tincture. Two-drop doses of Fowler's
solution, given three times a day on a little
piece of cake, bread, or anything which the cat
will take from the hand, is an excellent tonic.

Follicular Mange (l)emodex folliculoruni).

Follicular mange, which is due to a parasite
called the Demodex folliculorum, affects the nose
around the muzzle, the skin of the chin, and
the skin of the paws surrounding the claws,
where it burrows in beside the roots of the
whiskers and larger and grosser hairs, and

DISEASES OF CATS

115

into the sebaceous glands. This insect is ex-
tremely irritating, causing the animal to rub
and scratch. Examination around the roots
of the whiskers and on the skin of the paws

FIG. 24. — HAIR-FOLLICLE AND SEBACEOUS GLANDS
AFFECTED BY DEMODEX FOLLICULORUM.

116 THE CAT

will show dark-red pimples or pustules about
the size of a pinhead. This form of mange is
sometimes difficult to get rid of. It can be
treated with the preparation of coal-tar and

FIG. 25. — DEMODEX FOLLICULORUM.
(Enlarged 100 Diameters.)
2, Larva hexapod ; 3, Larva octopod.

oil of cade given above, which must be well
rubbed in with a stiff brush, and which can be
alternated every four days by an application of
mercurial ointment well rubbed into the same
parts.

StomacJi-worms (Ascarides of tlie Cat).
(A. mystax, Zeder; A. fells, Gmelin.)

The so-called stomach-worm, which is found
both in the stomach and in the intestines,
especially of young cats, is a worm from two
to three or four inches in length, about the

DISEASES OF CATS

117

size of small slate-pencils, pointed at the ends,
which are somewhat curved. The tail has
two small membranous wings, with twenty-six
papillae on each side, of which five are post-
anal. The female is somewhat longer than the

FIG. 26. — ASCARIS MYSTAX.

a, Male ; &, Female ; c, Anterior extremity ; d, Seen in
profile.

male. This species of ascarides inhabits not
only the intestines of the cat, but those of a
large number of the savage species of the
genus Felis.

The symptoms of the presence of this worm
are only those of intestinal irritation • and even
these may not be present, and the diagnosis
can then only be made by seeing one of the

i/

118 THE CAT

worms which has been passed. The treatment
consists of diet for twenty-four hours, then a
good purgative dose of castor-oil. This may
be preceded by half an hour by a three-grain
dose of santonin, and in large cats five drops
of turpentine may be added to the oil.

Tapeworm (Tcenia crassicolis).

The whole of the feline tribe is a frequent
host of the tapeworm, of which it has a variety
of its own (Tcenia crassicolis]. The worm is
from six to twenty-four inches in length. It
has a large head, set on a narrow neck. The
head is provided with a crown of from twenty-
six to fifty- two hooks — frequently only thirty-
four in number. The body is made up of a
series of segments or rings, as can be seen in
the illustration (Figure 27). The tapeworm in-
habits the small intestine of the cat, the head
remaining fastened to the mucous membrane
of the intestine, while the body floats off in the
soft contents. The end of the tail, or various
portions of the body, break away from time to
time, to be carried to the exterior to develop
into fresh foci of infection. As the body breaks

DISEASES OF CATS

119

away from the tail, it keeps growing from the
head. In its vesicular form the tapeworm is

FIG. 27. — TJENIA CRASSICOLIS.

found in the livers of rats and mice, which,
when they are eaten by the cat, again infect

120 THE GAT

it. The tapeworm, unless existing in quanti-
ties, causes little irritation. What' symptoms
do exist are those of intestinal irritation — occa-
sional bloating or swelling up of the belly of
the animal, and sometimes emaciation. The
diagnosis can only be accurately made by recog-
nizing the segments of the worm which are
carried away with the fasces, and which appear
as small oblong whitish masses, sometimes
single or sometimes connected together.

The treatment consists of putting the cat
upon an absolute diet for twenty-four hours;
then give, according to the size of the animal,
from ten to twenty grains of powdered areca
and two to four grains of santonin. This can
readily be given in a saucer of milk, which the
animal willingly swallows, having been starved
for a day. The powder is to be followed in
two hours by a full dose of castor-oil, to which
a few drops of turpentine or a few grains of
jalap might be added.

Ringworm (Tinea tonsurans).

Ringworm in the cat appears in the form of
little round spots from the size of a ten-cent

DISEASES OF CATS 121

piece to the size of a quarter-dollar. Some-
times the various spots run into each other
and form irregular-shaped spots, the edges of
which, however, always assume the rounded
form. In these spots the hairs are broken off,
leaving little bristling points only protruding
from the roots. The surface of the skin itself
is covered by a furfuraceous scab, which, if
peeled or rubbed off, shows a slight exudation
below. If not attended to, the disease keeps
spreading to new parts of the body as fast as
the older spots heal. Ringworm is due to a
vegetable parasite known as Trichophyton ton-
surans. The cat is probably one of the most
common sources of the propagation of this
disease to the human being, especially children.
The cat in turn probably, in the majority of
cases, contracts the disease, not from others of
its own kind, but from sewer-rats which are
caught as prey.

Some years ago, while I had charge of the
dispensary of the Children's Hospital at Phila-
delphia, I collected a large number of statistics
in regard to the children who came to the hos-
pital with ringworm. They, of course, repre-

122 THE CAT

sented the poorer classes. Invariably I found
that the patients had in the house a cat which
they played with 5 and I verified the origin by
examining their cats and finding them affected
with the disease. A cat with ringworm should
be isolated for a few days from the children
and from other cats, until the spots have been
well rubbed with mercurial ointment for sev-
eral days in succession. Then the animal
should be watched daily for the next week or
two for the appearance of fresh spots, which
should be treated with mercurial ointment the
instant they appear.

Trichina (Trichina spiralis).

Trichina is not a rare parasite in the cat,
but its diagnosis is excessively difficult. The
Trichina spiralis, in its vesicular form, is found
in the rat and in the hog, the flesh of both of
which animals, of course, is common food for
the cat. When eaten, the parasite wakens into
life, develops into the little worm which is seen
in the figure (Figure 28), and mixes with the
contents of the stomach and intestines. For-

DISEASES OF CATS 123

tunately these frequently develop irritation,
which produces a diarrhoea in the animal, and
the majority of them are carried off. But in
other cases some of the worms pierce the in-
testines and travel into the muscles of the body.

Male. Female.

FIG. 28. — TRICHINA SPIRALIS.

If they exist in small numbers, appreciable
symptoms are not visible. If, however, they
invade the muscles in large quantities, they
produce pains which resemble greatly those of
rheumatism, and they may produce a fever
lasting for a few days. The invasion, if exces-
sive, may produce death. In other cases the

124 THE CAT

worm becomes encysted in the cat's muscles
(Figure 29), and produces no after-effect. The
diagnosis can only be made by a recognition of

FIG. 29. — TRICHINAE ENCYSTED IN MUSCULAR TISSUE.

the parasite. In the human being suspected
cases of trichina-poisoning have been verified by
harpooning small bits of muscles from the sore
arm or leg of the patient, and demonstrating
the presence of the parasite by the microscope.

DISEASES OF CATS

125

Cause of Parasitic Broncho-pneumonia.
( Vide page 92.)

FIG. 30. — STRONGYLUS PULMONIS.

a, I, Eggs segmenting ; c, Egg with embryo ; d, Embryo
free.

THE EYES.

In all fevers, distemper, and other grave
troubles, the eyes of the cat become congested
and water somewhat, or become filled with a
mucous or mattery discharge which glues the
lids together. If this becomes excessive or
chronic there may be an inflammation of the
conjunctiva — the mucous membrane lining the
eyelids and covering the eyes — which produces
raw lids. In any simple trouble of the eyes

126 THE CAT

they should be well washed with tepid water
or tepid water and milk, and have a few drops
of a solution of one-half grain of the sulphate
of atropia, one and a half grains of the sulphate
of zinc, and one ounce of rose-water put in
them several times a day.

From an excessive conjunctivitis, or from
injury from a scratch or blow on the eyeball
itself, we may have an inflammation of the
cornea, which clouds the eye over with a large
white spot (keratitis). This, if attended to at
once, is usually not serious, although it may
be followed by ulceration of the cornea, which
allows the escape of the humor of the eye.

Cataract, or inflammation of the crystalline
lens of the eyes, followed later by a deposit of
calcareous matter in the lens, sometimes occurs.
In this case the front of the eye is entirely
clear, while a frozen, snowlike mass can be
seen through the pupil, which is chronically
dilated.

Wounds and traumatisms to the eyelids and
the eye itself present the same symptoms and
require the same treatment that similar injuries
would in other animals.

DISEASES OF CATS 127

THE TEETH.

As we have seen before, the young cat has
twenty-six teeth, which it changes at about
six months of age for thirty permanent ones.
This change of teeth is frequently attended
by considerable irritation of the gums, and
pain, which interferes with the animal's eating,
and may cause some little fever or produce
a slight diarrhoea. It also gives the breath
of the animal an offensive odor. The mouth
should be examined, and any teeth which are
loosened should be picked out with a pair of
forceps, and the mouth sponged out with some
listerine, which can be done by tying a small
sponge on the end of a stick, or by using a
large camePs-hair brush.

In old cats, as the teeth become worn, and
especially in cats which are constantly fed with
soft food and do not have an opportunity of
rubbing their teeth clean by catching natural
prey or using them on hard substances, there
occurs a deposit of tartar around the roots of
the teeth, which causes ulceration of the gums,
and sometimes necrosis of the jaw-bone itself.

128 THE CAT

This is very painful, interferes with the ani-
mal's eating, and produces an offensive odor.
The mouth should be very carefulty examined ;
any loosened teeth should be pulled, and the
others should be cleaned with a small scraper.
The gums should then be well washed with lis-
terine. Such a mouth cannot be cured rapidly,
but requires attention every week or two for
some little time.

THE CLAWS.

The claws of the cat are, as we have seen,
protected, when not required for use, by being-
drawn back into the sockets, which are pecu-
liar to this class of animals. This protec-
tion keeps the points of the claws perfectly
sharp for catching their prey ; for if they pro-
truded as they do in the dog, they would be-
come worn off and be as dull as those of the
latter. The claws sometimes get injured by
being broken when seizing rough objects, or
from accidents, which renders them excessively
sore. If the nail only has been loosened, it
should be trimmed off carefully, and a little

DISEASES OF CATS 129

balsam applied to the uncovered bone, which
will soon grow a new claw. If, however, the
bone has been injured, and has become nec-
rosed, it should be removed. In injuries of
this sort, when the bone is affected, the sooner
it is attended to the better. If only the extrem-
ity of the bone is diseased, it can be scraped off,
and will heal rapidly ; whereas if the necrosis
has extended to the joint, and has implicated
the elastic ligament, healing is difficult, and
amputation may have to be performed as high
as the second joint.

POISONS.

Cats are subject to mineral poisons given
them intentionally, or left carelessly lying in
corners mixed with food intended for rats,
which the cat gets at accidentally. The usual
mineral poisons are arsenic or rat-poison. The
cat may also be poisoned from verdigris and
salts of copper, which form on the surface of
improperly cleaned kitchen-utensils left with
food standing in them, which the cats eat.
Mineral poisons produce irritation of the stom-

130 THE CAT

ach, violent pain, vomiting, and, if they do not
prove fatal, diarrhrea at a later time. Fortu-
nately they do usually produce vomiting, so
that the animal gets rid of the excess of poi-
son; and this indicates the treatment, which
should be at once an active emetic, consisting
of one-half teaspoonful of mustard in a little
warm water, or a saturated solution of Glau-
ber's salts in warm water, given in as large
quantity as possible, and repeated until violent
vomiting is produced. The after-treatment, if
the animal is left debilitated, consists of stim-
ulants, with the white of an egg, or a solution
of starch, to allay the irritation.

Strychnine poisoning frequently occurs from
the same intention or accident by which cats
are poisoned with mineral poisons. The symp-
toms of strychnine poisoning are a characteristic
spasm. The cat gives a cry or two, and lies
stretched out, with the head and neck thrown
back, the hind legs extended rigidly, and the
forelegs drawn down by the side of the body.
Cases of strychnine poisoning, if recognized at
Once and treated immediately with large doses
of chloral hydrate — especially if the latter

DISEASES OF CATS 131

can be given by injection with a hypodermic
syringe — in a large number of cases can be
saved. The chloral can be given in poisonous
diseases as high as ten or twenty grains or
more the first dose, and ten grains every half-
hour.

ADMINISTRATION OF MEDICINE.

In well-broken cats fond of their owner the
administration of medicine is sometimes an
easy matter ; but again in equally well-broken
and affectionate animals it is an excessively
difficult matter.

In pill or powder form the substance used
can sometimes be inclosed in a small piece of
meat or other food, which the animal will read-
ily swallow. Again, however, the cat becomes
excessively suspicious of the faintest odor of
medicine, and after taking it once or twice
will refuse it. Liquid medicine — which should
never exceed a teaspoonful dose if it can be
helped — must be poured into the mouth. At
the outset it can be tried if the cat will take its
medicine without contention. Place the cat on
a table , pat it gently until, with one hand, the

132 THE CAT

head can be grasped from behind so that the
thumb covers the jaw on one side, the second
finger the jaw on the other side, and the first
finger lies on top of the head between the
ears. The third finger of the hand covers the
jaw underneath. The head should then be
gently raised, the thumb and second finger
draw the commissures of the lips gently back-
ward until they make a pocket on one or the
other side, into which the liquid can be poured.
It is not necessary to open the jaw itself, as the
liquid will run through the teeth.

In many cases, however, more stringent
measures are required, and the cat must be
held so that it cannot bite or scratch. The
simplest method, which is all that is required
in some cases, and for the operation of castra-
tion, is to have an attendant take the cat by
the loose skin of the neck and over the shoul-
ders with one hand, and by the skin from the
pelvis or croup with the other hand. Then
place it upon a table and press down until the
breast-bone in front and the under surface of
the pelvis behind are held firmly against the
table. It is then impossible for the cat to use

DISEASES OF CATS 133

either its fore or hind legs to scratch, or for it
to twist its head to bite, and the second person
can examine the mouth and administer medi-
cine or operate. Absolute care must be taken,
however, that no pressure is put upon the ribs,
or the chest itself, or upon the belly of the
animal, as carelessness in this point may stop
the respiration and prove fatal. If more com-
plete contention is required — as it is for opera-
tions which last for any length of time, or for
any very obstreperous animals — the cat should
be wrapped in a sack of cloth or soft leather,
or of india-rubber. Where a large number of
cats are handled, it is well to have a sheet of
leather such as a blacksmith uses for his apron,
with a whole in the centre just large enough to
admit the head of the cat. This is drawn over
the head, and the corners of the leather are
carefully folded along the line of the body into
an oblong sack, which must be firmly held.
Care must be taken to draw the forelegs back-
ward along the side of the body, and hold them
so, firmly, as the neck of the cat is smaller than
its head, and after being drawn over the head

the hole in the leather will admit of the protru-
10

134 THE CAT

sion of the cat's forelegs, and the animals are
great adepts at getting the forelegs out unless
especial care is taken.

ANESTHETICS.

Anesthetics, especially in the shape of
chloroform and of ether, are frequently ad-
vised for operations on cats. Unless abso-
lute immobility of the animal is required for
the success of the operation, I do not like the
use of anesthetics. To begin with, even care-
fully given, they are dangerous. I have found
that animals to which I have given an anes-
thetic are more afraid of me afterward than
those which I have simply had held properly
and produced pain upon. The pain they un-
derstand as done for their good; the use of
the anesthetics they do not understand. For
many operations, however, it is perfectly per-
missible to use a preliminary injection of co-
caine, which annuls the pain in a local part.

DESTROYING CATS.

We are unfortunately frequently obliged to
destroy cats for economic reasons, or for

DISEASES OF CATS 135

humane reasons, to prevent suffering in ani-
mals which cannot get well. In large institu-
tions, like the Home of the American Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, they
have tanks containing carbonic acid, which
puts the animal to sleep and death painlessly.
Drowning is an equally quick and painless
death, if done properly j but care must be taken
that the animal is quickly and totally immersed
in water, and not allowed to reach the surface
for a single instant for a gasp of air. By this
method, undoubtedly, the animal has one mo-
mentary shock, and an attempted gasp, when
formation of carbonic acid in its own brain
puts it to sleep and renders it unconscious be-
fore even death takes place.

Poisoning by strychnine or arsenic is cruel,
as it produces considerable pain before death.
Strong prussic acid generally produces imme-
diate death,- but it is difficult to administer,
and in some cases it fails absolutely.

In the hands of an expert, while it has the
appearance of brutality, a ball from a pistol,
or a properly administered blow with a ham-
mer on the skull, produces instantaneous and

136 THE CAT

painless death; but these methods should not
be adopted by any one whose experience does
not warrant him in doing it properly, com-
pletely, and at the first attempt.

Chloroform in the hands of a novice is per-
haps the simplest method, if he use the follow-
ing precautions :

Take a box or large pail with a cover which
can be firmly closed • use plenty of chloroform
(at least two to four ounces) ; place the cat
in the receptacle; pour the chloroform on a
sponge, and drop it in beside the cat; place
the cover on and hold firmly in place for some
time. In this way the only annoyance to the
cat is probably its first moment of fright, and
the single gasp or two which it makes for fresh
air before the chloroform has commenced to
act.

CHAPTER VI.

ETYMOLOGY AND SYNONYMS.

THE word " cat " comes from a root of un-
known origin; but undoubtedly it is
almost identical with the original Aryan word
which was used for this animal, as we find a
close similarity throughout all the Aryan lan-
guages in the euphony and terseness of the
word.

English, cat.

Grimalkinj an old cat, especially a she-cat.
Pussy, a pet name for the cat. (The word
" puss " indicates a hare, as well as a cat.)
Anglo-Saxon, cat.
Old Anglo-Saxon, catt.
Danish, Je.at.
Swedish, katt.
Icelandic, Mttr.
Irish, cat.
Welsh, catJi.

137

138 THE CAT

German, baize, kater.

Old German, chazza.

Latin, catm.

French, chat.

Italian, gatto, feminine yatta.

Spanish, gato.

Greek, xarca.

New Greek, ^avw..
Russian and Polish, kot.
Armenian, Jcaz.
Turkish, Jcedi.
Arabic, qitt.

EMBLEMATIC SIGNIFICATION OF THE CAT.

The figure of the cat has certain significa-
tions when reproduced in art.

In the hieroglyphics of the ancient monu-
ments of Egypt a cat represents false friend-
ship, or a deceitful, flattering friend.

In heraldry a cat is an emblem of liberty,
because it naturally dislikes to be shut up ; and
therefore the Burgundians, etc., bore a cat on
their banners to intimate that they could not
endure servitude.

ETYMOLOGY AND SYNONYMS 139

It is a bold and daring creature, and also
cruel to its enemy, and never gives over till it
has destroyed it, if possible. It is also watch-
ful, dexterous, swift, pliable, and has good
nerves — thus, if it falls from a place never so
high, it still alights on its feet — and therefore
may denote those who have such forethought
that whatsoever befalls them they are still on
their guard.

In coat-armor the cat must always be repre-
sented as full-faced, and not showing one side
of it, but both its eyes and both its ears.
Argent three cats in pale sable is the coat of the
family of Keat of Devonshire.

In recent years it has become the emblematic
animal of newspaper offices and the editor's
chair.

APPENDIX.

1HAVE appended (Table A) a reduced form
of entry as used by the National Cat Show,
and (Table B) a classification of the divisions
which they make of the various cats. It will
be seen that there is, first, a distinct division
into the Long-haired Cats and the Short-haired
Cats ; second, that there are four divisions into
He-cats, She-cats, Gelded Cats, and Kittens.
This, it will be seen, gives eight general divi-
sions— Long-haired Cats divided according to
sex and age, four ; and Short-haired Cats di-
vided according to sex and age, four. The
third division is made by color, which consists
of two classes of Tortoise-shell, one with and
one without white; three classes of Tabbies
divided according to the base color; Black-
and- White Cats ; cats of a solid color ; and one
141

142 APPENDIX

class for cats of a color not denned in the pre-
ceding. Care must be taken that a cat is
entered in its own proper class, because any
carelessness in entering disqualifies a cat abso-
lutely in that class, although it may be a mag-
nificent animal, and if placed in its own class
would easily win.

In Table C are given the Comparative Points
of Judging recommended by Mr. John Jennings,
which table is too extended for use except by
an expert j but it readily shows the important
points of value to be attached to the various
parts. It will be seen that, to begin with, the
length of the fur, the quality of the fur, and
the frill, or those wavy crests of hair at points
of juncture where the fur lies in opposite di-
rections, are most important; second, that the
color of the coat (which means the richness and
purity of its coloring) and the tail (which in-
cludes size and carriage) are given about equal
importance. The eyes, again, are given con-
siderable importance, especially in the White
and Self-colored Cats.

Table D gives the very excellent statute of
the State of New York, which was procured

APPENDIX 143

by the efforts of the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals, and which has placed the
care of animals under the control of the society.
This has done away with the abominable and
brutal muzzles which the law previously re-
quired for dogs, and has made owners much
more careful in registering their dogs, and in
not countenancing waifs in dogs or cats, which
are always subject to careless inattention or
positive cruelty. As we go to press, a bill has
just passed the Assembly at Albany extending
the provisions of this statute to the city of
Brooklyn, and has also extended the powers
of the society.

144

APPENDIX

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APPENDIX

145

TABLE B.
CLASSIFICATION OF CATS AT THE NATIONAL CAT SHOW.

BY SUB-ORDER. BY SEX AND AGE. BY BREED OR VARIETY.

I.

Long-haired, Asi-
atic or Eastern
cats (Persians, An-
goras, Russians).

He-oats.

II.

She-cats.

II.

in.

ern Cats (Ordinary
European Cats).

IV.

Kittens over
three months
and under six
months of age.

TORTOISE-SHELL.

Color to be red,
yellow, and black ;
no white.

TOKTOISE-SHELL-
AND-WHITE.

Color to be red,
yellow, black, and
white.

BROWN OR DARK
GRAY TABBY.

Color to be rich
brown or dark
gray, striped or
spotted with black;
no white.

SILVER OR BLUE
TABBY.

Color to be sil-
ver gray or blue,
striped or spotted
with black ; no
white.

RED TABBY OR RED
TABBY AND WHITE.
Color to be red-
dish or sandy,
striped or spot-
ted with darker
sandy and white.

BLACK OR WHITE.

Color to be en-
tirely black or en-
tirely white (Mal-
tese).

Blue or silver
solid color, with-
out white (Mal-
tese).

ANY OTHER VARI-
ETY.

Color to be any
hue not specified
in the foregoing
classes.

Manx cats, any
color or sex.

146 APPENDIX

TABLE C.
COMPARATIVE POINTS.— VALUE OF LONG-HAIRED CATS.

I I

VARIETY. §>

20' -16' -12' -12. -12. .-. . 5 . . 8 . . 5 . .10. .100

White ...'.'... 20.. 15.. 12.. 12.. 10.. — .. 5 ..10.. 6 ..10.. 100

Tabbies, any Color. ...15.. 10.. 10.. 10.. 15.. 15.. 5 .. 5 .. 5 ..10.. 100

COMPARATIVE POINTS.— VALUE OF SHORT-HAIRED CATS.

i g

VARIETY. I | £ |

^IpS-^^ DO » 'S *fl3

Tortoise-shell 30 . . 20 . . 10 . . 10 . . 5 . . 5 . . 10 . . 10 . . 100

. f Black 30 . . — . - 20 . . 15 . . 10 . . 10 . . 5 . . 10 . . 100

^ £ I White 25 . . — . . 15 . . 20 . . 10 . . 15 . . 5 . . 10 . . 100

Blue 35 . . — . . 15 . . 20 . . 10 . . 5 . . 5 . . 10 . . 100

5 . . — . . 15 . . 25 . . 10 . . 10 . . 5 . . 10 . . 100

0 . . 20 . . 10 . . 10 . . 5 . . 5 . . 10 . . 10 . . 100

Silver Tabby .".25 . . 25 . . 10 . . 10 . . 5 . . 5 . . 10 . . 10 . . 100

Red Tabby 30 .. 20 . . 15 .. 10 .. 5.. 5.. 5.. 10.. 100

BSped0Tabbyer}ao--20--15--10-- 5" *~ *»»-'**

Spotted Tabby 25 . . 30 . . 10 . . 10 . . 5 . . 5 . . 5 . . 10 . . 100

Any Variety or )

Color, White V20 .. 30 .. 15 .. 10 .. 5.. 5.. 5 . . 10 . . 100

Markings )

COMPARATIVE POINTS.— VALUE OF OTHER DISTINCT VARIETIES.

MANX.

VARIETY. rf -o g> .2

I I j| | 1 1 | | |

Self-color 30 . . 20 . . 20 . . 10 . . — . . 5 . . 5 . . 10 . . 100

With Markings . . . .30 . . 10 . . 20 . . 10 . . 10 . . 5 . . 5 . . 10 . . 100

APPENDIX 147

TABLE D.
LAWS 1894, CHAPTER 115.

Approved by the Governor, March 8, 1894.

AN ACT FOR THE BETTER PROTECTION OF LOST AND
STRAYED ANIMALS, AND FOR SECURING THE EIGHTS
OF THE OWNERS THEREOF.

The People of the /State of New York, represented in
Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows :

SECTION 1. Every person who owns or harbors one
or more dogs within the corporate limits of any city
having a population of over twelve hundred thousand
shall procure a yearly license for each animal, paying
the sum of two dollars for each one, as hereinafter
provided.

SEC. 2. Licenses granted under this act shall date
from the first day of May in each year, and may be re-
newed at the expiration of the term by payment of one
dollar for each renewal.

SEC. 3. Each certificate of license or renewal shall
state the name and address of the owner of the dog,
and also the number of such license or renewal.

SEC. 4. Every dog so licensed shall at all times have
a collar about its neck, with a metal tag attached thereto
bearing the number of the license stamped thereon.

SEC. 5. Dogs not licensed pursuant to the provisions
of this act shall be seized, and if not redeemed within
forty-eight hours may be destroyed or otherwise dis-
posed of, as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 6. It is further provided that any cat found
within the corporate limits of any such city without a
collar about its neck bearing the name and residence of
the owner stamped thereon may be seized and disposed
of in like manner as prescribed above for dogs.

148 APPENDIX

SEC. 7. Any person claiming a dog or cat seized
under the provisions of this act, and proving ownership
thereof, shall be entitled to resume possession of the
animal on payment of the sum of three dollars.

SEC. 8. The American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals is hereby empowered and author-
ized to carry out the provisions of this act, and the said
society is further authorized to issue licenses and re-
newals, and to collect the fees for such, as is herein
prescribed, which fees are to be used by said society
toward defraying the cost of carrying out the provisions
of this act and maintaining a shelter for lost, strayed,
or homeless animals.

SEC. 9. Any person or persons who shall hinder,
molest, or interfere with any officer or agent of said
society while in the performance of any duty enjoined
by this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor,
and upon conviction shall pay a fine of not less than
twenty-five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars,
or be imprisoned for not less than ten days nor more
than thirty days, or be punished by both fine and im-
prisonment.

SEC. 10. None of the provisions of this act shall ap-
ply to dogs owned by non-residents passing through the
city, nor to dogs brought to the city and entered for
exhibition at any dog show.

SEC. 11. The thirtieth subdivision of section eighty-
six of chapter four hundred and ten of the laws of eigh-
teen hundred and eighty-two, entitled " An act to con-
solidate into one act and to declare the special and local
laws affecting public interests in the city of New York,"
and all other acts and parts of acts inconsistent with
the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed.

SEC. 12. This act shall take effect immediately.

THE END.

TO DESK

LOAN DEPT.

BORROWED

A«*BSfciaS«W±ft

LD21A-40m-8,'7l
(P6572slO)476-A-32

.General Library

University of California

Berkeley