Epidemics that sweep through different coun tries and continents at stated periods decimate the cat family, and it is well to be prepared for such occasions by having none but the health iest and best of animals. Distemper, the great est of cat scourges, is best treated by nursing, care and cleanliness. Fleas convey embryonic worms which infest cats, and should be rigor ously kept down. They breed in cracks in the floor, in bedding and in the ground, and war waged upon their haunts will be work well laid out.
Do not use nauseating drugs for ailing cats, but choose the mildest remedies that will effect a cure. Do not be prejudiced against a course of treatment till you have tried it well; and re member that supposed cures suddenly made are not always effectual. Cats, when ill, require sympathy as much as human beings, and more so than any other animal, in order to battle suc cessfully with disease, for they have a tendency to be very pessimistic and sorry for themselves, and to recover or fail quickly. They suffer mostly from distemper, worms, eczema, bron chitis, pneumonia and liver diseases, and occa sionally from catarrhal fever. If you are acquainted with a good homceopathic physician, and have any idea of what ails your cat, consult him and abide by his advice.
Do not breed from your queens too young, although many good kittens have been raised from queens not a year old, if strong and healthy. Male cats will not mate as early in life as the queens, and are seldom of much use till a year old. Do not cross long-haired cats with short-haired cats, for you spoil the type of both_ Siamese cats will breed with other cats, but the progeny are never good for the show room; and the Siamese being a distinct breed, does not amalgamate with any of the other varieties. The Manx cat is better kept pure, or the type degenerates and the result is not satis factory.
Remember, when trying to rear good cats, that what goes in at the mouth and the care bestowed upon the young and growing animals cover 50 or even 75 per cent of essential re quirements. The best blood in the world will not bring prize-winners or nice pets if they are badly reared. The crucial period takes in the first six months; when the young cat is well grown, and at seven months of age is through teething, you will have an animal that may live 20 years or more. Healthy cats are more long
lived than dogs, and authentic records tell of not a few over 20 years of age, and of some even 30.
Kittens should not be taken away from their mothers before they are at least eight weeks old; and if three months old, it will be still better. Care should be exercised in the diet of kittens at an early age. Sudden changes or sudden chills will bring on gastritis. Milk, unless pure, is more dangerous than meat, which in a raw state may be given scraped or minced at a very early age. Milk is better when mixed with Robinson's prepared barley according to the directions on the box, unless you can obtain warm milk from a cow that has not been too long in milk. The most dangerous diet for highly bred kittens is cold skimmed milk of an uncertain age.
To destroy a cat, or put it out of its misery when too sick to recover, administer a few drops of chloral, place the cat, if possible, in a tight box, and when the cat is fast asleep drop into the box a sponge saturated with two or three ounces of chloroform.
Bibliography.— Barton,