GENERAL AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK LIBRARY. THE CAT - PHYSIOLOGY - BREEDS - DISEASES & REMEDIES
BY ABEL DASSY

Work honoured with a Vermeil Medal from the Society for the Protection of Animals

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MONOGRAPH ON THE CAT

By the same author - The Remedy Beside the Illness

This book, a true documentary encyclopaedia of all Diseases of Dogs and Cats, is useful to all those who love these animals, for the Advice it gives to treat them and the Remedies it recommends to cure them.
Price: 4 fr.

Copyright Abel DASSY 1921 Translation, reproduction and adaptation prohibited. (Expired)

To Mrs. H. DEMONTREUIL
Member of Board of Directors of the Society for the Protection of Animals. A token of my sincere gratitude.
A.D.

The Author of this work was awarded a Silver Gilt Medal by the Society for the Protection of Animals, during the distribution of rewards on the occasion of the 65th annual meeting which took place in the large Amphitheatre of the Sorbonne, October 10, 1920.

Mention: DASSY (ABEL) Mont-Saint-Aignan, near Rouen (Seine-Inf rieure):

Author of a very interesting work "The Monograph of the Cat" in which he eloquently highlights the qualities of this animal and makes it loved.

Abel Dassy

CAT MONOGRAPH

Followed by a Treatise on all cat diseases. - Advice and methods for preventing their illnesses. - Remedies suitable for their cure.

All rights of translation and reproduction reserved. (Expired)

It is often because we have been deceived by the friendship of humans that we take refuge in the friendship of animals.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I - The Cat Family - Its Genera - Its Species.
CHAPTER II - The Cat in Antiquity.
CHAPTER III - The Cat - Its History - Its Characteristics - Various Breeds.
CHAPTER IV - Portrait of the Cat - Traits of intelligence and loyalty.
CHAPTER V - Virtues and healings attributed to the Cat - Cats banned in America... Poor Cats!
CHAPTER VI - The Cat, companion of scholars, thinkers, statesmen. Little favourites of famous people. Mr. Poincare's Cat. - M. Cle menceau's Pussy.
CHAPTER VII - Cat Diseases. Advice and Methods to prevent their diseases. Remedies specific to their healing.

CHAPTER I - The Cat Family - Its Genera - Its Species

Modern naturalists divide the numerous family of Cats into three genera:

1. - Cheetahs (cynailurus felis jubata. Linn), native to southern Asia and several countries of Africa;
2. - Lynxes (felis lynx. Linn). This species is found in all regions of the Old and New Continent,
3. - Cats themselves (felis. Linn).

The cat family is placed in the natural classification after hyenas; it completes the great series of so-called "digitigrade" carnivores. The animals that make it up have a rounded snout comprising two very strong, short jaws armed with 28 or 30 teeth. Their tongue and penis bristle with small horny prickles; they have five toes on their front feet, four on those behind, all armed, except in the cheetah, with powerful, hooked, sharp, retractable nails, enabling the animal to seize and tear its prey, then, when at rest, fitting between the fingers in such a way as to prevent wear to both their sharp points and their lower edges through friction. Their fierce yellow eyes, usually nocturnal habit, long head, and short, straight ears give them a family resemblance that makes them easy to recognize.

We will just mention the cat genus itself, from which all species derive: wild cats and domestic cats.

The LION, (felis leo. Linn.) the azad of the Arabs; the gehad of the Persians, the t'gamma of the Hottentots. It is, along with the Tiger, the largest of all cats.

The TIGER, (felis tigris. Linn.), the Royal Tiger (Buff.), the paleng of the Persians; the radja-houtan of the Malays, the madjan-gode of the Javanese, the lau-hu of the Chinese. Among cats, the tiger is the strongest, its size slightly surpasses that of the lion. It is one of the most beautiful animals we know of.

The PANTHER, (felis pardus. Linn.), the nemir of the Arabs.
LEOPARD, felis leopardus. Linn.)

OUNCE, (felis lyncea. Linn.), a species of large cat native to the cold and mountainous regions of Siberia.

The SERVAL, or Boschkat Tiger, (felis serval Linn.), originally from the Cape.

The BLACK-FOOTED CAT or Caffre Cat, (felis caffra. Linn.), completely black, larger than the European wild cat.

The GREY BLUE CAT from the Cape of Good Hope.
The GOLDEN CAT, (felis aurea), a type of lynx.
The MADAGASCAR CAT with its twisted tail.
The BENGAL CAT (felis bengalensis).
THE WILD CAT OF THE ISLANDS OF THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO.

The JAVA CAT, with webbed feet, Cuvier's felis javanensis.

The WAVY CAT, (felis undata) and the Arimonou (felis melas), originally from Sumatra.

On the coasts of Japan, we find a race of "Tailless Cats" of which there are curious specimens in the Isle of Man (Irish Sea) where this breed was imported by English navigators there forty years ago.

The JAGUAR. After the Tiger and the Lion, it is the largest animal of the cat genus native to the new Continent.

The PUMA or COUGAR (felis concolor. Linn.), native to Guyana and the Spanish Colonies.

THE WILD CAT OF EUROPE AND ASIA, (felis catus ferus. Linn.) Naturalists agree to recognize that, from the crossing of the "wild cat" of Europe and Asia, came the GLOVED CAT (felis maniculata) (the sacred cat of the Egyptians) along with the following varieties, which, without exception, are native to certain countries of the Old Continent.

Its main species are:

The ANGORA CAT (felis angorensis), originally from Persia.

The CHINESE CAT (felis sinensis), with hanging ears, similar to the Angora cat: it is much appreciated by gourmets in China for its tender and delicate flesh: the Chinese use it as a sundial; the pupil, in fact, narrows until midday when it becomes almost imperceptible then widens until the evening.

The RED CAT of Tobolsk (Siberia).

The SPANISH CAT, with short, shiny, red, black and white hair (felis catus Hispanicus. Linn.)

The CHARTREUX CAT, slaty gray (felis catus coeruleus), native to central Europe.

The TABBY DOMESTIC CAT, commonly called the GUTTER CAT, (felis catus vulgaris. Linn.)

CHAPTER II - THE CAT IN ANTIQUITY

Among the Egyptians, as well as the Romans and also among the ancient Germanic peoples, the Cat was in great veneration. It was considered the symbol of both independence and adultery. Anyone who killed a cat, either inadvertently or deliberately, was severely punished. The Gloved Cat was the sacred cat of the Egyptians, facsimiles of which we find painted on the monuments of the Pharaohs.

In ancient Egypt, when a cat died a natural death, the whole house went into mourning; the eyebrows were shaved and the animal, after being embalmed, was taken to a sacred house where it was interred with all the honours of burial and apotheosis. It was with great pomp that, followed by the first magistrates, the body of the cat was transported to Bubastis, a city in Lower Egypt where divine honours were paid to it. It is in fact in Bubastis that there was the famous temple erected to the goddess Bast or Bebascht, Diana Bubaste or Diana the Cat, so called because she transformed herself into a cat when the gods took refuge in Egypt. This goddess was represented with the head of a cat; she was particularly worshipped in lower Egypt as personifying the fertilizing heat of the Sun.

Near the Temple of Thebes, we find cemeteries of cats, and, in the sarcophagi, mixed with the bones, an innumerable quantity of cat heads made of bronze and gilded wood with enamel eyes. This discovery was made in 1880. These heads, brought to France at that time, were the object of a most fruitful trade; according to Larousse, millions of them were sold from 1880 to 1890.

In recent excavations carried out in Egypt, we find statues with heads of cats placed on the bodies of women, often decorated with a crown and holding, in the right hand, the sistrum (ancient flute of the Egyptians) and, in the left, the aegis decorated with the head of the goddess Isis.

Herodotus relates that, when there was a fire, the cats were agitated with a divine tremor. The owners forgot the danger to themselves and their property, and only focused on removing their cats from the flames. If, despite the care they took in those moments to save these animals, some animals jumped into the flames, thus perishing accidentally, they shaved their eyebrows as a sign of great mourning. The worship devoted to the cat was such that the regret of its loss was equal to that when a parent dies.

In these countries, cats were perfumed and slept in sumptuous beds; at the feasts, they had places of honour.

Diodorus of Sicily reports having seen a Roman in Alexandria who was stoned by the people for having killed a cat. The Arabs love a golden cat: Mohammed loved his cat "Muezza" so much that he cut off the part of his robe on which she rested so as not to disturb her from her sleep. The Roman emperor Constantine the Great had a Cat who had his place at the imperial table where he ate on a gold service. Many slaves were specially attached to its service.

The cat, seen as the equal of a god, seems to have retained the majestic bearing of its fallen divinity and there poses hieratic:

"In contemplation they take the noble attitude
Of great sphinxes lying in the depths of solitude,
Who seem to sleep in an endless dream."
(1) Baudelaire.

CHAPTER III - THE CAT - ITS HISTORY - ITS CHARACTERISTICS - VARIOUS BREEDS

The cat belongs to the genus of digitigrade carnivorous mammals containing numerous species: lion, tiger, panther, leopard, jaguar, lynx, cheetah, etc., etc.

The type species is the wild cat of Europe and Asia which lives solitary in large forests. It has a grey-brown coat, a little yellowish above, a pale yellow-grey below; it has 4 blackish bands on its head which merge into a single wider one along the back; white around the jaws, the muzzle a light fawn and the ends of the legs black. It is hardly larger than the domestic varieties.

We saw in Chapter I that there are many breeds of cats resulting from crosses with cats from the Far East. These various breeds hardly differ from each other except in size and colour.

In the history of the cat, there are many prejudices to combat, many errors to point out and I will probably clash with the best established beliefs of most of my readers, but the new observations and numerous facts collected by travelling naturalists contradict the opinions of authors who have previously written on this subject.

CATS are organized to be the most dangerous and strongest of all carnivores and their structure is in harmony with their bloodthirsty behaviour. The flexibility of articulation of their limbs and spine makes them incapable of maintaining the rigidity necessary for running without painful efforts, therefore, they cannot run continuously like a dog, but they can climb with great ease, twist, bend, stretch out with extreme flexibility, and leap great distances.

Cunning, patience, keen hearing, the perfection of their senses, this activity which keeps them in action night and day, allows them to easily surprise their prey. Who has not seen them spying on a bird or a mouse?

Their sense of smell, although less subtle than that of the dog, nevertheless has the degree of finesse necessary to let them smell an enemy or prey from quite a distance. Their hearing, perfected by their nocturnal habits, is due to the development of their inner ear.

Their eyes are perfectly organized: cats have a vertical pupil slit, their eyelids can cover the pupil in such a way that it admits only one ray of light, and on the other hand open them entirely so that the weakest of rays are sufficient for their vision. This is what gives them a wonderful facility to lie in wait for their prey.

The cat sees at night because its pupils are capable of extreme dilation allowing the eye to gather a large quantity of this weak light and the large quantity supplements its strength. It seems that the lustre, brilliance and radiance that we notice in the cat's eyes come from a kind of tissue which lines the back of the eye or from the shine of the retina where it surrounds the optic nerve. But what happens to the eye of the cat immersed in water is more difficult to explain and was once the subject of great controversy in the Academy of Sciences.

No one is unaware that the iris is the membrane of the eye which gives it the different colours that we notice in different subjects; it is a kind of circular ring whose middle is the pupil through which light rays enter the eye. When the eye is exposed to a lot of light, the pupil narrows noticeably, that is to say, the iris widens and expands; on the contrary, in the dark, the pupil dilates and consequently the iris contracts.

However, we have noticed that if we immerse a cat in water and turn its head so that its eyes are directly exposed to a bright light, then despite this bright light, the animal's pupils do not shrink. Onn the contrary the pupil expands and as soon as we remove the cat from the water, the pupil contracts. Finally, a bizarre phenomenon is that we can clearly see the depths of the cat's eyes in the water, although it is certain that we cannot see them in the air.

Only the cat's sense of taste seems to lack a certain delicacy, so they take their prey in shreds rather than chewing it. This lack of taste comes from the fact that the cat's tongue, instead of being smooth, is bristling with a multitude of horny papillae.

All cats have almost the same shape, the same attitudes, gestures, movements and mannerisms.

All, to express their satisfaction, make a purring sound that they like to make when dozing and especially when they are caressed.

The cat's intelligence is less developed than that of most other carnivores, which probably comes from the small space that the enormous development of their jaws and the muscles of their head has left for the cranium. Having little intelligence, cats are unlikely to be trained and whatever we do to train them, we cannot excite in them the faculties for which they do not have the organs; also, the cat has retained its fierce habits, its independent character.

No species lives in groups and the male and female only come together for a short time during mating. Moreover, this isolated, solitary life can be explained quite well by the organic necessity of these animals to feed only on living prey. The instinct of solitude which results from this cause is unalterable in all species; they become attached to places where, since childhood, they found sufficient food and they return there, and remain there. The cat, in general, is more fond of the house in which it was born than the master who showers it with caresses and care.

Domestic cats differ greatly from others both in colour and size. They have 28 teeth, 12 incisors, 4 canines and 8 molars. There are 8 teats: 4 on the chest and 4 on the stomach. The cat has 5 toes on its front paws and only 4 on its back paws. The structure of cat claws is too unique to ignore.

The cat's long, sharp claws hide and retract so quickly into their paws that they never touch the ground. The cat walks without wearing out its nails, or rather its claws, which are hooked and retractile, that is to say, able to extend and retract at will; it only exposes them when it wants to use them, either to strike or to tear, and also not to slip. When it plays or caresses and makes, as we say, "velvet paws", the cat draws its claws in; its claws do not wear out on the ground, they always remain sharp and if it wants to grab or defend itself, it extends them and curls them into hooks.

Cats usually go into heat in January or February. The female cries loudly when the male approaches, either because his semen burns her or because he injures her with his claws. It is claimed that females are more ardent than males because they warn them and attack them.

Mr. Bayle reports that, in London, a large rat mated with a cat and from this mixture came young that looked like a cat and a rat. They were raised in the menagerie of the King of England.

Cats carry their young for fifty-six days and each litter is usually five to six young: the female takes great care of them.

Pliny, a naturalist from ancient Rome, claimed that the longevity of the cat did not exceed ten years. However, there are plenty of examples of cats that have lived well over 15 years.

Everyone knows that cats hunt rats and birds because they climb trees; they jump with great agility and they use their cunning with great finesse. They are very fond of fish. They kill toads and snakes, but do not eat them.

Although the domestic cat is very cuddly and affectionate, it is always suspected of retaining the natural ferocity of its species.

The most to fear when living too familiarly with these animals would be their breath. According to certain scientists, among others Mr. Matthiole who has carried out in-depth research on the breath of certain animals, the cat is likely to transmit phthisis [pulmonary tuberculosis] to those who inhale their breath. This scientist reports several examples of this fact. It is therefore a most basic caution to avoid kissing our cats and allowing them to rub their snouts on our faces. (See Chapter V "Cat Diseases", lip cancer, an incurable disease).

How is it that we see a cat's back glow in the dark when we rub its fur the wrong way? It is because bodies filled with sulphurous elements glow when the elements are agitated by vital movement, friction, shock or some other moving cause. Besides, this phenomenon is not particular to cats, it is the same for the back of a cow or calf, or a horse's neck, and this is especially the case when they are rubbed in frosty weather.

DOMESTIC CATS are very varied in their fur colour: some white, others black, others grey, or two colours such as black-and-white, grey-and-white, red-and-black, or grey striped. We even find three-coloured cats: black, red and white. We will limit ourselves to making one singular observation, which is that in the domestic cat almost all the individuals marked with three colours, yellow, white and black, are generally females. There are very few exceptions to this particularity.

There is a blue-grey species called the CHARTREUX CAT (felis catus coeruleus Linn.), which is native to the central regions of Europe.

The DOMESTIC CAT, strictly speaking, is usually called the GUTTER CAT (felis catus vulgaris. Linn.).

There is the ANGORA CAT, originally from Persia, has very long and silky hair, and the SPANISH CAT; the first has a very beautiful coat and is sufficiently well-known that there is no point dwelling on it here; the second is possibly the most common in apartments and has short hair patched with various colours.

In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about the SIAMESE CAT which is highly sought after by cat lovers. This species of feline was imported from Indo-China approximately 35 years ago. In 1893, Mrs. Carnot donated two young cats of a very singular appearance to the menagerie of the Natural History Museum. These cats, born in Paris from a pair brought back from Indo-China by one of the sons of the President of the Republic, belong to the breed known as the "ROYAL CAT OF SIAM," which the Botanical Gardens had already possessed since 1885, represented by two specimens donated by Mr. Pavie, the resident Minister of France in Bangkok.

The SIAMESE CAT has a coat like a dog and its fur is much less dense, and a little rougher, than that of our ordinary cats. In their physiognomy and coat colour they have similarities with certain dogs, especially with the "pug". SIAMESE CATS are less robust than our domestic cats and their shape is more slender. They are only 75 cm from nose to tail-tip; their face is strongly marked with dark brown; on the nose and below the eyes, this colour fading at the eyebrows and on the cheeks, but reappearing more intensely on the upper or outer surface of the ears and contrasting strongly with the pale colour on top of the head, which is a very light isabelline grey or even a dirty white in youngsters.

The throat and abdomen are white while the shoulders, mid-back and thighs are pale grey. The tail is slender and cylindrical, chocolate brown; it is sometimes spotted with white on a very dark brown base colour; the legs from the wrist and heel to the claws present a similar colouring. It really looks as if the animal had accidentally fallen into a pot of brown dye and hurried to get out, but the contents of the pot stained the lower part of its limbs and its tail sepia, splashed its face, smeared its ears and cast some shadows on its coat. Facial hair is short, smooth and quite sparse on the forehead and nose. The whiskers are pure white and the nose is a beautiful dark pink. The eyes instead of being green are pale blue. This iris colour is also seen in purebred white Angora cats.

Some naturalists claim that the Angora cat is the prototype of the Siamese cat. This is a mistake. Indeed, by their slender shape and their bizarre colouring, these cats differ so much from the cats that we commonly see here, and also so completely from the felines that live freely in the forests of Indo-China that we do not knows which wild or domestic type it is related to.

It has been shown that climate has a profound influence on the nature and coat of domestic cats. Thus, Paraguayan cats, descended from European cats, have not only modified their habits, but now have certain body parts bare. Alongside these alterations produced by the climate, there are the modifications brought about by the caprice of man who has subjected the animal to particular treatment and perpetuated his work by means of selection. This is how the "naked cats" found in certain regions of Eastern Europe were produced. In Vienna, especially in Bohemia, we find specimens of these naked cats. According to the naturalist Fitzinger, these cats are just ordinary cats altered and propagated by the Gypsies.

It is admissible that Siamese cats derive from domestic or wild ancestors that had much fuller and longer coats and that they owe their particular livery to an ancient cross between grey cats of the two varieties more or less similar to the Chartreux and Persian, themselves descended from black cats and white cats. The ends of the legs of many wild felines, including the Asian Gloved Cat (felis maniculata), are blackish or marked with a black streak, the cheeks striped black and ears dyed the same colour. It would not be surprising for these dark marks to be transmitted to the Siam Cat.

In any case, Siamese cats seem to be easily domesticated, they have a rather gentle nature and because of their elegance shape and unique coat colour they are greatly sought after by cat lovers (E. Oustalet).

CHAPTER IV - PORTRAIT OF THE CAT - TRAITS OF INTELLIGENCE AND LOYALTY.

Buffon, the great naturalist, the friend of animals, does not give us a very flattering portrait of the Cat:

"THE cat is an unfaithful domestic, and kept only from the necessity we find of opposing him to other domestics still more incommodious, and which cannot be hunted. There are many people who, having a taste for all animals, only breed cats for fun: one is use, the other abuse, and, although these animals, especially when young, have kindness, at the same time they have an innate malice, a false character, a perverse nature, which increases with age, and which is only masked by training. From determined thieves, they only become, when well brought up, supple and flattering like knaves; they have the same skill, the same subtlety, the same taste for doing evil, the same inclination to plunder, but they know how to cover their tracks, conceal their designs, spy out opportunities, wait, choose, seize the moment to do their deed, then evade punishment, flee and remain away until they are recalled. They easily acquire social habits, but never acquire morals. They only have the appearance of attachment. We see in their oblique movements, in their ambiguous looks, that they are only susceptible to caresses for the pleasure that they give. We cannot say that cats, although inhabitants of our homes, are entirely domestic animals; those which are best tamed are not enslaved; we can even say that they are entirely free and do only what they want. Most do not know their master, only frequenting the attics and roofs and sometimes the kitchen and pantry when hunger presses them. When they are transported quite considerable distances, they return of their own accord to their attic, and this is probably because they know all the mouse holes and exits, and because the trouble of the journey is less than that which would be necessary to acquire the same facilities in a new country? They fear water, cold and bad odours; they like to stay in the sun, they seek roosts in the warmest places, behind chimneys or in courtyards; they love perfumes and prefer to let themselves be caressed by people who wear them."

It is obvious that Buffon, always emphasizing his portrayal through opposites, painted the cat in the darkest of colours and attributed perverse instincts to it that it does not actually have.

The cat has a timid character, it becomes wild through cowardice, mistrustful through weakness, cunning through necessity and a thief through need. He is only ever vicious when roused to anger, and is only angry when he believes his life is threatened, and then he becomes dangerous because his fury is that of despair and he fights with all the courage of those who are pushed to the limit.

In domesticity, the cat is forced to live continually in the company of the dog, its cruellest enemy. From there, his natural distrust must have increased, and it is probably to this fact that we must attribute what Buffon calls his duplicity, his insidious approach, etc. The cat has retained everything of its independence that is needed to ensure its existence in the position that we have given it, and if we make this position better like in Paris, for example, where the people love animals and where there are more cats, he gives up part of his independence in proportion to what we give him in affection.

Although the cat cannot be considered as the type of animal that is faithful and devoted to its master, there are still numerous examples where the cat has given proof of its loyalty and attachment.

We love the little cat who grew up in our house, he is our companion, he is the friend of the home. The cat recognizes the person who is caring for it, it advances towards them purring, with arched back, rubbing against their clothes, even expressing with a few very meaningful little meows all its joy. And then, is there a cleaner animal than the cat?

As to maternal devotion, the she-cat is truly admirable. Always on the lookout, always alert, her instinct reveals to her that throughout the period of suckling her offspring, she must be wary of the male, who is constantly on the hunt and would not fail to kill her young if he discovered them during his wanderings. Also, as soon as the she-cat senses the slightest danger to her litter, she hastens, with the help of her mouth, to seize her young one by one, at the base of the neck, and transport them to a safe place.

In the "Chronicle", a curious fact was cited about the cat's capacity for attachment. A man had raised one that was so attached to him that it followed him everywhere. Its master, having fallen ill, the cat no longer left his bed and when he died it could not be detached from him. It refused all food and a short time later was found dead in a corner of the house.

Here is another fact which proves that the cat is likely to not only become attached to its master, but also to defend him. About ten years ago, in Paris, a criminal managed to enter the dressing room of the Leroys, concierges, at night to rob them while they slept. He had already rushed at the husband, who was fast asleep, to strangle him, when suddenly, the Leroys' cat, which was resting at their feet, jumped at the criminal's face and disfigured him.

From an intelligence point of view, we can relate certain facts which denote in the cat, a practical sense no less inferior to that of the dog, and a certain finesse of observation. Isn't the story of the cat in the monastery reported by Bouviller typical? This cat had noticed that whenever the doorbell rang outside at certain hours of the day, the monk who combined the functions of doorman and cook, never failed to take a portion of meat from a table and take it to the poor who came to collect their pittance at the monastery door. The cat, having spied on these comings and goings, came to understand that to get hold of a piece of meat, it was only a matter of diverting the cook's attention by ringing the bell. On various occasions, he hung from the cord. As soon as the monk ran to the door, the cat, taking advantage of his absence, quickly jumped on the table to select the piece of meat on which he had set his sights and immediately disappeared. Realizing that his portions were decreasing every day, the cook-porter did not suspect the misdeeds of his cat which came purring around his legs. One day, becoming too greedy, the cat grabbed a superb chop intended for the leader of the community. The cook, finding the bone in a corner, had proof of the theft. Seeing his cat licking his paws and snout, the cook finally understood that the cat was indeed the thief and banned him from entering the kitchen in the future.

From a trustworthy person I have the following anecdote which also demonstrates the ingenuity of a cat in achieving its aims in order to satisfy its greed.

Aunt Jacqueline, in a "Chronicle" (1) tells us the story: In a family there was a pretty little cat who was called "Sardine", because of her predilection for this little fish, raw or fried, in oil or butter or canned. They didn't always give the cat sardines in oil because there was a risk of this kind of treat making stains on the floor. However, on a certain Friday when a tin of sardines had been opened in the buffet, Sardine did not leave the dining room with the family as she was her custom after the meal. She remained on her cushion with the innocent air of a cat who only wants to sleep. When the servant had finished removing the cutlery and returned to the kitchen, Sardine approached the sideboard and very patiently examined the key which had just locked up her favourite treat. Suddenly she jumped up to the lock, passed one of her front paws through the ring of the key and thus suspended began to swing. With each turn of the swing, the movement became more ample, so that at a given moment, Sardine, carried away by the momentum, described a circle around the key, forcing it to turn in the lock. The buffet was open, and the cat emptied the can of sardines.

(1. La Semaine de Suzette, newspaper edited by Henri Gautier.)

CHAPTER V - VIRTUES AND HEALINGS ATTRIBUTED TO THE CAT - CATS "BANNED" IN AMERICA.

Our ancestors had a marked predilection for cats. It was rare to find houses where there were small dogs as we find almost everywhere now. On the other hand, it was also extremely rare to find a house without one or more cats. This is because in the past, certain virtues, certain particularities, certain gifts were attributed to cats that current science and the extensive knowledge of our century have fortunately proved baseless.

Didn't the ancient pharmacopoeia find in the skin, in the fat, in the intestines and even in the excrement of cats certain remedies suitable for curing numerous diseases? But, even today, isn't cat skin used to soothe the suffering of rheumatics? In the past, several authors on medical knowledge reported various properties that some doctors attributed to different parts of the cat, both domestic and wild. The fat of these animals, their blood, their droppings, their heads, their liver, their gall, their distilled urine, their skin, even their afterbirth worn as an amulet were celebrated as admirable remedies; but since none of these authors has confirmed these virtues through their own experience, we cannot rely on the kind of tradition which has transmitted these claims to us from book to book; at least, it would have been wise to wait before recommending these remedies in some cases until their particular virtues had been confirmed by observation.

Here, however, are their so-called virtues: Cat fat softens and warms the arteries; it is good for joint diseases; cat's blood cures herpes and scabies; the head reduced to ashes is good for eye disease; its droppings cure alopecia and gout pain; the skin is placed on the stomach and joints to keep them warm; the afterbirth is worn around the neck to protect against eye sores. The list of these virtues is taken from James's dictionary of medicine, which copied it from Dole's pharmacopoeia.

Cats banned in America.

A few years ago, astonishing news reached us from the new world. The Cat had to disappear from the soil of free America: the Yankees claimed it was the cause of many diseases transmissible to humans. After declaring the parakeet infected, then the dog, it could not be otherwise to attack the poor cat. On this subject, the "Dispatch from Rouen and Normandy", under the signature of Mr. Fernand Destin, published on March 14, 1913, a humorous article entitled: "Poor Cats" which we are pleased to reproduce with permission of the author, convinced that this article will be appreciated by cattophiles.

POOR CATS. - "Yesterday we read in a Paris newspaper the following information: The Washington Ministry of Agriculture wants to hit cats with a very high tax." However, it is not a question, as one might believe, of some fiscal procedure of the beleaguered State:

"The measure is inspired by purely hygienic and scientific considerations. A large number of American scientists - biologists, chemists, doctors - affirm that the cat is an agent of propagation of all kinds of diseases: coryza, diphtheria, sores, rabies, scarlet fever, tuberculosis. It is accused of all misdeeds; it is a peddler of plagues. Death to cats!'

"When a mother sees her child dying," writes a Yankee doctor, "when a husband tries in vain to revive a young woman who is moaning, foaming with blood on her lips, when entire cities are prey to a contagion which empty the houses for the benefit of cemeteries, don't look for the cause of all this suffering and all these tears, it's the cat! Death to Cats'.

"But as an extermination of cats decreed in the name of the public utility would not be understood and would arouse popular indignation, it is appropriate to first resort to indirect and eminently educational means. You have to strike people's minds by hitting the cash register. The cat tax will open minds. Nothing beats a warning from the tax authorities, a nice little tax, to excite the attention of humans. Newspapers and magazines, brochures and books, conferences and lectures will take care of the rest. In a few months, everyone will know, everyone will admit that the cat is a perpetual danger to the human race. Then we can take definitive measures.

"These are the origins and purpose of this sinister American conspiracy against cats. It was born in laboratories and all its tendencies are centralized in the ministry of agriculture. Its method is implacable: first the tax, then death, without words: a general massacre of sneaky tomcats, sweet and sensitive she-cats and poor Puss, already very diminished and indifferent and peaceful.

"Scientists had cast suspicion on the parakeet, the poor infectious parakeet, the parrot, the monkey and the dog itself, the good doggie, a friend of man, but a dangerous friend, because he transmits several fearsome diseases, like hydatid cyst of the liver. Only the cat had so far escaped the revolutionary investigations of our bacteriologists.

"Alas! Whatever will we have left now?

"No more parakeets! no more monkeys! no more parrots! no more dogs! no more cats! Towards which animals, then, will we be able to channel all of our inexhaustible sources of tenderness, constantly springing up? Old maids and old boys and all those who have been hurt by life, misunderstood, betrayed, or who have misunderstood and offended life, will no longer know, from now on, which being to devote themselves to.

"And, for example, the law of a full female existence will hold an unfortunate gap. We will no longer be able to offer to a young woman of twenty, in its complete form, this sentimental program formulated by Octave to Marianne in the famous comedy by Alfred de Musset: So you still have eight or ten years to be loved, eight or ten years to love yourself, eight or ten years to love animals, and the rest to pray to God.'

"Another illusion that is disappearing! Another irreparable loss to be recorded in the profit and loss' account of the Great Book of Science.

"With you, kind domestic animals, we were at peace! when all humanity would have abandoned us, you would remain with us; we had in reserve some specimen of terrestrial and sublunary fauna to cherish. But now, how could we, without heroic obstinacy and an exaggerated taste for suicide, rub our noses affectionately against your beak infected with microbes, or against your damp, bacillary and unhealthy muzzle? We will no longer approach you without an ulterior motive of terror and repulsion. Puss himself is suspected of tuberculosis; Raminagrobis, from diphtheria; and, Hamilcar, guardian of the City of Books, may have contracted a pernicious coryza in the dust of elzevirs [1600s-1700s print books] and incunabula [pre-1500 print books].

"Farewell, these charming relationships that we each had, so sure, so sweet and so full of abandon, we must give them up! Continual renunciation! such is life!

"And yet! you were the joy in our solitude and the peace of the household too; you were the supreme refuge of our misanthropy and our misogyny. With you, we could talk freely, give ourselves completely away. Patient and docile companions! you knew how to satisfy our instinct for domination without humiliating yourself. We were never contradicted by you. You were the best disciples: those who receive in their minds, as in a bottomless vessel, the most extravagant teachings of their masters. You were the faithful repositories of our drivel, of our farcical and pretentious wisdom, of our bitter confidences, of our secrets. Your life was perfectly united with ours, that is to say according to this necessity which requires that those who are impenetrable to each other get along best. With you, our love and enthusiasm were never disappointed. We could give you all the feelings imaginable, adorn you with all our fancies, without any control being able to disillusion us.

"But all that is destroyed. Scientists have placed between you and us the frightening spectre of contagious diseases. You generously agreed to run the risk of contracting ours; but we will no longer dare, we will no longer want, to brave those that come to us from you. And in any case, we refuse to trade.

"Already utilitarian Americans are dreaming of extermination. Cats are blacklisted; tomorrow they will be subject to the tax and the day after tomorrow will be delivered to the executioner. Poor cats!

"Both fervent lovers and austere scholars
Love in their mature years
The strong and gentle cats, pride of the house,
Who like them are sedentary and sensitive to cold."

"In the past, the poets sang to you like this. They contemplated your

"fertile loins so full of magic sparks,
And specks of gold, like fine grains of sand,
Spangle dimly in mystic eyes.

"But today it's really about mysticism and the bits of gold that are in your eyes!

"The austere scientists' scratch your snout with a sterilized glass slide and examine your secretions under a microscope, to discover the perfidious staphylococcus, the typhoid bacillus or some other infinitely small enemy of the human species. And the fervent lovers,' disdaining the fine gold of your eyes, will no longer even dare to form their expressions of tenderness with your sweet name: the lover will no longer say to his mistress, nor the husband to his wife: "My little cat!"

"You will be destroyed even in our memory. Poor cats!"

(1. Fernand Destin.)

CHAPTER VI - THE CAT, COMPANION OF SCHOLARS, THINKERS AND STATESMEN. - LITTLE FAVOURITE OF FAMOUS PEOPLE. - MR. POINCARE'S CAT.- MR. CLEMENCEAU'S CAT

Odd note: the Cat seems to be the favourite companion of scholars and thinkers. History provides us with many examples of this.

Petrarch, the famous Italian poet (1304-1374), who composed most of his poems near the fountain of Vancluse in honour of Laure de Nevez, retired to Arca near Padua after the death of the famous Provencale whom he had immortalized in his verses. Inconsolable, he fell in love with a cat who was the charm of his solitude. The skeleton of this cat is kept in the city's museum, where it is considered by the inhabitants as a talisman.

Colbert, one of the greatest Ministers of France during the reign of Louis XIV, always had a young cat frolicking in his cabinet. Cardinal Richelieu loved the company of cats; the powerful minister of Louis XIII never worked better on the elaboration of the decrees and edicts of his sovereign than when he had his faithful cat Ritta near him, on his work table. Fontenelle, nephew of Corneille, somewhat misanthropic, only smiled when he found himself sitting next to his cat, which he enjoyed caressing before devoting himself to his work.

Locke, the great English philosopher, had a cat which sat on his worktable and sometimes responded to its master. Hoffmann had a beautiful tomcat called. Murr whom he was very fond of and who repaid him.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau and after him, Chateaubriand and closer to our time Baudelaire, Victor Hugo, M rim e, Th. Gautier, Guy-de-Maupassant, Sainte-Beuve, Flaubert, Alexandre Dumas, Taine, Pierre Loti, etc., etc., were all fervent friends of the cat.

The famous pamphleteer Henri Rochefort (Comte de Lucay) had a cat that he called Kroumir and that he was particularly fond of. When Rochefort died, Kroumir did not take long to succumb either.

Little Favourites of Famous People?
(We owe the authorization to reproduce this interesting article in our "Cat monograph" to the kindness of the charming and much appreciated writer, Mr. Victor du Bled, of the Societe des Gens de Lettres [SGDL: a writers' association].)

"Cats are amiable domestic tyrants who inspire true passions not only in children, young girls and old women, the humble and the rich, but in artists of great talent; they were sung of in prose and verse, on canvas and in marble; we devote exhibitions to them, just as we do to dogs. If I had the privilege of receiving the confidences of this feline species, it is likely that she would purr to me that exhibitions horrify her and that she is absolutely resistant to this kind of glory or vanity. Because the cat loves his habits above everything else, it is a creature of habit, which wants to be celebrated, but without disturbing it; it has the worship of household, and the idolatry of the person who belongs to it is perfectly sufficient for his ambition.

"Does it care about the cemeteries that cattophiles have set up in its honour? Does it have a concern for the afterlife?' Is it a spiritualist or a materialist? I heard the question seriously discussed in a circle of young girls who praised the virtues of their little favourites to the skies; they cited our illustrious friends of cats: Perrault, Galiani, Chateaubriand, Andrieu, M rim e, Rollinat, Henri Heine, Hoffmann, Michelet, Victor Hugo, Sainte-Beuve, Baudelaire, Th ophile Gautier, Champfleury, Alexandre Dumas, Taine, Pierre Loti, etc... And they ended up concluding that the cat was at least an argument in favour of the immortality of the soul.

"They forgot - I pointed out - Moncrif, the academician who wrote their history: he was the historiographer of Louis XV, a historiogriff,' [griffes = claws] said his pleasant detractors. The poet Roy, ventured to unleash a few epigrams at him, and Moncrif administered a volley of blows with his cane accompanied by energetic bellows, which Roy parried as best he could, while repeating this ironic adjuration: "Velvet paws, Monsieur Moncrif! Velvet paws, please!"

The Philosopher's Cat

"The cat is certainly a philosopher; here is quite striking proof. Baron de Gleichen had a very intelligent cat, often busy looking at herself in a mirror, moving away from her reflection to run towards it, and above all scratching around the frames, as if to satisfy her curiosity. One day, Gleichen set up his dressing mirror in the middle of the room, in order to give Ermelinde the pleasure of looking around it. She began by making sure that she was in front of a mirror like the others, then, passing behind it several times and seeing that she could not reach this elusive cat, she placed herself at the edge of the mirror, looked alternately from one side to the other, and convinced herself that the cat must be inside. To see this, she stood up, stretching out her two legs to feel the thickness; but, understanding that it would not be enough to contain a cat, she withdrew sadly, convinced that it was a question of a higher order phenomenon; and from now on she did not look at any mirror. Wiser than men who never set limits to their research, Ermelinde seemed to Gleichen to have been the Kant of cats.

"In a letter to Madame d'Epinay, the famous Abbe Galiani tells with humour his project of making a book entitled "Moral and political instructions" from a cat to her little ones. The cat would first teach her young the fear of the god-men; then, she would explain to them the theory and the two principles, the good god-man and the evil demon-dog. Then she would dictate morality to them, the war on rats and sparrows, etc. Finally, she would tell them about the future life and about the celestial Ratapolis, which is a city whose walls are made of parmesan, floors made of soft cheese, columns made of eels and which is filled with rats intended for their amusement. It would also instil in them respect for neutered cats, who are predestined cats, called to this state by the god-man, to be happy in this world and in the other, just witness how fat they are."

A Little History of Epicurean Cats

"After Gleichen's philosopher cat, here are Madame Helvetius' epicurean cats. Mr. d'Andlau, with one of his cousins, visited the one nicknamed Notre-Dame d'Auteuil' where they remained in indescribable embarrassment, standing in the middle of the living room, surrounded by eighteen enormous Angoras, of all colours, dressed in brocade, satin, and precious furs, to protect them from the cold and prevent them from running off. The cats finally decided to leave their shepherdesses and walked around the room, like magistrates, with the same gravity, the same assurance of their merits. Madame Helvetius called them all by their names and lavished them with the most tender caresses.

"Suddenly the door opened, and dinner for these important people was brought in flat dishes: poultry or partridge breasts, with a few small bones to gnaw on. There was then a melee, growls, swipes of claws, until each of them was well off, and they established themselves in pomp on the armchairs, which they greased more than each other, without any respect for their mistress's dress.

"Wasn't it a little of these favourites that this woman was thinking of when she complained to Bonaparte for not understanding the happiness that one can enjoy in a three-acre garden?"

"Hippolyte Taine loved cats; he spoke about it with as much interest as if it were about the origins of contemporary France." I heard him say almost seriously: "I have studied many philosophers and several cats; the wisdom of cats is infinitely superior." He who travelled six kilometres to contemplate a beautiful Angora, what joy would he not have felt visiting the exhibitions where the Venuses and Apollos of the species are brought together! He even composed in their honour, with the collaboration of Heredia, twelve philosophical sonnets full of things, beautiful and noble thoughts.

"It was he who told me this anecdote, from which he drew an argument in favour of these animals' taste for logic.

"X... had a cat and decided to buy a parrot; one day when his master was absent, the cat looked at the parrot for a long time, and from deduction upon deduction, concluded that it was a green chicken, worthy of providing a succulent feast. And so it approached very slowly, and prepared to jump to strangle the bird, but at the fateful moment, it said in its most resounding voice: "Have you had lunch Jacquot?" The cat stepped back, terrified, probably believing that this was a man disguised as a bird.

"The cattophiles also cite many traits to demonstrate that Mr. Minet has feelings of the heart, that he is not content with being loved, with rubbing up against us, that he also truly loves and caresses us. They proudly recall that Lord Chesterfield left pensions to his cats and their children, an example imitated by many English and Americans.

"The cat entered the heraldic bestiary of the Middle Ages; it was long considered the diabolical companion of sorcerers, and strangely enough, it was the animal which occupied the courts the most. He has charm, and when you like him you know everything." (1)
(1. Victor du Bled)

Mr. Poincare's Cat

"Mr. Gabriel Mourey transcribed, for the Annals, the confidences of Mr. Poincare about his Siamese cat. Here is how our President described the morals and character of Gri-Gri (Prince of Siam), as he is called at the Elys e, and for whom he has a particular attachment:

"This cat has a strange and complex personality. Voluptuous and greedy, perfidious and cunning, stubborn and ferocious, authoritarian to the point of tyranny, he has, you see, only faults, only half of which would make any other cat than him unbearable, but which become, in the way he uses them, qualities. Indeed, he is witty, full of aptness and verve, playful and facetious; he knows the value of a well-placed joke. He escapes by a pirouette from the most difficult' situations. He could give useful lessons to so many timid and hesitant people who are uncertain and slow to decide! I have never seen him embarrassed, nor come out badly from a misstep; from the outset he will always choose between two solutions with astonishing promptitude, not only the best solution from his point of view and the one most consistent with his interests, but the most elegant and the most graceful, and also the one which will attract him the most favours.

"So he excels at flattery; not direct flattery, which embarrasses and offends delicate souls, but that which so exquisitely caresses self-esteem so that one would willingly allow oneself to say: Again, again,' in a low voice, as soon as we sense it is close to finishing. It is quite rare, for example, for him to disobey his masters, at least in their presence. We have formally forbidden him, among other things, to sit, as we understand he would like to, in front of the heater vents. But if he feels you are busy, if he sees you immersed in work or in serious thought, then quietly, without being heard, making himself very small, very thin, he will slip into the place prohibited. He wears a small silver bell on his red leather collar - how does he manage to prevent it from ringing in this case?... I haven't yet managed to figure it out. So, there he is at the goal, ears pricked, all his senses alert, for fear of being surprised. He has his back to you and cannot see you. Look at him fixedly, he will feel your gaze; just sigh a little louder, and with a caper he immediately leaves the place and runs towards you with a detached air as if saying:

"My goodness yes, I sat there, or rather, I was only going to sit there for a moment, a very short moment, to warm the tips of my paws... because it's very cold out there this evening... but I don't really care, and the best proof is that here I am... So why look at me with this angry look?... Anger, dear master, is a capital sin... Better to laugh than to frown so much, which between you and I does not suit you! No! we are two good friends who always have fun being together! Let's not waste any more time sulking. Let's have fun!"

"And here he is who, after having lavished a thousand cuddles on me, sometimes showing me his claws to admire so that I do not forget that he is, in spite of everything, provided with them, and that he could, if he liked, make me feel them, jumped at once to the other end of the room, and from there on my knees, from off my knees onto a piece of furniture, from where he jumps again to strut across the room with all kinds of comic faces and antics, like a clown sure of his effects. It's impossible to resist him: you are disarmed and defeated."

Mr. Clemenceau's Cat

Would the feline breed have a particular attraction for Mr. Clemenceau? Aren't the Cat and the Tiger in fact from the same family?

The newspapers, including the Evening News, learned that during his trip to London, Mr. Clemenceau had acquired a magnificent Persian cat with a neck adorned with a superb ruff of hair with bluish reflections and whose features are embellished with sumptuous orange eyes.

Really, one wonders how our Premier was able to find the necessary time to take care of acquiring a cat during his trip to England, when he was going there in haste to meet King George and his Prime Minister, with more urgent questions relating to the final conclusion of peace protocols and other international problems. Certainly the memory of his ancient and illustrious predecessor, Richelieu, must have haunted him and Richelieu's shadow followed him. "Father Victory" was well aware that the powerful Cardinal who, like him, had had to take up the reins of the State, loved cats.

"Prudence" was the discreet and symbolic name that Mr. Clemenceau wanted to give to his cat; a very French name although the animal is of foreign stock. By giving his little "mascot" this name, what did the President of the Council want to symbolize? Mystery, because who can boast of having ever been able to grasp the psychology of Mr. Clemenceau's thought? It is certainly not for the company at large that our Premier gave his little mascot that name. Mr. Clemenceau was well aware that his acquisition of a cat during his trip to London would be reported and spread by all the newspapers (which did not fail to happen).

This news would therefore soon become known to all his fellow citizens through the various reports that the press would make of it. It is noteworthy that on the day the President of the Council went to the cat dealer in Bond Street, he had had a long conversation with the King and Mr. Lloyd George only a few moments previously. He was freshly imbued with the ideas that had been exchanged between them, as well as the incredible difficulties they would encounter in getting the Germans to sign the peace protocols.

Through his action, through a "metaphor", Clemenceau wanted to define his state of mind and share it with France, which, attentively followed from afar all his actions, all his gestures and commented on all his acts... to be careful!... and despite the conclusion of the peace which was going to be achieved, to be prudent with regard to Germany.

And it was then that under the influence of this thought, spontaneously, in a single burst, Mr. Clemenceau said to Mr. Lloyd George and to Mr. Philippe Berthelot who were at his side: "My mascot, I will call Prudence,'" and smiling, he took her away, lavishing her with a great caress, his little cat, around whose neck a superb tricolour ribbon had been tied. None but Clemenceau could symbolize an act with such simplicity.

While she lived on Bond Street, "Prudence" was far from suspecting her future notoriety. After being chosen by the Prime Minister of France, and President of the Conference of Allied and Associated Nations, the little cat Prudence became not only a very Parisian personality, but also a European and global "figure".

The Petit Journal of December 18, 1919 reported, according to the "Evening News," how this transformation took place.

"Here it is: one afternoon last week, Prudence was taking a nap, when a car stopped in front of a store on Bond Street, which deals especially in the sale of cats and dogs. Three gentlemen got out, entered the shop and asked for a white cat with blue eyes. At this moment, Prudence stood up in her basket, leaned back and meowed softly to attract the attention of visitors to her charms. It didn't take much to make them forget a white cat. Prudence, after being petted and caressed, became the property of Mr. Clemenceau. At eleven weeks old, Prudence had the honour of being included in the d'Hozier list [peerage] of English cats. Her mother had the very honest English name of Sally Brass' and her father, was known by the name of Nicolas Nickleby', a name borne by one of Dickens' heroes before him."

The story of this acquisition was also told by an editor of the Journal, Mr. Geo London, in the Journal' of December 25, 1919, in a completely charming and humorous way. We owe to the extreme kindness of Mr. Geo London the freedom to reproduce below his article which is part document and part history.

Cats. Mr. Clemenceau and Mr. Lloyd George

"Mr. Clemenceau was indeed the buyer of Prudence the black cat who returned from London with him. This tiny point of history had been contested - already! - and it was claimed that Mr. Philippe Berthelot was the legitimate owner of the little creature. In reality, Mr. Berthelot was only a complacent and very reliable guide at the Bond Street merchant where the President of the Council acquired Prudence. Because if Mr. Berthelot is the Frenchman who knows the Eastern Question best, he is also of rare competence in natural history. Cats especially interest him prodigiously and there is no doubt that Professor Mennegaux, of the Museum, can speak so learnedly on the black cats of Gambia, or on the outrageously red ones of Tobolsk.

"So, Mr. Cl menceau brought back from London, in addition to the political results that he has just presented to the House, a cute cat. Should we deduce, that like the Egyptians, whose history he loves so much, that he devotes a particular cult to this feline race... to which the legend connects him? Or, like two great leaders of men, Mahomet and Richelieu, did he suppose that owning a cat warded off bad luck? Some British aviators had this superstition, and we can cite around twenty who never took to the air without having some sort of cat on board.

"The English Prime Minister, Mr. Lloyd George, was apparently delighted to learn that Mr. Clemenceau was adopting a little London kitten. He also loves cats and he knows many stories about them which he tells with humour.

"Sometimes, between two serious discussions, he entertained his colleagues on the Interallied Supreme Council. One day when the taxation of basic necessities was being discussed, he recalled that in the tenth century, a law enacted in Wales by Howell Dha, that is to say Howell-the-Good, had fixed the value of domestic cats. An article of this law stipulated that the price of any cat having killed a mouse was immediately doubled.

"On another occasion, when the debate was on war expenses and the methods to be used to pay them, Mr. Lloyd George explained to his colleagues that in the Middle Ages, the inhabitants of the Isle of Man suddenly saw themselves hit with a tax on cat tails! They foiled the taxman's trick by simply having their cats' tails cut off. And by a mysterious law of nature, most cats born on the Isle of Man today do not have tails!

"Prudence and her peers will certainly escape the unfortunate fate of their ancestors from the Isle of Man.

"Our financial situation is very complicated, we will have to pay taxes of all kinds, but if Mr. Klotz had to resort to the tax on cats' tails', we will not cut them for the sake of cutting them.' " (1)
(1. Geo London)

CHAPTER VII - CAT DISEASES. ADVICE AND METHODS TO PREVENT THEIR DISEASES. - REMEDIES SPECIFIC TO THEIR HEALING.

Among the diseases affecting the feline race we will cite the following:

Angina.
Anaemia.
Alopecia.
Deafness.
Cough (coryza).
Hair loss.
Vomiting.
Intestinal conditions (enteritis).
Skin conditions (eczema).
Ear conditions.
Diarrhoea.
Mange.
Distemper.
Worms.
Indigestion.
Constipation.
Lip cancer (incurable disease).

For she-cats, when they are deprived of their young, which often happens due to their fertility, they suffer greatly from milk obstruction (milk engorgement), caused by swelling of the mammary glands.

Young cats like young dogs can be affected by distemper which results in the following symptoms: loss of appetite, depression, coughing, diarrhoea. Isolate young cats in a warm room at 15 or 18 Centigrade. Give food in small quantities: milk and very little meat. Add a teaspoonful of lacto-phosphate of lime to the milk and sprinkle the little meat they will be given with bismuth subnitrate. Brush tincture of iodine on the breast and ribs; disinfect of the premises.

Young cats separated from their mothers are fed milk, then breadcrumbs crumbled into milk. When they reach a reasonable age, raw or boiled lungs or liver forms the basis of their food. Where fish is inexpensive, we would advise giving them some from time to time.

For indoor cats, we must never stop providing them with milk and we must give them as little cooked meat as possible. A reasonable ration of lungs and raw liver is necessary to keep them in good health.

I cannot recommend enough to feed the cat's food at regular times.

As soon as symptoms of an illness appear, all measures must immediately be taken to stop it. It is of the utmost importance to take care of your cat. Not only for the sake of animal itself, but also and above all to prevent the disease from spreading and being transmitted to people who keep a sick cat close to them. The consequences can be very serious, especially for children.

The cat, which is a delicate and capricious creature, eats without gluttony and carefully chooses the foods presented to it. It is therefore not easy to treat and must often act with trickery to get him to absorb the medications necessary for his recovery.

We indicate below which means we use in different cases:

VOMITING. - When a cat vomits frequently, you should fast for a little while and give it green couch grass to eat. The couch grass must first be cut into very small pieces in boiled milk; I would advise mixing 20 centigrams of benzo-naphthol with milk for two days.

INTESTINAL DISEASES. - Castor oil.- To get a cat to take castor oil, it is necessary to dip the underside of its front paws in this oil; the cat licks itself out of habit and therefore absorbs a certain quantity, always sufficient.

Even better, lightly smear a layer of castor oil along the cat's tail. As the cat cannot endure the slightest humidity on its caudal appendage, it will lick it until it is completely dry.

DIARRHOEA. - Sprinkle the meat with bismuth subnitrate until the diarrhoea stops.

WORMS. - Treatment with Areca nut powder. - Use the same method as for castor oil, taking care to moisten the powder beforehand to make it adherent.

IMPETIGO. - Treatment with Salol pills. - Take care to have these pills made in the smallest possible size and mix them with calf lung.

COUGHING. - SNEEZING. - Hold the cat very warmly and rub its nose with good sheep tallow.

SCABIES. Isolate the cat and rub it with aspic oil. Because it will scratch itself when rubbed after applying this remedy, you must cover the "mangy" part with a piece of sticking plaster held in place as much as possible by a canvas strip. We still use Balsam of Peru dissolved in 4 parts of alcohol as a rub.

SKIN DISEASES. - ECZEMA. - Treat with sulphur ointment. Refrain from giving any meat to the cat.

EAR CONDITIONS. - DEAFNESS. - Use lotions of zinc water and if the condition spreads, resort to small washings of ferruginous water.

CORYZA. - A quite benign condition at first, but which can easily transform into pharyngitis and bronchitis. You should clean the nostrils two or three times a day with lukewarm water and coat the tip of the nose with boric Vaseline. Givee two drops of Fowler's liqueur every morning in a little milk on an empty stomach. After three days, everything should be back to normal and from then on, give more abundant food, but very little meat.

MILK ENGORGEMENT. - Make a decoction of Provence cane or distaff reed, which should be mixed in large quantities with a little good sweet cream.

INDIGESTION. - CONSTIPATION. - Give sweetened milk diluted with water in equal parts, into which a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda has been diluted, which will help greatly to regulate the digestive function.

As a final recommendation, if you want your cat to be safe from all diseases, carefully avoid damp which is the biggest enemy of cats; monitor its diet, never give it too much to eat at once to avoid intestinal infections (gastroenteritis), a disease to which cats are particularly prone. Take care that its surroundings are kept in a state of rigorous cleanliness.

Following these principles, I have kept a cat for a period of twenty-one years; it is this longevity that I wish for your favourite.

Mont-Saint-Aignan (5V-J.) June 1920.