Well. I'm not going to start a cat-and-dog argument. All I'll say is that as cats have nine lives, the tough specimens in the Tower will take some evicting, and further, all this wild-cat talk seems remote from pussy blinking at the fire this winter night. Other cats may misbehave, but not our . . . We keep no tiger in the house. The lovable Ulster essayist Robert Lynd, now sleeping in the City Cemetery, brings this point out neatly in his essay entitled "Cats": "The man who will not defend the honour of his cat cannot be trusted to defend anything," he writes, and the essay begins: "The champion cat show has been held, but the champion cat was not there. One could not possibly allow him to appear in public. He is for show but not in a cage. He does not compete because he is above competition. You know this as well as I. Probably you possess him. I certainly do.

All cat lovers will nod agreement and perhaps nine out of ten will agree with this: "Part of the fascination of cats may be due to the fact that it is so difficult to come to an understanding with them. A man talks to a horse or a dog as to an equal To a cat he has to be deferential as though it had some Sphinx-like quality that baffled him. He cannot order a cat about with the certainty of being obeyed. A cat is obedient only when it is hungry or when it takes the fancy. It may be a parasite, but it is never a servant." And also with this (from the same essay): "When you go for a walk with a dog, the dog protects you; when you go for a walk with a cat you feel that you are protecting the cat. It is strange that the cat should have imposed the myth of Its helplessness on us. It is an animal with an almost boundless capacity for self-help. It can jump up walls. It can climb trees. It can run, as the proverb says, like greased lightning. It is armed like an African chief. Yet it has contrived to make itself a pampered pet so that we are alarmed if it attempts to follow us out of the gate into a world of dogs, and only feel happy when it is purring by the fireside."

Time for a cat-nap, you say. Well, before dozing off, let's take another cat-eyed dip amongst the books. Here it a funny thing. Gilbert White, the 18th century naturalist, is writing about the very severe frost of December, 1734, and adds: "I must not omit to tell you that, during those two Siberian days, my parlour cat was so electric that had a person stroked her, and been properly insulated. the shock might have been given to a whole circle of people."

For some reason poets seem to have neglected pussy, which seems odd when one considers that our first introduction to rhyme In English is usually the sentence "The cat is on the mat," or "Ding-dong bell, pussy's in the well." A rather original modern poem begins

Cats, no less liquid than their shadows
Offer no angles to the wind.
They slip, diminished, neat, through loopholes
Less than themselves; will not as pinned
To rules or routs for journeys."

Do you agree that this is a bit of poetic cats-meat worthy of the cat's whisker literary award. It all depends on whether you like free verse. Cats have always been favourites with remarkable men:- James Mason, the film star, has written a book specially about his cats. I suppose a film star's cat would differ temperamentally from a butcher's cat, or a fishmonger's, or a cat in a pub it should be more decorative, more philosophical, less mouse-conscious, when not carrying on some adventurous amour. It should be wondrously beautiful, moving with languorous grace like its master or mistress. It should be, I say, but probably the facts are different; for cats are independent creatures holding themselves aloof from most earthly entanglements. W.C. LEE.

CATS SHOW THEIR NATIONALITY Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore), 9th April 1950
The Egyptians were the first to domesticate cats. They venerated them, worshipped them and even had temples erected to them. If the family cat died, in mummified form, it was placed in the vaults, even with the Pharaohs. The members of the family then shaved off their eyebrows as a sign of mourning. In that dim past Egypt had a flourishing trade with the East. It has been surmised that cats were sent out in ships to protect the grain from rats. Thus they arrived in the Malaya Archipelago, the home of the Siamese cat of to-day. In Malaya there were already the Sacred Cat of Burma and the Annamite cat. The Annamite cat had a kink in its tail, a marked characteristic of some Siamese. As time passed the Siamese cat evolved from these, the skull and body having the general shape of the cats of Egypt. So highly were these cats prized in Siam that for two centuries they were owned only by the king, and so they were found exclusively in the royal city of Bangkok. It is from this that we get their full title, Royal Siamese . Occasionally a grateful monarch would present a foreign friend with a specimen of these much-prized pets, and gradually they found their way abroad.

There is a widespread belief that cats are more attached to places than to people and there are many authentic cases on record of cats travelling long distances to regain their old homes. One is recorded as having travelled 300 miles in five months and kept itself alive on the way by doing a little hunting. On the other hand. there is not the slightest doubt that many cats do become greatly attached to owners and are able to show striking devotion, too. Some years ago the world's richest cat died at Sangbriel, California, of a broken heart, soon after the death of her mistress. Though provided with every luxury the cat was disconsolate and gradually pined away.

Cats also show their nationality just as some humans do. English cats are sleek, tabby-coloured, black or ginger, and are very snobbish . A full-grown Scottish wild cat is more than a yard long. Very few dogs dare tackle such a cat, particularly if it is defending kittens. One peculiarity is that when on the defensive it will lie down and shield itself with all four claws and teeth at once so that the assailant finds it hard to discover a vulnerable spot.

French cats are characteristically Gallic. Mostly white, with coloured patches ana tails, they are usually very well-fed and delight in the small coquetries that one expects of the Parisienne. The present-day Japanese cat is of Imperial origin; in other words, the first ancestors of the domestic cat in Japan hail from the imperial Court in the days of Emperor lchijo in the year 999. in that year a pair of cats, male and female, were taken there from Korea in a treasure ship laden with annual tributes to the Japanese Throne in the shape of valuable Buddhist scriptures, and were presented to the imperial Household of Japan as a special favour.

On September 19 of the same year this feline couple gave birth to the first set of kittens to be born on Japanese soil, and Lady Higashi Sanjo-in, mother of Emperor Ichijo, was so elated that she not only had the most important Ministers of State attend to their upbringing but graciously presented each of the kittens with a set of rice-bowls as well as clothing neatly wrapped in boxes! One of the foremost ladies-in-waiting was commanded to act as their nurse. Furthermore, in recognition of the meritorious services rendered by the mother cat in giving birth to the first kittens born on Japanese soil the fifth grade in Court rank was awarded to her and she was christened in person by Her Imperial Highness.

Probably due to the great care exercised in preserving the breed of these cats of royal birth and the fact that they were cared for as domestic pets only by the Imperial Household and a few of the higher Court nobles, no records can be found of cats being kept in the homes of the common populace of Japan during the next six centuries.

SIMON IS A CAT WITH A FUTURE. SIAMESE HAS 19 FIRSTS Birmingham Weekly Mercury, 5th March 1950
There were cats to the left of her, cats to the right of her, cats everywhere, but no Simon when I visited Mrs Linda Parker at her Cropston (Leics) home. Simon could well be called the world s most pampered pussy. He even has a fan mail mostly American. You see Mrs Parker is a Siamese cat breeder and Lindale Simon Pie is one of the country s most valuable felines. While auburn-haired Mrs Parker told me about him Simon lounged, comfortably cushioned in his specially heated garage - probably cuddling his own electric water bottle.

Simon can be excused if he s a bit conceited, for hundreds of people are willing to pay hundreds of pounds for him, though only two years old. His recent birthday brought him cards from all over the world and gifts of cream and pork pie. Already he has gathered nineteen firsts in top-line cat shows, and to Mrs Parker he s a cat of the future now he has emerged from the kitten stage. But Simon is also a cat with a past. He nearly wasn t a cat at all, for his mother was unable to feed him after he was born. With four sisters Simon was reared on milk drops fed through an eyedropper and a piece of valve rubber. Mrs Parker fed them every hour day and night to get them to the weaning stage. Simon thrived and gradually developed all the points of excellence that show judges look for. His latest triumph - from all the cats in England, Simon was picked to illustrate the cover of a new book, simply, but aptly titled Siamese Cats.

CATS SHOW THEIR NATIONALITY Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore), 9th April 1950
The Egyptians were the first to domesticate cats. They venerated them, worshipped them and even had temples erected to them. If the family cat died, in mummified form, it was placed in the vaults, even with the Pharaohs. The members of the family then shaved off their eyebrows as a sign of mourning. In that dim past Egypt had a flourishing trade with the East. It has been surmised that cats were sent out in ships to protect the grain from rats. Thus they arrived in the Malaya Archipelago, the home of the Siamese cat of to-day. In Malaya there were already the Sacred Cat of Burma and the Annamite cat. The Annamite cat had a kink in its tail, a marked characteristic of some Siamese. As time passed the Siamese cat evolved from these, the skull and body having the general shape of the cats of Egypt. So highly were these cats prized in Siam that for two centuries they were owned only by the king, and so they were found 'exclusively in the royal city of Bangkok. It is from this that we get their full title, "Royal Siamese". Occasionally a grateful monarch would present a foreign friend with a specimen of these much-prized pets, and gradually they found their way abroad.

There is a widespread belief that cats are more attached to places than to people and there are many authentic cases on record of cats travelling long distances to regain their old homes. One is recorded as having travelled 300 miles in five months and kept itself alive on the way by doing a little hunting. On the other hand, there is not the slightest doubt that many cats do become greatly attached to owners and are able to show striking devotion, too. Some years ago the world's richest cat died at Sangbriel, California, of a broken heart, soon after the death of her mistress. Though provided with every luxury the cat was disconsolate and gradually pined away.

Cats also show their nationality just as some humans do. English cats are sleek, tabby-coloured, black or ginger, and are very "snobbish". A full-grown Scottish wild cat is more than a yard long. Very few dogs dare tackle such a cat, particularly if it is defending kittens. One peculiarity is that when on the defensive it will lie down and shield itself with all four claws and teeth at once so that the assailant finds it hard to discover a vulnerable spot. French cats are characteristically Gallic. Mostly write, with coloured patches and tails, they are usually very well-fed and delight in the small coquetries that one expects of the Parisienne.

The present-day Japanese cat is of imperial origin; in other words, the first ancestors or the domestic cat in Japan hail from the imperial Court in the days of Emperor lchijo in the year 999. In that year a pair of cats, male and female, were taken there from Korea in a treasure ship laden with annual tributes to the Japanese Throne in the shape of valuable Buddhist scriptures, and were presented to the Imperial Household of Japan as a special favour. On September 19 of the same year this feline couple gave birth to the first set of kittens to be born on Japanese soil, and Lady Higashi Sanjo-in, mother of Emperor Ichijo, was so elated that she not only had the most important Ministers of State attend to their upbringing but graciously presented each of the kittens with a set of rice-bowls ,as well as clothing neatly wrapped in boxes! One of the foremost ladies-in-waiting was commanded to act as their nurse. Furthermore, in recognition of the meritorious services rendered by the mother cat in giving birth to the first kittens born on Japanese soil the fifth grade in Court rank was awarded to her and she was christened in person by Her Imperial Highness. Probably due to the great care exercised in preserving the breed of these cats of royal birth and the fact that they were cared for as domestic pets only by the Imperial Household and a few of the higher Court nobles, no records can be found of cats being kept in the homes of the common populace of Japan during the next six centuries.

BRIGHT-EYED AMBER GOING DOWN-UNDER Leicester Daily Mercury, 15th June 1950
From time to time you have read in the Leicester Mercury of Leicestershire's Lindale Simon Pie, the Siamese show cat with the fan mail who is so famous he is sought after by breeders the world over. But Simon's owner, Mrs. Linda Parker, Woodlands, Station Road, Cropston, will not part with him at any price. Now people are writing to ask for kittens by Simon. This is the story of one such kitten, Lindale Ambassador, better known as Amber. He is to be shipped to Australia to Mrs. Beryl Chandler, of Melbourne, a Siamese cat lover and a member the Siamese Cat Club of Australia. By arrangement with a London livestock shipping firm, four-month-old Amber with the bright blue eyes, will sail in the next week or two - in the care of the ship's butcher!

This is not the first kitten Mrs. Chandler has imported from England. In a letter to Mrs. Parker, she relates how her husband gave her 200 to land four Siamese cats." Rather than have Mrs. Chandler humbly ask her husband for more money to land another cat," Mrs. Parker is practically making a gift of Amber, for Mrs. Chandler's expenses will be heavy enough with having to pay for the voyage and the cost of Amber's 60 days' quarantine on arrival. The reason for importing a strain of English Siamese cats to Australia (if that not Irish) is that the English breed have brighter eye-colour and longer tails, according to Mrs. Chandler.

SIAMESE ALL AND CHAMPIONS TOO The Age [Australia], June 24th, 1950
An unusual "get together" yesterday by six natives of Siam. The Siamese boxing team which is visiting Melbourne is holding three prize Siamese cats which will compete in the first all-Siamese cat show at Melbourne Town Hall today. The boxers are, from left, Klong Phupinjo, Perg Pattaphongee and Chai Sitphol. The cats are owned by Major S. T. V. Coles, of St. Hilda.

CATS MAKE ME FEEL INFERIOR Daily Record, 13th July 1950
Siamese cats are wonderful conversationalists, it is said, and I went along yesterday to have a talk with one of them. She didn't say a word, even in cat language, but her roommate Chl!oe, an out-and-out mongrel, met me at the door with what I am told was a long list of complaints. I still don't know about cats. They attract and repel me at the same time. Mrs. Morfydd Richardson, owner of both the Siamese and the mongrel, is one of the many people who are utterly sold on the creatures. She is the secretary of the Scottish Cat Club, and is therefore dedicated to spreading the gospel of cat-love, but even so is a perfectly human person with a sense of humour, which is the last thing, I think, to be found in a cat.

The cat fancy has been in a poor way in Scotland for many years, though this country has a tradition of cat-breeding dating back to the 1890's, I was interested to learn. There are millions of moggies about the place of course, and the fervent pedigree breeder does not sneer at these cat commoners; but Mrs. Richardson was moved to disapproval by the thought that some cat-owners think so little of their pets that they don't even give them a name.

"My cats have always had names," she pointed out. "Even when we just had a stray living with us for a couple of days we always called it something. It's a surprisingly expensive business keeping cats. I just worked out the other day that my two cost me about 20 a year - you don't notice that when it's just a matter of a few pence a day, of course. They're expensive to buy, too. Long-haired creams are very fashionable these days - most people call them cream Persians and you won't get one much under 12 guineas. But not many breeders make money from cats. To make it worth while you've just got to be keen on cats, that's all."

All this time Candy, the Siamese queen, was lolling on a chair blinking its blue eyes at me in distinct contempt, and, while its mistress explained that Candy wasn't a perfect specimen of the breed, Candy looked as if it couldn't care less. Cats are like that.

Cat-fanciers tend to be apathetic about dogs, though few are openly hostile. One English breeder actually has a wife who breeds dogs, and Mrs. Richardson has always had an ambition to have a big house where she can breed Siamese and keep a pug-dog to provide a bit of contrast. She also knew a famous catman who kept pigeons, and presumably never let the one among the others. But cats and cats only are enough for most felinophiles, if I may coin a remarkably clumsy word. Quite apart from James Mason, all sorts of people in history have had strong feelings for felines, and there are more legends about cats, I believe, than about any other creature except woman.

On the first Wednesday of each month, I was intrigued to discover, members of the Scottish club meet in a Glasgow restaurant to lunch and talk together; this is probably the only conversazione where the guests are catty and proud of it. It isn't for Bonar, I fear. Cats make me feel inferior. I think it must be the mouse in me.

KITTENS STEAL LIMELIGHT AT EVESHAM HORSE SHOW Gloucestershire Echo, 7th August 1950
The birth of kittens to a cat which had made its bed in an attendant's cap stole the limelight at the Evesham Horse Show on the Crown Meadow to-day, for the public were kept informed of the event by loudspeaker announcements.

NOVELISTS-CAT LOVERS WRITE FELINE HISTORY
Independent Press Telegram, 20th August, 1950
Cats and people, by Frances and Richard Lockridge

So far as the cat question is concerned, the world seems to be divided Into two kinds of people those who love cats and those who abhor cats. Aimed primarily for the cat lovers is this authoritative and - to this reader intensely Interesting volume by the Lockridges, who up to now have been better known for their mystery novels than for their knowledge of cats. However, the Lockridges own one to three cats all the time, usually Siamese, and it may be remembered that a cat always has an important part in the unfoldment of their novel plots.

From the depths of exhaustive research, they have dug up the history of the cat which they call "Felis domestica" of the subfamily Felinae and the family Felidae, the superfamily Feloidea, the subfamily, Fissipedla and the order Carnivora of the cohort Ferungulata and the class Mammalia." They tell stories that demonstrate to their satisfactlon that cats have intelligence and thinking apparatus, and they give good instruction on the selection, care and feeding of cats, whether the pet is of the friendly, purring striped "alley" variety or one of the fancier show models such as the Persian, Siamese, Abyssinian, Burmese or Russian blue.

The Lockridges look back to the early mists of time when there were no cats. They trace the development of the cat down through the time when the cat joined the man and dog companionship at the fireside and to the present. Helen Stone drew the clever black-and-white illustrations.

[CAT FOOD] various, 1st September 1950
I hear that a new wave of interest in cats is sweeping the country. Manufacturers report that never before have prepared foods been in such demand. One firm alone is spending 8,000 on research into problems of animal nutrition. Fishmongers, too, say that cat owners are paying up to 1 a week for fish for their pets, although one London branch reports that while this is not general, cats are certainly getting more choosy, and owners are no longer buying cuttings for their pets. All in all, it is estimated that 20,000,000 will be spent on feeding Britain's cat population this year!

CATS ARE ON PARADE by Arthur Gaunt, Manchester Evening News, 20th September 1950
THERE are those who declare that the dog makes the finest domestic pet, and that for affection the cat lags far behind. Not so, however, the thousands of cat lovers who are flocking to Olympia, London, to-day. The attraction will be the two-day Crystal's Cat Show, the biggest event of its kind ever organised in Britain. Of course, this will not be the first time cats in great variety have competed on the show bench. Such contests have been held regularly for more than 80 years. In fact the first cat show in this country took place in 1871, only 17 years after the first dog show a sobering thought for those dog lovers who think that canine exhibitions and contests have a much longer history. But never before will so many members of the cat tribe have been brought together as at Olympia. The cat, indeed, has been promoted higher and higher in the list of domestic animals by means of shows during the last few decades, and some remarkable changes have occurred. To-day, by means of Crystal's Cat Show, it is hoped to improve the status of such pets still further.

Since 1910 the world of cat shows has had Its central controlling body, the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy, to say nothing of such organisations as the National Cat Club (born in 1887) and clubs for breeders of particular kinds of cats, or for cat lovers in the provinces. Much has already been done by these bodies to eliminate faults and improve the various breeds. For instance, the squint which formerly marred Siamese cats is now frowned upon on the show bench, and as a result it has been largely eradicated. Investigations have revealed that early Siamese cats did not squint, so although breeders have not always regarded it as a fault, nowadays no cat displaying it is likely to win a prize. Another curiosity about the Siamese cat is the rapidity of its rise to popularity during the last 30 or 40 years. Exhibitors bred it for show purposes early this century, yet it was practically unknown to the ordinary public in 1910. To-day there are probably more Siamese cats in Britain than any other breed, despite the fact that its original home is uncertain and notwithstanding its comparatively short sojourn In this country. It was first introduced into Britain in 1884 from Bangkok, yet the most diligent inquiries have failed to cause agreement among cat fanciers about the origin of this type. What can be stated with certainty is that fully half the present Siamese cat population in Britain to-day are descended from a pair imported from Siam in 1885.

The introduction of that tailless curiosity the Manx cat is similarly a mystery. Some experts believe that the first to reach the Isle of Man swam ashore from Spanish Armada ships which were wrecked in the vicinity in 1588. Another belief is that the breed was introduced by sailors returning from the East, and to account for the missing tail it is sometimes said that an ordinary cat mated with a rabbit in proof of which it is pointed out that the Manx cat has a gait reminiscent of that of a rabbit. Then there's the Abyssinian. considered to be the cat most like those regarded as sacred in Ancient Egypt. The breed first came to Britain about 70 years ago and soon had its own club of fanciers. But, while these cats are companionable, they do not take kindly to captivity, and perhaps this is why there are still comparatively few of them in this country.

Yet seem members of the feline tribe have gained great fame without ever appearing in the show pens or, indeed, without possessing any of the points of quality likely to make the competitors. Such was Mike, who was born in the cellars of the British Museum and from 1909 to 1929 sat regularly at the gate that institution. He became known to thousands of visitors, and when he died a special obituary notice was written is his memory by Sir Wallis Budge. One of Mike's achievements was to "point" pigeons like a dog, while a companion drove the birds into a corner. Then both would pounce on their quarry, each seizing a bird and taking it (alive) into the gatekeeper's ledge. There the keeper released the captives and rewarded the cats with mutton and milk for not injuring the birds.

Brutus, another notability, was the only animal ever to be issued with an official pass to the terrace of the National Gallery. The privilege was granted by Mr. George Lansbury in his capacity as First Commissioner of Works. More amusing, in its way, was the official order published in the "London Gazette" in May, 1930. It was published by the Minister of Agriculture, and announced that a special Order had been made detaining in quarantine one Siamese kitten. This remarkable official notice had become necessary because a cat already detained had given birth to a kitten. Regulations already existed for the detention of the mother cat, following her arrival from abroad, but there was no provision for detaining a kitten born there, as the law applied only to imported cats. So a special Order had to be signed and published in order that the kitten could be held for the usual period.

JUST CATS Beverley Nichols, Everybody's Weekly, 1950

NOT long ago a short paragraph appeared in a London evening newspaper telling how a sick cat had saved a family from being burned to death. It was rather out of the rut of ordinary animal stories, for in this case one of the cat's legs was in splints, and it had not walked for weeks. Moreover, the family all slept on the first floor. In spite of this, the cat managed to drag itself up a steep staircase and rouse the sleepers before it was too late. When this story was published, several people wrote to express astonishment that a cat a mere cat should have displayed such intelligence and such bravery. Now if it had been a dog they would have understood it. Which only goes to show that there are still a great many people who know strangely little about cats.

Here is another example, of my own experience. Recently, when I installed a television set, I little suspected that one of the most ardent television fans would he my Siamese cat, One.' Yet that is how it has turned out to be. He seems to have some mysterious instinct which tells him when I am tuning-in, and comes scampering along, to sit bolt upright in the best chair, and stare at the screen with his big blue eyes. I have a photograph of him watching an animal film ... his ears back, his mouth wide open in a hiss of defiance.

This instinct in cats this strange sort of telepathy which appears to guide them to places where their presence is needed, or where they will find pleasure has often been quoted, but never, I think, more appositely than in a letter which was once written to me by the Captain of the Ark Royal.' He was telling me about the Ark's' cat Oscar who had an astonishingly adventurous career. And he said: "You know that one of the weirdest things about Oscar and, indeed many other ships' cats is the amazing way they discover the exact hour a ship is sailing. We may have been in dock for weeks; all the cats may have disappeared ashore; we may think we have said goodbye to them for ever, and then, when we are just about to leave, before the last gangplanks are being taken up, they come stalking back, and calmly walk aboard, as though they had personally read the orders of the day." I love cats. Without them my world would, quite definitely, contract, and my life would lose much of its colour.

My garden would seem forlorn if, on a hot summer's day, I did not know that a ball of beige fur was curled up in the centre of a clump of delphiniums in the herbaceous border, and a ball of black fur was stretched out in the shadow of the copper beech. I should feel sad if there were none of those tell-tale scratchings on the bark of the weeping elm which they have honoured as their official claw-sharpener.

I have two cats, and they are called by numbers One' and Four.' This demands a moment's explanation. When the war ended, I decided that whatever else might be lacking in the post-war world, there should not be, as far as I was concerned, any shortage of cats. I wanted an abundance of cats, a positive surfeit of cats, cats on the piano, cats in the best armchair, cats on the garden wall. In fact, I wanted so many cats that I decided that it would be altogether too much of a strain to give them all names. It was bad enough to have to think of names for people in plays and novels. So they would be given numbers instead. Continued on page 28 (unfortunately that page is missing)

FINDING EVERYBODY'S CAT. IT has been estimated that we have some eight million cats in Great Britain, and that we spend rather more than twenty million pounds a year on feeding them. Of all these cats which kind do you prefer? The rare 'Chocolate Point,' the unusual Burmese, Chinchillas, Blue Persians, or the domesticated Tabby?

All breeds and sizes will be exhibited at the Crystal Cat Show, held at Olympia, September 20-21, the biggest of its kind ever held in this country. The show will also include such things as an Information Bureau, ready to answer all questions asked by animal lovers, and a special section is devoted to stray cats and kittens, vetted and found healthy, in the hope that good homes may be found for them.

Every visitor is entitled to a ballot card on entering the National Hall, Olympia, and will be invited to take part in a simple voting competition, to select "Everybody's Cat." A television set, presented by "Everybody's," is the prize waiting for the successful entry.

The name and address of the winner will be printed in our issue on sale during the week beginning Monday, October 2.

PARADISE FOR PUSSIES BUT BEWARE OF THE SNAKE Crawley and District Observer, 6th October 1950

In a room cluttered with books about cats and adorned with cat ornaments and photographs of cats, Miss Collins introduced an " Observer" reporter to her happy community, where, in the language of the cat world, every she-cat is a queen in her sown right and the males of the species are called stud-cats.

Smiling at a cat perched on her shoulder and shooing another pussy off the mantelpiece , Miss Collins sighed and said They are like children to me, and all of them, from my kittens to the oldest, which is 14, know their names."

The average day in a life dedicated to cats begins at 7.30 in the morning, when blinking eyes in kittenish bundles of fur prepare to explore a new world with their mothers, while the queens not burdened by motherhood arch and stretch to limber up for the day's frolics in the orchard. But before any of her 30 cats are astir, Miss Collins is about making breakfasts of milk foods for the mothers and their litters and meals of milk and fish for the other queens and stud-cats. For the grown-up cats, horse meat forms the staple meal of the day, and a purveyor drives up to Pixie Wood once a week with a 30 lb load. In the afternoon bread and butter snack is provided, but the mothers and kittens are the chief concern of Miss Collins, and after delivering meals every three hours during the day, her last visit to the orchard is made in the evening when she takes out night-caps, which she feeds to the young families by the light of a hurricane lamp. Miss Collins estimates that her cats cost about 3 a week to feed, and in addition to the horse meat and the endless pints of milk consumed, she sets off to ride to East Grinstead fishmongers on her small motor cycle three times a week to fetch 10 lb consignments of fish.

In this storybook cat kingdom beneath the apple trees where tin cans are taboo, there is even a feline form of democracy in practice, the law of nature being the governing yardstick. Of the 30 cats, 26 are queens, and each day one of the four stud-cats is allowed to spend the day with them dispensing justice and keeping the community in order. Then the next day he stays at home with the other males while another stud-cat takes his turn to rule. And naturally, like the other Eden, Pixie Wood has its snake in the grass, a daring puss in buccaneer s boots, an outlaw tabby from the outside world bringing trouble in the form of unwanted kittens!

Miss Collins' devotion to her cats has brought her fame and recognition throughout the country as one of the foremost breeders and experimentalists. In 1931 she received a Persian cat as a gift, and when she started attending shows she developed an ambition to breed cats with a strange bluish coat tinted with will o' the wisp colour of smoke billowing from a chimney top. Cats with these coats are known to cat lovers as "smokes," and Miss Collins' experiments in pre-war years led her to become one of the few successful "smoke " breeders in the world. One of her "smokes," a cat named Kala Panda, became the only "smoke" champion in Europe, and today Miss Collins is Britain's only breeder of these lovely animals. There are now only nine "smokes" in the country, and seven of them live at Pixie Wood. Miss Collins maintained her experiments with smokes" because the war years so interfered with the breeding of these rare animals that she became the last hope of cat lovers who wished to see the breed continued. Now she is beginning to breed another rare type of cat which is much in demand, a longhaired Siamese variety, and soon she will be leaving Felbridge for Berkshire, where she has secured much larger premises for her unique cat community.

UNEXPECTED VISITORS Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser, 28th October 1950
There were two unexpected visitors at the evening service in Calderbank Church last Sunday - two kittens. They eluded attempts to capture them and remained throughout the service, maintaining an appropriate and discreet silence throughout, although causing some excitement among children present and some uneasiness among the adults who pictured in their minds the mischief they could be up to. However, the kittens showed a good upbringing and will, no doubt, be received with less anxiety should they decide to attend church more regularly in future.

THE CATS CHRISTMAS PARTY Daily Mirror, 21st December 1950
The fluffy, neatly brushed pussy-cats of Paris each received a personal invitation: Do come along to your party. We have decorated a special Christmas tree for you, and the presents are LOVELY. The note was signed Yours sincerely, M. Jean Charroux, cat lover.

So just about the time when most Parisians were leaving their offices for the day, the pussy-cats (most of them with red silk ribbons tied in bows round their necks), stalked with their owners down the Rue Tierre Charron of the fashionable Champs Elysees. And when they saw the 6 ft fir tree with gleaming tinsel and crackers, they made such loud miaows. Fastened to the tree for the pussy-cats were fifty dead mice, tasty pieces of liver, lights, bottles of milk and fifty-odd fishes, including tempting pieces of cod and haddock wrapped in Cellophane paper.

The Paris Cat Club gave its blessing to the Christmas tree. An official told me: It was such a pleasant idea to have a Christmas tree just for cats. Most of the time special affairs for animals are always for dogs. It is time the cats had an affair of their own.

When it was all over, all the little pussy-cats (with their bows of red silk ribbon) trotted home with loud miaows.

NASTY CAT FILMS ARE ALL WRONG, THEY SAY Daily Mirror, 6th February 1951
Hollywood has been warned by the Empire Cat Club a leading organisation of cat breeders and exhibitors that it must cease being unfair to cats. The club says that cats are being unfavourably presented as malicious and associated with evil.
Since cats have a sense of humour and are frequently amusing, they do not deserve being made the butt of ill-treatment," adds the protest, Millions of children, and the public in general, are being given an adverse picture of cats."
A Hollywood film official said cat lovers were probably angered by comic pictures of malicious cats being constantly outwitted by lovable mice.

[SIAMESE TORTOISESHELL] Birmingham Gazette, 29th March, 1951, page 4
In a Birmingham hotel bedroom last night I found the personality behind radio's best-loved voice - the voice of diarist Mrs. Dale. Her name, professionally, is Ellis Powell . . . privately, she is Mrs. Ralph Truman . . . she lives with her husband and son and two cats - Joey, the biggest cat in London, who figures in the Dale story as Josephine, and Tortese, a Siamese tortoiseshell.

CATS FOR PROFIT Leicester Chronicle, 5th May 1951

A beautiful grey Persian, the result of careful rearing. A breeder gives this advice on kittens: "I encourage kittens to eat grass first thing in the morning. Young kittens should have five small meals a day. Three solid and two liquid. Always have clean water in a dish where the cats and kittens can help themselves. Meals should be light, and meat should be finely shredded.

CATS IN CLOVER. AH, FOR THE LIFE OF A CAT! By Jules Archer, Swing (magazine) August 1951
A FEW years ago in Dedham, Mass., nine relatives of the late Woodbury Rand gathered at the reading of his will. How had he distributed his $100,000 estate? After a hush, the dead man's decision was read aloud. Nine outraged gasps filled the room. Not one relative had been left a dime. Woodbury Rand's reason? "Their contemptuous attitude and cruelty toward my cat." The sole heir to $100,000 was Buster, a tom-cat. A dog's life may be nothing to envy, but you'd enjoy leading many a cat's life. If you were Tommy Tucker, white Persian, you wouldn't even have to meow for your supper. Tommy inherited $5,000 upon the death of his owner. He lives on Riverside Drive in a private room, enjoys sirloin steak on toast four days a week, and sleeps in a large wicker basket on a soft baby mattress.

Few children receive the lavish care awarded a white Angora named Baby. Owned by a childless woman. Baby is dressed in spotless infants' wear, including a winsome bonnet. She has never learned to walk because her doting mother-by-adoption carries Baby around both inside the house and out. A cat named Lilly proved you don't need a pedigree to make good in the world. She was just a garbage can variety black alley cat. But one day neighborhood wives, who used to chase Lilly with brooms, began to stroke her fur lovingly. Over 330 Californians begged to take care of her. This sudden affection was explained by a $5,000 ($50 a month) legacy bequeathed the ex-scavenger by an 84-year-old Sacramento spinster.

Nothing was too good for Mr. White, a snowy tabby owned by a Washington newspaperman. When the cat developed a foot infection, Jesse Jones talked a leading Johns Hopkins urologist into taking the case. For seven weeks Mr. White regularly made the 40-mile trip to John Hopkins in a taxi, as a patient of the famous specialist. Tommy Clark, an ex-alley resident of Seneca Falls, N. Y., had a bank account of $300 when he turned up his paws. This was the hoarding of gift money presented to him at four birthday parties. It bought him a handsome tombstone. History is silent as to what Dinah, a tortoise-shell from Albany, N. Y., did with the $100 windfall she won in the Irish sweep- stakes.

In England, humans born on the wrong side of the tracks have social standing definitely inferior to blue-blooded tabbies. The pusses' social register. Cats and Kittens, carries dignified announcements of feline visits, birth and deaths. A typical birth notice: "Mrs. Wilson Burrasford's Booful 7 kittens: 1 blue, 2 black, 4 torties by Miss Cadell's Sinakululo." In aristocratic circles, especially designed cat combs and brushes are available to keep that kittenish complexion. A study of Napoleonic times reveals it was commonplace for French dandies to carry cat combs in their pockets to curry their ladies' pets.

Of an estimated 20,000,000 cats in the United States, about 40% board with families, 10% try luck-of-the- road, 50% earn a living as rat- catchers in barns, factories, restaurants, prisons, churches, ships, etc. Highest-salaried felines are found in Hollywood, where cat thespians earn between $15 and $20 a day. Until her demise, Minnie Esso, a tiger-colored tabby employed by Standard Oil of New Jersey to keep rats out of their laboratory, earned $4.40 a month, itemized on the pay- roll as "fish for Minnie." Starting as an apprentice at $3.20 a month, Minnie soon won a raise when it was discovered she had over 100 dependents. Foreign cats have a somewhat lower standard of living. Argentina's United River Plate Telephone Company pays its tabbies only 50 centavos a day liver money. Even less generous is France's national library, Bihliotheque Nationale, which protected book bindings from being gnawed for only 60c a year per cat.

Puss has his day in court. A Cleveland judge recently ruled that a cat has a perfect right to bite any person who steps on his tail. Two Pennsylvania miners were convicted of dis- orderly conduct when caught eating cats. In a suit for $50 veterinary expenses, a Boston judge decreed that cats could not be convicted of rape.

THE tabby will probably never again reach the godly status he enjoyed in ancient Egypt, where temples were built to him, jewels hung in his ears, and cat holidays celebrated publicly. But through the ages he never lacked distinguished worshippers, like Mohammed, who cut off the sleeve of his gown rather than disturb a cat sleeping upon it. Dr. Johnson used to feed his cat oysters from fish stalls. Gray wrote an elegy to his cat, which had drowned in a fishbowl. Victor Hugo enthroned his cat on a red velvet dais in his drawing room, to which all visitors had to pay homage.

The cat has its enemies, too, such as Chicago banker Rockwell Jayre, who paid 10c for every dead cat brought to his door, and the International Cat Society, which urged that the species be made extinct. But against these it has had the protection of the Allied Cat Lovers International, the Mieaou Club of England, Cats' Protection League, American Feline Society and the S. P. C. A.

ARE THERE TOO MANY CATS HERE? Birmingham Daily Gazette, 3rd September 1951
After white mice come the cats .... Following the report in this column last week that the sale of white mice is increasing in the Midlands, the suggestion is now made that Birmingham and Wolverhampton are the most cat-infested areas north of London. Apparently it is not only the number of stray cats, slinking through bombed buildings and along the inland waterways that is referred to; the number of Midland cat clubs and shows is also steadily increasing. It is difficult to decide, therefore, whether the latest report that scientists are trying (with partial success) to breed cats in the seven primary colours of the spectrum, are to be welcomed or abhorred. The thought that our stray cats may add a touch of colour to the drearier parts of Birmingham or act as mascots to football fans if they could be bred in maroon and blue, is rather attractive, but to be faced with a pink or multi-coloured cat on the way home after a celebration seems rather terrifying.

FASHIONS IN CATS by Lady Aberconway, Castle of Montegufoni, The Sketch, 24th October 1951
Through being in Tuscany, where now the sun shines all day and every day, and where the hills are covered with vines and olive trees, umbrella pines and cypresses, I have missed the recent Crystal Cat Show, much to my regret. It was last year's Crystal Show at Olympia which converted me from disliking the sight of many hundreds of cats shut up in cages, and convinced me that these Shows, splendidly organised and attended by huge crowds, undoubtedly stimulate interest in all breeds of cats and help to raise, everywhere, the status of the cat.

These Shows, also, are of great interest in that they often reveal the trend of changes of fashion in cats. These changes sometimes come slowly, occurring over many years, even centuries, or they may appear with surprising swiftness. One instance of a change that probably came very slowly is that to-day there is no race of cats used for hunting and retrieving game whereas in Egypt, more than 4000 years ago, the cat was not only the pampered pet of her mistress, she was also the sporting companion of her master, whom she accompanied in the pursuit of game. Changes in fashion bring changes in custom and behaviour, and though these changes are usually caused by some new development in the material world, they can occur, also, from what appears to be a change in human nature itself. Recently an elderly and distinguished schoolmaster told me that he remembered noticing, when he was young, that the first action of almost any boy on seeing a cat was to pick up something and throw it at the persecuted creature. In middle age, he said, he became aware that boys usually ignored cats. To-day," he added, most boys, passing a cat, say Hullo, Puss or bend down to stroke it." This change in behaviour, he believed, came from a real change in human nature.

But what change of fashion is occurring at this moment? Perhaps one may best discover this by comparing the drawings of cats exhibited at the first Cat Show held at the Crystal Palace, with the cats exhibited in any contemporary Show or, better still, by comparing the cats of one's childhood with the cats of to-day.

I remember, as a child, being expected to admire long-haired cats, demure, often far too fat creatures, the pets of old ladies by whose side they sat or slept all day, wearing, often, a ribbon and bow round their necks. These Persian cats were very superior, I was told, to the lovely, velvet Tabbies whom I had always admired. At that time (I am speaking of half-a-century ago) Tabbies were mostly kitchen cats and were declared to be common; yet children loved them more than the aristocratic Persians. So far as I can recall, I knew few men, other than scholars and artists, who cared for cats; this, I feel sure, was because, at that time, men of affairs and sportsmen rarely met the kitchen tabby, while the sleepy Persians bored them.

That is not true of to-day. Men of all types, fairly recently, have discovered cats, and value them as sympathetic companions, amusing and subtle, capable of devotion, and totally devoid of unclean habits. That many men have come recently to appreciate cats (nearly always short-haired cats) may partly account for the present great fashion for Siamese and Burmese, and may account, too, for the growing appreciation of my favourite of all breeds the English Silver Tabby.

MISS OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND'S CATS Clovis News Journal, November 6, 1951
Just about a year ago Miss Olivia de Havilland, temporarily snugged in a Manhattan hole), telephoned to ask if I would take her pair of Royal Siamese cat brothers off her hands, because they were used to the open spaces and the hotel was becoming a little nettled at having Siamese cats show up in the laundry chutes and crawling out from under the broilers In the kitchen. These cats have turned out to be handsome creatures and it is a pleasure to have them around the place even though two sofas and a chair have had to be re-upholstered, thanks to their steel claws.

CAT S SHOULDER RIDE Staffordshire Advertiser, 14th December 1951
Walking along the main Street of Stafford yesterday I blinked unbelievingly when I saw for the first time in my life a Siamese cat being given an airing on the shoulder of her owner a man! Stafford s throbbing traffic seemed to hold no terrors for this jungle-like visitor as her master threaded his way precariously through the Market Square. I was very much tempted to follow up that cat story, but I was in a hurry and could do no more than exchange glances with the lynx-eyed beauty as we went our separate ways.

Jimmy escaped from his cage and hid in the Parish Hall for two weeks, coming out of hiding to take food left out for him only when nobody was about. Then he got out of the hall and the hue and cry went up, for Jimmy was a marked cat. Find the tabby with the extra toe, was the cry for Jimmy had the odd toe too many on his right paw. Eventually he was found and, of course, became Kensington Post front page news, picture and all. So naturally he isn t going to retire from the public eye just yet.

PUSS TAKES A WALK Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 21st June 1952
Pedestrians round the Memorial shortly after midday on Thursday were surprised to see a cat on a lead trotting along by the side of its master exactly like a little dog. It was a handsome Siamese and like most of its breed was very exclusive and made no response to the numerous caresses bestowed upon it by admiring passers-by. Puss was obviously enjoying his walk and kept to heel as well the best trained dog.

BOO IS NO ORDINARY CAT. SIAMESE WITH A STAGE CAREER Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 28th June 1952
Much interest was aroused by the report in last Saturday's Observer" about a cat seen trotting along on a lead with its master at the Memorial. It has now been revealed that the cat Is Beautiful Michele," a pure-bred Siamese belonging Mr. Verne Morgan, comedian, who appeared in Gaiety Revels at the White Rock Pavilion last week. Visitors to the Pavilion had already made her acquaintance, for every evening "Michele, or, to give her more popular name, "Boo, came on the stage on her master s shoulder and got an enthusiastic reception. Mr. Morgan, who was standing in for Edgar Sawyer, unable to appear in "Gaiety Revels" because of an operation, told an Observer reporter that "Boo will be two years old next month. He bought her as a present for his wife at a last-night party for a resident concert party at Burnham-on-Sea. Boo was then only two months old, but she soon proved herself to be no ordinary cat. Boo not only follows Mr. Morgan about the streets on a lead, but she retrieves like a dog and plays the piano by banging her paws on the keys.

"She is amazingly intelligent," said Mr. Morgan, "and learned these things herself. We never had to teach her. She is very affectionate and friendly with children."

"Boo," whose pedigree is registered with the Siamese Cat Club, has travelled all over the country with her master and mistress and is well known in London and the provinces. She has also done long stretches of pantomime, and always stops back stage, sleeping calmly through the show. As soon as the National Anthem is played, however, Boo gets up, stretches and is ready to go home. Mr. Morgan who has now returned to London for film work, lives at 152, Selhurst-road, Norwood. For her first birthday, Boo had a party on the stage at Hunstanton, with a cake ornamented with one candle.

[MOTHER CAT BRINGS KITTENS] Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 23rd August 1952
A lady who is very fond of cats and had one of her own lived in an upstairs flat, so she fixed up a runway for pussy so that he could get into the garden without any trouble. Occasionally another cat would venture up the plank and was always given a little tit-bit. One day a stranger was seen walking very slowly up the runway and was heard miaowing plaintively. The lady, thinking the visitor might be hungry, produced some food and a saucer of milk, which the cat eagerly devoured, and then disappeared the same way as it came. After a short while the lady was amazed to see pussy returning, carefully carrying a black kitten in her mouth. She deposited the kitten on the window sill and walked away again. Within few minutes she came back once more, this time with a white kitten in her mouth. This she laid by the side of the black one, and again started to miaow. The lady found more food and to her surprise saw the mother cat showing the kittens how to eat it. The family then settled down to sleep on the window sill and refused to move. There they spent the night under shelter fixed their kind hostess. After more food in the morning the mother cat disappeared and was never seen again. Good homes were eventually found for the kittens, who have now grown into fine cats.

[CATS BENEFACTOR] London Weekly Dispatch, 24th August 1952
One of the chief solaces in the life of Mr Harry Batsford, author and chairman of the publishing firm that bears his name, who died last December aged 71, was the grateful and friendly affection of cats. And in his will, published yesterday, Mr Batsford, who lived at Park West, Paddington, W., not only paid this tribute to his feline friends, but left 1,000 to be applied for the welfare and benefits of cats in Great Britain. He directed his executor to use the money for propaganda, especially combating the pernicious idea that cats can feed themselves and that they hunt and mouse better if they are half-starved.

THIS WEEK IS FOR CATS Independent Press Telegram, 2nd November, 1952

The world is divided into two kinds of people those who love cats and those who can take cats or leave them. Among the most enthusiastic cat lovers is Guy Bogart of Beaumont, national president of National Cat Week Nov. 2-9. National Cat Week was founded in 1945 by Charles A. Kenny, founder of Cats Magazine. Its presidents have included Washington columnists and authors, Bascom N. Timmons and Drew Pearson.

In 1949 Bogart was named California chairman of the week and instituted the Friends of the Cats as a committee to take part in defeating the first marauding cat bill before the California Legislature. The past two years he has served as national president. Besides his own cats, Bogart's favorites include rare Blue Point Siamese, Abyssinian, Russian Blue and Burmese cats owned by Howard and Blanche Warren of Casa Gatos, Idyllwild.

Says Mrs. Warren of their interest in cats: "Our love of cats started many years ago when we had many cattle to feed and kept tons of grain which naturally attracted rats and mice. We had many so- called alley cats,' which I prefer to call American bred cats, as part of our personnel. We started our hobby of fancy cats in this way: Mr. Warren was building a home for my sister in Hollywood-by-the- Sea. There was a beautiful Siamese cat next door who came over each morning and apparently checked in the men, talking to each one, then returning home until the next morning. We were so fascinated that we, too, wanted a Siamese cat.

When we moved to Bellflower in the spring of 1938, we located some Siamese, both Blue Point and Seal Point. We took a female of each and a Seal Point male. At that time the Siamese were quite rare and especially the Blue Points. One day a friend told us of a cat show in Hollywood. We entered our Blue Point. We enjoyed the show but got only a red ribbon we wanted the blue ribbon. That meant only one thing we must get better cats. The real fun of having a winner is raising it. Knowing the laws of genetics, we knew it took blue genes on both sides to produce a Blue Point. We wanted to produce a color bred Blue Point and after four generations we succeeded, and were told that ours were the first color Blue Points produced in the United States.

In 1947 we bought our first pair of Burmese. They won every show and in 1947 went All-American,' meaning the best Burmese shown in the United States that year. In 1949 we sent a pair of Burmese to England for a pair of Abyssinians. After receiving this first pair of Abyssinians, we sent to England for two more females as the first Abyssinians in the United States were very inbred. The first of these cats brought into this country were imported in 1930. Abyssinians, believed to have been the cats worshipped by the Egyptians, are restless cats, ever on the move. Thus they keep their long, slim figures. The Abyssinian is gentle and affectionate and has a very quiet mew. When we heard of Russian Blue cats we wanted them and were the first to improve them on the Pacific Coast. The Russian Blue wears a sealskin coat, a gorgeous silver blue, each hair tipped with silver, giving it silver shadings. In the sun, the Russian Blue has a lavender sheen. The Russian Blue is a quiet cat. It is said that only one in a litter may have a voice. I have never heard two Russian Blue studs argue."

In 1945 the Warrens organized the Long Beach Cat Fanciers with Warren as president and the next year held a cat show in Masonic Temple, believed to have been this city's first cat show. The couple moved to Idyllwild In 1950. They built a large cattery at Idyllwild to accommodate cats in the winter at well as the summer. It is 20 by 35 feet and the sides are all glass.

[CAT AND FIRE BRIGADE] Spalding Guardian, 21st November 1952
The cat that had to be retrieved from beneath the tiles of a roof by the fire brigade was reported to have backed away from her rescuer. The whole point is that the cat was probably not in need of rescue and was annoyed at such a fuss being made. Usually, as soon as a cat is seen on a telegraph pole or a roof someone calls out the brigade to make a rescue. We don't give our feline friends credit for being very intelligent. If they get under tiles or up a tree or to the top of a telegraph pole they can get down again. I am told that there is a cat club in which a prize is presented each year for the "most daring feat entailing the most danger to rescuing firemen."

THE OLD ORIGINAL Daily Mirror, 5th December 1952
There are hundreds of kinds of cat. Persian cats, Siamese cats, Abyssinian cats, Manx cats, Russian cats, Tabby cats, Ginger cats, and countless other varieties, ranging from the costly arrogant cats now lording it at the National Cat Club Show (you are not allowed to breathe on them in case they catch cold) to the ragged colony of half wild stray cats that have taken over many of the bombed sites in London. But although there are all these furry variations of the original cat theme, there is only one INNER cat.

Now this is the most astonishing thing. I have owned many cats or rather many cats have owned me. They have been different shapes and sizes, but basically they have been the same cat, for all cats have one central soul. It has been the greatest mass-production act in history. That is why you never need be sad when you lose a cat. You just get another, and when he or she comes sidling, prancing, bounding, sliding or slinking in, rejoice, for once again you have the identical reincarnation of the original prototype cat that first came off the Creator s drawing board.

HYDE PARK West Sussex Gazette, 11th December 1952
[. . .] One uses the minutes saved to wait to cross, and attention is caught by the by-laws at the gateway. Only horses and dogs, we are reminded, can be brought into the park, and then for the first time we learn that cats within its boundaries must be on a lead.

PORTLAND'S WORKING CATS. BUTTONS IS FRIEND OF WOMEN CONFINED IN POLICE STATION HERE Portland Press Herald, 20th December 1952
Repeat offenders locked up in the women's cell block at Portland Police Headquarters always ask for Buttons. And many a teen-age girl confined to a detention room for the first time has been comforted to find the big, fluffy cat curled up on her bed in friendly fashion.

"They all love him." says Mrs. Sue Mullin. the brisk, pleasant-mannered police matron. "He roams around and calls on them all. He goes in the cell blocks and visits in and out of the cells. He loves all the prisoners. When I have a teen-ager, or maybe a shoplifter in for the first time, locked up in one of the detention rooms out here, he goes in and curls up on the bed. They love to have him."

Being a cat, Buttons can walk right through the bars of a cell. of course, but he's a good-sized, nicely-formed cat. "A real Maine coon." Exclaims Mrs. Mullin, her eyes sparkling with pride in her pet.

Buttons' home is the matron's apartment on the second floor of the police station of Federal Street. Two detention rooms, mainly for young girls, lead off a short hall in the apartment and beyond is the door to the women's cell block. Playful Buttons has the run of all this, and something more. He isn't allowed out in the streets because of a tendency to skitter off and get lost. But a kitchen window leads to the graveled roof of the station garage which is bigger than a good many back yards. It is out in this play area that Buttons pursues his favorite pastime of stalking the sea gulls and pigeons that light there. In the two years he has lived at the station, he has caught one pigeon, but it remains a fascinating game.

Buttons arrived at the police station under arrest, in a way. He was found one stormy night on the street when police spotted something dashing back and forth in the headlights of a cruiser car. Just a fluffy ball of fur, only a few months old, he was brought to the station. Mrs. Mullin credits a police reporter with having carried him up to the women's ward and placing him in her custody. He got his name, when Mrs. Beatrice McMillan, the chief's secretary, exclaimed that "his eyes are just like buttons." Buttons has been lost once, and was quite sick for a spell only recently. But Mrs. Mullins laughs: "When he's sick the whole station takes care of him, and when he was lost the whole police force was out looking for him. He's everybody's baby and he knows it."

"Returns - women who've been locked up here before - always ask for Buttons," says Mrs., Mullin, "If they don't see him right away they always ask, Where's the cat?"

And in all Buttons' cell-block visiting, the matron can't recall a prisoner, drunk or sober, who ever tried to abuse the cat. They're just glad to have him around.

[LOUTH FLOOD] Nottingham Evening Post, 4th February 1953
Another man, given special permission to return to his house in he danger area, came back in triumph, carrying only his Persian cat in his arms. The rest of the property did not matter, he said.

GOODBYE TO CHURCH STREET S YELLOW CAT Kensington News and West London Times, 20th March 1953
Victor the famous marmalade cat belonging to the Yellow Cat Restaurant in Kensington Church Street, died on March 11th aged nine. Victor was not only known and loved by all the customers of the restaurant, but had won several prizes, among these being the Silver Cup for the best cat in the 1947 Kensington Cat Show. Victor was the third in a line of well-loved Yellow Cats; the first was Puff, succeeded by Pooh (who was killed on active service by a flying bomb in Church Street). Victor followed after and had friends not only in Kensington, but in other parts of London, and all over the world. We dare not tell the children he has gone, the restaurant manageress told the Kensington News this week. To this end, The Yellow Cat is anxiously seeking a successor to be the fourth in a famous line. Male marmalade Persians are rare, so if anyone knows of a kitten answering to this description who could continue the fame of Church Street s yellow cats, they are asked to communicate with Mrs Deacon, 33 Kensington Church Street, W8. Tel: WES 6049

CATS AND CASH Liverpool Echo, 30th March 1953
For over 60 years the cat has been popularised by Cat Clubs, the first of which was started in 1887. To-day pussy has risen high above the feline creature kept for the purpose of mousing. Prize and pedigree cats from England are earning big amounts in dollar currency, whilst orders flow in from Switzerland, France, Belgium, Holland and Denmark. Persia has a fancy for blue Persian cats, declaring that the English breed is far superior to the old Persian which originated in that country. There are 30 breeds in all - divided into two types - long and short haired. Black cats to be valuable must not have a single white hair, and have eyes of deep orange. The pure green eye is greatly appreciated in white cats. An entirely British cat is the Chinchilla, the purity of which breed it has taken years to produce. It first appeared at a London cat show in 1885. Scheherazade (a blue Angora) the property of a wealthy Brazilian, is valued at 1,000.

KITTEN WITH ENGINE TROUBLE Kensington Post, 7th August 1953
If it's true that a cat has nine lives, then one Kensington kitten, for certain, retains only eight of them this week. This particular feline life departed on Monday. Colonel and Mrs D. M. Reid, who live at the Royal Palace Hotel, Kensington High Street, had decided to drive down to Richmond for the day. The Reids drove off from Kensington Court, where they keep their car. For the first five miles or so everything went smoothly. Then the engine started to behave strangely. Knowing there was plenty of petrol in the tank. Col. Reid stopped and opened the bonnet. Inside, half frightened out of Its wits, was the third passenger - a cat. It was still very much alive but suffering from shock. So they pulled it out by the hind legs, calmed it down and returned it to Kensington Court (where it must have hopped in for the ride) hoping to find the owner. No such luck. So the R.S.P.C.A. were informed and the kitty, still in an understandably engine-sick" condition, became an inmate at an animal hospital, where, say the authorities, it is doing nicely." But the problem of possession remains unsolved. Anyone own a motor-minded cat?

AGED 126, PIP IS A TV FAN Crawley and District Observer, 21st August 1953
The miracle of television is the greatest thing in the lives of many old folk - and that goes for Pip too, only in a different kind of way. Pip is just a cat, although a very venerable one, for working on the popular assumption that one year in a cat's life equals seven years for a human, he Is 126 years old! And Pip loves the television set. It is not as if this sleek black cat owned by Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Mann, of Wendover, Copthorne-road, Felbridge, has grown up with the idea of television, but despite the strange sights and sounds which emerge from the set, they all act as a kind of lullaby for Pip, for he makes a point of going to sleep on it every night. Mrs. Mann told an "Observer" reporter that before moving to Felbridge - where she and her husband have lived for 20 years - they lived in Lingfield. It was there that, one Christmas, they were visited by carol singers, who were followed by a stray cat. Mr. and Mrs. Mann decided to "adopt" it, and Pip was among the last litter of kittens the stray had before she was run over on the road outside. The cat shows no signs of his great age. His hearing. eyesight and teeth are all perfect, says Mrs. Mann. He is still energetic, too, and only this week took a flying leap right over the large cocker spaniel. He makes only one concession to old age. Immediately after Mrs. Mann has made the bed, Pip will settle down on it and sleep most of the day. The cat has had only one Illness in his life. It was a serious one, and Mrs. Mann was told that he would not recover. But he did, after she had fed him on brandy every two hours. Pip is fastidious over his food, she says. He loves a piece of bread and butter, but refuses to eat margarine.

[GWEN DUKE, WIFE OF TEST PILOT NEVILLE DUKE] London Daily News, 1st September 1953
Gwen Duke s other great interest is in Persian cats, which frisk in the drawing-room in the evening while her husband works on testing reports. She has been a keen exhibitor at London cat shows.

[GWEN DUKE, WIFE OF TEST PILOT NEVILLE DUKE] London Daily News, 1st September 1953
What happens when your husband breaks the air speed record? Well, the first thing that happened to Mrs Gwen Duke, wife of the famous Neville, was something I wouldn t have expected. She was asked to open a cat show. But, to be honest, she told me, I must admit I love cats. I breed blue and cream Persians, so I m really very pleased about it.

REARING ELEVEN SIAMESE KITTENS Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 13th March 1954
As I talked to Mrs. E. P. Morrison at her home at 2, Barley-lane, this week, Sally, the Golden Labrador, sat on her haunches fascinatedly watching the kittens being fed (writes an Observer reporter). But Rhoda. the black, flat-coated retriever, is a bit older than Sally and presumably more mature, so she nestled nonchalantly on the couch beside me. Sally and Rhoda are used to having kittens about the house, but Sally s fascination might well be excused - for the number of kittens being fed was 11! The kittens were born to Brackledown Beauty. Mrs. Morrison s 2-and-a-half-year-old blue-pointed Siamese cat, four weeks ago last Sunday. Twelve were delivered but one was dead, and the remainder - four males and seven females - have kept Mrs. Morrison busy night and day ever since. And, by careful nurturing, she is rearing them successfully.

Mrs. Morrison told me; "The day the kittens were born the water pipes burst and we had to have the plumbers in. Since the kittens were born, the fire in their room has never been out and some nights I have slept on a camp bed in the room be near them.

The kittens have been fed about every 2-and-a-half hours and Mrs. Morrison gets up three times during the night to feed them. At one feed Beauty suckles six while Mrs. Morrison feeds the five others through an eyedropper. At the next feed the numbers are reversed. At first Mrs. Morrison gave the kittens dried milk but now some baby food has been added. She feels that the kittens are now over the worst part, and that she can relax a bit. Mrs. Morrison first began breeding cats only about two years ago, when she came to Hastings. Since she bought Beauty as a kitten the cat has won numerous prizes at leading cat shows and had given two litters before the present one. The previous best was a litter of seven. Mrs. Morrison, who hopes to enter the whole litter in one of the forthcoming cat shows, sends her kittens all over the country as pets and has received letters of praise from satisfied recipients.

AN INSPECTOR LOOKS BACK OVER 33 YEARS Portsmouth Evening News, 1st April 1954
[Mr Charles Hadley, RSPCA Inspector] At Ulverston, near Barrow-in-Furness, where he spent 14 years of his service, Mr. Hadley recalls the day when two women reported seeing a man throw a cat into a canal. They said the cat swum back to land three times and eventually the man walked away with his cat ignoring the protests of the two women. When Mr. Hadley eventually traced the man and told him this was not the correct method to end a cat s life, he looked most indignant, and said Drowning it? Who said anything about drowning it? I was only washing it. Apparently it was the man s weekly habit to wash his cat in this way and Mr. Hadley noticed that the cat showed great affection towards its owner, and obviously did not take umbrage.

ARISTOCRATS OF THE HEARTH. Manchester Evening News, 7th October 1954
A cat purring contentedly or stretching gracefully by earth the fireside stands for poise and quiet happiness. Perhaps that is why the demand for pet cats steadily increases. And whether your pet is a 0 famous show cat valued at 50 or 60 guineas, or one saved from the fate of being " unwanted," or a pedigree animal bought at the local pet store, it can bring marvellous companionship and love.

Cat shows are held in most large towns during the winter - the Lancashire and North Western County Cat Club show is usually in January - and these shows are fun if you want to learn about cats. The names and pedigrees of thousands of beautiful aristocrats are enrolled in the Register of the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy, but cats entered in local shows or in classes for household pets need not be registered. Sometimes, in fact, those marked history unknown win prizes and much admiration.

Decorative long-haired varieties include Blue Persian, Chinchilla, Tortoiseshell, Smoke, Black, and Pure White, and these should have fur that is thick and soft and sound in colour to the roots. Short-haired cats include the popular Siamese, Tabby (silver, brown, and red varieties), Manx (with back legs longer than the front, and no vestige of a tail), Black, White, and the rare Russian Blue Cat with green eyes and a coat like grey plush.

If you buy a cat at a pet shop see half a dozen playing together before you decide, and choose one that is playful and sturdy - the pathetic-looking one probably has worms. Try never to frighten a cat. Its pulse registers 160 throbs to the minute, and it is easily frightened; also it does not easily forgive unkindness. The advantages of a neuter tom have always been obvious. Less perhaps is known of "spaying, the operation causing sterility in a female cat. It is a major operation, but in towns particularly it is well worthwhile. People can be so carelessly brutal. Many otherwise kindly persons will turn female cats adrift to a life of misery after they have passed their short adorable kittenhood. Sterilisation would save all that. My own cat was sterilised a year ago at four months old. She is gentle and lovable and never puts out her claws when playing with the family. Yet she does her job of keeping mice away, and recently when temporarily left with a neighbour she earned her board by laying out a couple of dead mice on the kitchen rug each morning.

Cats should sleep warmly out of draughts and indoors at night time. Fresh water should be available and grass to keep them in good health. A little minced raw meat is generally appreciated, also boned fish, hard biscuits, cooked rabbit, and liver, milk, and table scraps, excluding potatoes. Grated carrot occasionally is good for pussy, and a little salt in cooked food. But do not overfeed. A "vet." once told me that most cat illnesses are due to overfeeding. Brush your cat often, especially if he is long-haired, to prevent the troublesome complaint of fur-balling.

If your cat shakes his head a good deal he may have ear canker, which needs expert attention. This disability can often he avoided by wiping out his ears with a little petroleum jelly and then dropping in a shake of boracic powder. Cat influenza or distemper may sweep down your street. This is a dread and highly contagious disease with a heavy mortality, and if you suspect it consult your veterinary surgeon at once. Symptoms include sickness, running eyes, and froth at the mouth, symptoms easily confused with poisoning. Warmth is essential, as pneumonia may set in and cause death. But do not be alarmed by this talk of sickness. It may never happen, for a well-cared-for cat seldom ails, as it is naturally clean, and fastidious in its habits. It infuriates me, however, to hear people quote the idiotic saying about cats having nine lives as an excuse for neglecting their cats, when in similar circumstances the dog would be rushed round to the vet. - Florence Ruddle

ALERT RECIPIENT IF YOU'RE GIVING KITTEN AS A GIFT
The Racine Journal Times, 19th December, 1954 (and others)
By H. H. Miller

Many kittens will find their way into homes during the holiday season. Some will be prepared for in advance which is the ideal way to welcome a pet of any kind. Others will be "surprise" gifts and though it's more pleasing to the donor to have a kitten dressed in a big, red bow pop out of a basket, the new owners aren't always as enraptured as they may appear unless they've had cats before and know the ways and needs of a kitten.

The gift bearer may not have as much fun but he's much wiser if he announces his intention and, if possible, finds out the kind of cat his friends would like. If they want a ratter, they should have an ordinary short-haired cat or a Maine coon cat. The name "coon" doesn't mean these cats are part raccoon. It comes from Captain Coon, who was a ship's commander and who is believed to have brought over the cats from which the Maine cats are descended. They are large, heavy cats with big heads.

If the prospective owners want an ornamental cat to decorate the home and if they have the desire and the time to care for it as it deserves, then they can have a Persian or one of several other fancy breeds. No matter what kind of kitten it is, the owners will be made even happier if the gift includes a book on cats and their care.

It takes about a week for a kitten or puppy to adjust itself to its new surroundings. It would be best for all concerned, therefore, if it could be delivered some days in advance of Christmas.

The proper handling of a kitten is most important. There's a belief that a kitten or a puppy should be picked up by the scruff of the neck. Just because you've seen mother cats and dogs carry their offspring that way doesn't mean that people should do it. No animal mother does it when the youngsters are big enough to leave the nest. It takes hard pressure to clamp a kitten between the fingers, and it's not only uncomfortable but the kitten can get an abdominal rupture or popped eyes. When lifting a grown cat, or a puppy, one hand should support its body with the other hand bracing the feet. It can be held by one hand if you brace its body against your side. No animal likes to dangle.

Kittens and pups take best to people who don't make sudden swift movements toward them, who speak softly, and make them comfortable.

Housebreaking is probably the first thing that comes into the minds of new pet owners. There is little to house training either a kitten or pup, if you make up your mind to take the preventive approach. Once mistakes are made it's harder to correct than to see that mistakes never happen in the first place. A kitten is better broken to a sanitary pan at first, even if you have a yard. The pan should be shallow and large. Keep it convenient until he's well trained, and keep it in the same place. If the cat is grown or older you simply let it out in the yard.

RARE KITTENS FLOWN TO ROCK COUNTY
Janesville Daily Gazette, 13th October, 1954

MILTON JUNCTION Three Maine coon kittens came by air express to Rock County Airport last week, consigned to Wanaki Cattery here. The Maine coon cat is a special variety derived originally from Oriental cats imported by sailing vessels in the late 1700s and developed through the last century. One general characteristic is long, silky hair that is flatter to the body than that of standard Persians. Sometimes there are coon rings circling the body from neck to tail tip, and frequently there are extra toes on the front paws. The coon cat is a dainty-boned animal, with a delicate face. It rarely grows to be as large as the usual Persian. It is so adjusted to Maine climate that it seldom survives in warm regions.

Dr. Rachel Salisbury, who was born in Maine, is adding them as novelties to her stock of Persians and they will be used for exhibition only in the Wanaki Cattery. These three are a gray male and two tortoise shells, one with coon rings clearly marked.

A four-months old tortoise shell Persian kitten named Ginger Godric, from Wanaki Cattery, won first prize in her class and a rosette as best-of-color kitten at the weekend cat show in Milwaukee sponsored by the Cat Fanciers' Association.

MILTON JUNCTION MAINE COON CATS WIN MEDALS, CITATION
Janesville Daily Gazette, 26th February, 1955

Three Rock County kittens, and their owner, have been honored by the Puss'n Boots Company with medals and a citation. The kittens, Maine coon cats, were imported to Wisconsin by plane from Maine last fall to become members of the Wanaki Cattery, operated by Dr. Rachel Salisbury of Milton Junction. They are a soft-furred variety, the length of the fur varying with the individual. One, Jennifer, has long fur, as soft as eiderdown. Her sister, Jezebel, who, unlike her Biblical namesake, is an extremely likable character, has shorter but very thick fur. Both have the Maine Coon cat characteristic of ringed tails. Unfortunately, the third kitten, Jeremiah, did not survive to receive his handsome bronze medal award.

Unlike Dr. Salisbury's regal Persians, whose blue blood manifests itself in a certain royal aloofness from the casual visitor until properly introduced the Maine kittens accept the attentions of the caller with true Yankee democratic spirit. They are quite certain of their welcome and romp around or on the guest with hoydenish abandon. In fact,
Jezebel blandly assumes at times that her mistress is spending too much time with book or typewriter and plumps herself down on one or the other with disarming confidence in her welcome.

The Puss'n Boots Bronze Award Citation reads as follows:
"Presented to Dr. Rachel Salisbury on behalf of Jennifer, Jezebel and Jeremiah. Jennifer, Jezebel and Jeremiah are in a class by themselves. They're Maine Coon cats, distinctive American breed descended from sailing ship cats of the 1700s, and rarely seen in regions warmer than the Pine Tree State. And they were flown to Wisconsin for special exhibition. To Jennifer, Jezebel and Jeremiah, exhibit mainstays who did not, however, stay in Maine this award."

The bronze medals are large and handsomely engraved one for each kitten and bear Dr. Salisbury's name as well as those of the furry recipients.

COON CATS SET UP GO-OP AT MILTON JUNCTION HOME
Janesville Daily Gazette, 26th May, 1955
By Harris Drew

MILTON JUNCTION - A new type of cooperative has sprung up in Wisconsin, this time at the Wanaki cattery operated by Dr. Rachel Salisbury in Milton Junction. Dr. Salisbury calls the new setup the Maine Coon Cat Co-op. It may be recalled that a few weeks ago Dr. Salisbury was awarded a Puss'n'Boots citation and medals for each of three Maine Coon cats which she had shipped to her by plane from Maine. The three young cats, marked with ringed tails, like raccoons, were a distinct novelty in this part of the country. Unfortunately, Jeremiah, the male, died and was gathered unto his fathers. His sisters, Jennifer and Jezebel, are the subject of this story.

Now it came to pass, that Jezebel brought forth her first-born kittens and took up housekeeping in a certain box. Thirteen days later Jennifer came across with her contribution to the kitten population. The next morning Dr. Salisbury found the newest mother striding back and forth in her cage with one of the new kittens in her mouth, frantic to get out. Dr. Salisbury opened the door of the cage and Jennifer, still carrying the kitten by the scruff of the neck, hopped down and made a bee line for her sister's box, depositing herself and kitten therein. The other kittens were brought to her and the two sisters have settled down in the same domicile, sharing their families and family duties. The kittens are bathed and fed indiscriminately, the young fry dining happily at whichever cafeteria is handiest, the mothers lying sometimes with the head of one resting on the other and with an affectionate arm across the other's neck. Dr. Salisbury says this communal home and family idea is a rare phenomenon, mother cats usually being quite jealous of their own offspring. She wonders if Jennifer and Jezebel have been snooping around in the Salisbury library and have learned about the Iroquois long house or the history of Utah.

MENTION CATS AND THE FUN BEGINS by Lancashire Evening Post, 7th October 1955, page 6.
By Sylvia Lovatt Corbridge. If your party is flagging and conversation is petering - start to talk about cats. There will not be another lull for at least half an hour; by the end of your party probably half the room will not be talking to the other half! You will find that the toughest man in the room has a beatific smile on his face as he tells you how Tiddles or Sweetiepuss sits on his breakfast table and begs for marmalade. There will be at least two women who swear their flesh creeps and their faces blanch if the smallest kitten crosses their paths. Two of your guests will probably have a fight on the subject of the cleanliness or otherwise of cats, and someone else, taunted by the evidence that cats eat birds will be replying bitterly "Haven't you ever eaten chicken or turkey?"

When our local cat club asked me to be its president the committee was on sure ground. Hadn't I just spent ninepence on a salmon sandwich to feed a Fishergate cat I imagined was near to starving? Didn't I stop to speak to every puss J saw on a garden wall? Did I know anything at all about cats except that I liked them? I had to confess that the answer to that question was "very little." But you can't visit a specialised show without picking up scraps of knowledge. Cats are not merely male, female, neuter, black. white, striped, ginger, domesticated, wild, friendly, indifferent, pedigree, mongrel, clean, grimy, frisky or fat. They are, sometimes, highly bred, valuable creatures in a fiercely competitive world where a kitten is anxiously watched to see whether or not its points and mask will conform to the colouring and marking which might make it a champion.

All Siamese kittens are born white, so do not follow the example of the man in the classic tale of the cat world who gave away his little puss because he thought there had been a mistake somewhere! Gradually, as the kitten grows, colour flushes its coat - seal brown on its points and mask if it is a seal-point, smoky grey blue on ice white if it is a blue-point. It matters to members of the cat fancy that a seal-point's eyes should be sapphire blue, and those of the blue-point Chinese blue. To a sentimentalist like myself the eyes of any cat are a marvel. Judges, however, I was told, don't like squints!

There is, I fancy, proud rivalry between the keepers of foreign pussies. The owners of Siamese cats took me quietly on one side to tell me of their affectionate nature, their amiability in cars, and on trains; Burmese owners swore their cats were the hardiest, most active and most affectionate pets it was possible to own. Everyone, however, had one common piece of advice to give: "Don't wait until your pedigree cat - or in fact, any cat - is really ill before you call in the veterinary surgeon. Get advice quickly. When there are surplus kittens, have them put to death by a 'vet,' or, if you cannot afford one, at your local clinic. In emergency ask for advice from your police veterinary surgeon."

There were many questions I wanted to ask at our cat show. "Why is a long-haired cat called a 'Persian' by the layman but is never listed this way in a show catalogue?" for instance. Nobody could tell me. "Are long-haired cats necessarily a nuisance in the home?" "Not if they are brushed and combed two or three times a week." came the reply. Short-haired cats. by the way, are groomed for showing only with a fine tooth comb and a smooth of the hand which may, perhaps, be gloved in wash-leather. Judges look suspiciously for any trace of powder in a cat's coat, and if a bath is given the night before every speck must be removed before judging.

I made the acquaintance of the first Burmese cats to whom I have ever been introduced. They looked at me with eyes of Chartreuse yellow and spoke to me in a foreign language, haughtily, of course, because in Burma they were originally owned only by the wealthy. "All this country's 120 or 130 Burmese cats spring from four imported from America, three of which survive." I was told. "Look at their solid brown coats, dark and rich - they are the perfect show cat, never have dirty ears, thoroughly enjoy a meal of raw meat and will chew at a bone."

Which would you choose – a cream long-hair kitten the colour of butter, or a Burmese blue, rare and lovely, born a cafe-au-lait shade? A marmalade beauty or a smoky, practically black with a grey frill and undercoat? Or the old fish shop tom who knows and cares little about his ancestors? What does it matter - as long as it is a cat?

CATS YOU CAN'T CONQUER THEM. "CLAWS IN VELVET PAWS"
By Thomas Hudson
The Age, 5th November, 1955

The cat is the only domestic animal man has never conquered. Take a small baby, a puppy, and a kitten, place them on the floor and bring danger near, the baby will cry for help, the puppy will roll over on his back and beg you not to hurt it. But the kitten will arch its back, spit, and prepare to fight.

The cat, with the dog, is the domestic animal par excellence. It had its epoch of glory in past history. The ancient Egyptians declared it sacred. A city called Bubastis was dedicated to its race, and the goddess Bast or Pasche had the head of a cat. Then the bodies of cats were made into mummies, and whoever killed a cat was severely punished.
Our modern breeds of cats are obviously the descendants of wild kittens brought home by prehistoric hunters as pets for their troglodyte children [note: this is not correct].

It is a far cry from the temples of Egypt, from the deserts of Asia to a modern cat show, where, enthroned on a silken cushion, the cat enters into competition with its fellows for blue ribbons or purple rosettes. Hardship has not killed him; luxury not seemingly affected him. He lived on, taking life as he finds it, glad to serve, to love, and to live upon his human friends, giving them in return the privilege of his society.

I have never been without a cat. My present aristocrat, Susie of Surrey, is a Persian. She and I have been friends for many years, but always on an understanding of complete equality truly Australian. Like all cats she would tolerate no less a relationship. She understands me perfectly, yet on many occasions, when I have been desirous of showing her off, she flatly refuses to humor me.

A famous feline of No. 10 Downing Street frequently sat on Winston Churchill's table at some of the most momentous war-time conferences in London. When Colonel Lindberg was about to set off on his historic 1927 trans-Atlantic flight at Curtiss Field, Long Island, he remarked of his favorite cat, "Too dangerous a Journey to risk Patsy's life !"

James Mason, the British film star, is a great lover of cats. With his wife, Pamela, he has written a book entitled "The Cats In Our Lives," which can be procured at most booksellers today.

A few years ago there arrived In Australia a man who has won fame in two worlds the literary world and the cat world Michael Joseph, English author and publisher, and president of the Siamese Cat Society of the British Empire. Who's Who in London lists his recreation with the one word: "Cats."

In its physical make-up a cat is one of nature's most remarkable mechanisms. My Persian, Susie, can leap nearly seven feet in the air in an endeavor to catch a passing butterfly. A comparable feat for a human in proportion to size and weight would be to leap over a house.

"Quick as a cat," of course, is a byword. Any boxer would envy the lightning-like "left" or "right" jab of a cat warding off a dog. Its claws, 18 curved needles in velvet pads, keep themselves sharpened to lightning keenness, for it is a mistake to imagine the cat is sharpening its claws when it scratches them on your best piece of furniture if you don't provide a piece of convenient wood. It is merely keeping them spotlessly clean. In fact, if you closely examine a cat's claws after this operation you will find it actually blunts them. An outstanding cat trait when thoroughly domesticated, is cleanliness.

Since the cat in a wild state had to hunt by stealth, not by chase, it was essential to remove all possible trace of tell-tale odor and so, to this day, the cat will wash itself all over and over, every bit of its fur, and nature itself keeps those 18 curved needles at fighting keenness.

Cats' nocturnal love affairs, accompanied by the caterwauling challenges of rival males, are known only too well. It is a curious fact that many a silken-haired aristocratic lady of fashion will frequently show a marked predilection for some scraggy, smelly, battle-scarred free-booter of the alley.

Make no mistake about it, cats know how to show off. They know how to walk into a room. Their pace is regal and dignified. Note how, when they choose a chair, sofa, or a rug for a siesta, they do it as gracefully as Dame Sybil Thorndike times her entrance in a play.

And how about the care of cats ? More attention should be paid to the diet of a cat. And maybe this Is a mild bombshell to cat owners: Once it is over kittenhood never give your cat a drop of cows' milk even if you keep a cow !

I pay tribute to Milo G. Denlinger, a breeder of the highest repute in America, for this sound advice. Denlinger claims and how right he is that milk feeding can cause chronic dysentry, and a cat so fed is rarely free from worms. They are also subject to skin trouble, from poverty of blood; in fact, a milk-fed cat is always in a semi-starved condition. You may not agree, but change your cat on to a meat diet with no milk and see the difference.

Feed your cat strictly on a meat diet. No cereals, such as oatmeal, rice, etc., and no potatoes. Mix green vegetables with its meat regularly, and see it has access to grass every day. Puss knows the very blade to chew for her wellbeing! Raw beef is best, preferably minced or cut up small with bones given daily, or at frequent intervals.

In summer keep all meat in the ice-box. Many owners think it injurious to feed a cat with ice-cold meat in the summer. I have never found this do any harm whatever. In winter, of course, take the chill off. Remember, all cats suffer extreme discomfort on a hot day. See there is always that clean, fresh water available. Never give cats stewed meat, stew gravy, or beef tea. All cooked meats cause dysentery just as milk foods. [Note: not true.]

Give a thought to your cat's teeth! That is why bones are essential. Remember a cat is a carnivorous animal, and must be treated as such to be kept healthy. Bones are just as indispensable for the cat as for the dog. Without them the teeth get furred up and decay, giving the animal months of pain before they finally drop out. No bones to kittens by the way - until they are three months old.

Finally, If you don't think a cat can retrieve a ball like a dog, start your next kitten with one of those fluffy little woollen golf balls. My Susie is fully grown, and it's still her favorite plaything, but, mark you, only when she wants to play"

You can't conquer cats!

A "HOTEL" HOLIDAY FOR THE CAT
The Age (Melbourne), 29th December, 1955

Cats are condescending animals, and in many cases their wishes are considered almost as important as those of human members of the family to which they belong. It is holiday time for the family and, though the main reason is the necessity of boarding the cat while the family has a change of scene, it is holiday time for the cat, too.

Dog kennels are an accepted thing, but in recent years cat kennels, "catteries" or cat "hotels," as they are variously named, have appeared in many Melbourne suburbs. So much so that you now have the choice of sending your cat either to the seaside, out into the country air, or to the nearest cattery to your suburb.

This particular way of dealing with the problem of leaving your cat while the family is absent from the house, if there is no kindly neighbor to feed him, has become very popular and over the Christmas period all cat "hotels" were booked out.

Now, when many families take long holidays during the school vacation, those who are looking for a home-from-home for their pet are catered for by cat kennels scattered at all points of the compass round the metropolitan area. The majority of these are run by women who also breed cats and dogs.

Bush Setting . . .

Knowing all her boarders by name is a special rule for Mrs. D. C. Green, who runs the Glentarna Kennels at Bayswater. Here Mrs. Green has space for 50 cats and is helped in caring for them by her daughter Beverley and her husband, when he is home from work. One of her first questions to owners when they bring their pets is to find out if the cat has any particular diet or preference in the meat line. Goat's milk is provided and a variety of meats, cooked and uncooked, for the individual tastes.

Mrs. Green herself specialises in breeding German shepherd dogs, Scotties and wire fox terriers. But her boarders this season are all cats. The kennels are in a spacious four-acre farming property, and long runs, with shade and sun, are provided for exercise. The cats sleep on straw-filled bunks in small houses, about six feet high. Six cats go to every section, and care is taken as to who is put with whom. There is a special section for kittens as well.

Her boarders have included families of cats from suburban homes, farm cats and factory cats. The latter took their holidays while the factories closed over Christmas. The tariff for a feline boarder is 1 a week, and slightly less for those owners who send more than one cat, or who send their pet for more than a month.

. . . Or Sea Air

Down by the Bay at Mordialloc, kennels run by Mrs. P. Crook have an attractive Gaelic name, the Fruachan Kennels, so named because she breeds Scottish terriers. They take both cats and small dogs.

Mrs. Crook, who charges 25 shillings per week for a cat, is one who is a great believer in water as a cat's drink. The accepted saucer of milk for the cat is, she feels, largely a matter of habit and many cats show a preference for water. An "animal transport" a small van is run by Mrs. Crook. In this way she calls for and returns home her boarders if the owner wishes.

Siamese

Difficulty in finding a place to board her own Siamese cats while she went away gave Mrs. R. W. Patterson, of Hawthorn, the idea of taking in other Siamese as boarders. Now at "Rewa" Siamese Cattery she specialises in this type of cat. Mrs. Patterson, who breeds her own seal-point Siamese cats successfully, takes cats from only two owners at a time. She will take more than one from each owner, but will not mix these with those from another home, as Siamese are notoriously fussy creatures.

Other "boarding houses" for cats may be found in Glen Iris, Canterbury, Chelsea, Eltham, Doncaster, Ivanhoe and Croydon. Details of kennel names and telephone numbers are available At the Animal Welfare League Lort Smith Hospital.

The Age (Melbourne), 31 July, 1919: A L.K.C. [Australian Ladies Kennel Club) Champion Cat Show, Masonic Hall, Friday, all Day. Admission 1 shilling.

PERSIAN CATS SHOW TRADITION OF LUXURY
The Eugene Guard, 30th August, 1958
By Olga Burns

The "cabbit" is supposedly a cross between n rabbit and a cat, and while it is true that there are some cats that do hop like rabbits, I have never yet seen any evidence that such an unusual cross has occurred. The possibility is not less likely than that cats would mate with raccoons. That cross, too, is supposed to have taken place, but if the so-called "Maine coon cat" was shown was the product of such mating, the only part of the raccoon to show was in the coat. The animals' coat was lovely. It had thick, long silky hair, but except for the bushiness of the tail, there was nothing whatever to suggest a raccoon in its ancestry. Its qualities as a mouser, by the way, were said to be in keeping with those of the most efficient felines.

I was reminded of this recently when a friend told me that a half-grown Angora kitten of hers was getting along happily with her daughter's pet rabbit. After a somewhat cautious approach to each other, the two began to play together quite happily and showed such signs of becoming firm friends that she wondered if this happy state might continue. There is no reason whatever why it shouldn't, and it very probably will. Though a cat will normally hunt a rabbit as readily as anything else, if it is brought up with one, he will probably never turn against it. There are even cases in which cats and rats have been raised as friends and remained so.

In the case of an Angora, however, it seems to me there is an even greater probability of a happy relationship. An Angora, like the Persian with which it is now lumped together under the title Long Hair, is a luxury cat. He has an inheritance of being admired and cared for in a way that would make anyone envious. And though many will regard it as heresy to suggest that acquired characteristics can be inherited, I can't help the feeling that Angoras must have inherited some characteristics acquired since their ancestors emerged from the rigors of Central Asia to enjoy the relatively comfortable life of Asia Minor.

Both the Angora and the Persian are believed to be descended from the "manul" or Pallas' cat found in the desert areas of southeast Russia and Northwest China. He is a long haired, bushy-tailed type with rather light stripes. According to some students, when the Turks brought these cats with them in their conquest of the Byzantine Empire, those that settled around the city of Angora, a little over 200 miles from Constantinople, discovered that not only their cats but other animals as well improved mightily. The change was particularly noticeable in their coats.

"The fineness of their hair may perhaps be ascribed to some peculiarity in the atmosphere," one observer wrote, "for it is remarkable that the cats, dogs and other animals of the country are to a certain extent affected in the same way, and that they all lose much of their distinctive beauty when taken from their native districts."
Be that as it may, it is a fact that the Turks treated their Angora cats with the utmost care. They didn't have to hunt mice for a living. And though such treatment did not eradicate their instincts, it seems a safe assumption that an Angora with that heritage will not make things hard for a rabbit, especially when enjoying the comparative luxury of a modern American household.

ANTI-CAT LAW FACES TEST The Indiana Gazette, 14th September, 1960
The hamlet of Rutledge Tuesday sought a court injunction to force two spinster sisters to comply with a borough law limiting the number of cats in a domicile to four adults. Officials said in a petition Elizabeth Van der Graft Williamson, 72, and her sister, Ethel, 75, have 50 cats which possess "noxious and offensive odors" and create "unreasonable noise."

WOMAN SEEKS UNUSUAL GIFT FOR HUSBAND
Biddeford Saco Journal, 30th November, 1961

A Massachusetts woman is searching for an unusual Christmas gift for her husband this year a coon cat. The woman has written to the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce in the hopes that someone in the area may know where one is available. She said in her correspondence that a friend brought a coon cat to her and her husband from Maine about 10 years ago and that the animal died recently. The woman mentioned that the idea of giving a replacement of the cat to her husband for Christmas was just an idea at first but then became a challenge when no one seemed to know where one could be found.

"All I want is a good healthy cat, a Maine coon cat," the woman said.

Anyone with information on this matter may contact the chamber office, Clayton W. Cartmill, executive secretary, said.

CALIFORNIA COON CAT Independent Press Telegram, 2nd February, 1964
By Eleanor Avery Price

When Mrs. Gail Collier, 1930 Knoxville Ave., took her cat, Socks, to the veterinarian lately for a checkup, the doctor remarked "What a fine coon cat." Mrs. Collier wasn't certain just what a coon cat is, but she was very proud of her large, long-bodied and heavily-coated cat, so she let it go at that.

But not I. For a long time I have been intrigued over the mystery that shrouds a cat called a Maine Coon Cat. So I asked questions of cat fanciers and I looked in encyclopedias. I came up with conflicting accounts, but here is the general story about the coon cat.

It seems that in the 18th and 19th centuries, seafarers of Maine returned now and them with handsome longhaired cats in a variety of colors from countries they visited. A segment of the population became interested in showing cats, and they probably had the first cat show ever held in America. Featured were some of the longhaired beauties whose coats were more luxurious than before, since Maine's cold weather stimulated the growth.

The cats became very popular, and the rush was on for them under the name Maine Coon Cats. They were considered household pets, whereas short-haired cats were mostly barn animals. Perhaps the favourite was the striped and banded longhair because he more nearly resembled the raccoon. However, the Maine Coon Cat is not a cross between a cat and a raccoon, and he wears a coat of many colors, including pure white and tri-colored.

When the cat fancy boomed in other states, exhibitors were interested only in pure-bred cats Persians, Manx, etc. So the ruffed cat as a show animal practically disappeared. In the West, I have never seen a cat entered as a Maine Coon Cat as it is not recognized. But a few cooners have obtained state championships in the east. Most are now so haphazardly bred that they are part Manx, Siamese, etc., but in some Maine households the original strains are maintained.

In short, the Coon Cat is a longhaired domestic cat but not a Persian. If you go to Maine you might knock on the doors of country homes and find an honest-to-goodness Yankee Maine Coon Cat, but similar cats are available all around you, only we would have to call them California Coon Cats. Longhaired domestic cats in cat shows are listed under Household Pets. Look for them at the Cal Coast Cat Show Feb. 15-16 in Long Beach Auditorium.

MAINE COON CAT
The Bridgeport Post, 3rd November, 1968

In the 18th and 19th centuries, seafarers of Maine returned occasionally from foreign ports with thick-jacketed, big cats in a variety of colors. The imported cats' coats grew heavier as they adjusted to the cold Maine weather. A segment of Maine's population became interested in exhibiting these cats and thus started the first cat show in the United States. A rush then began for these cats as household pets, since shorthairs were mostly barn animals.

The favourite color may have been at first the striped and banded because this more nearly resembled the raccoon. However, the Maine coon cat wears any color, black and white being common. Actually, this feline is a semi-longhair domestic, not a Persian. Many have been interbred with other cats, but a few fanciers maintain the original strains.

If your cat is healthy, he has grown a winter coat and looks quite beautiful for National Cat Week. Now it's up to you to keep him that way. Brush the shorthair very gently with a rubber or natural-bristle brush. Rubber more effective removes dead hair. If you see dirt specks (usually from fleas) on his skin, remove them with a fine-tooth steel comb. Complete the grooming with strokes of you dampened hand in the direction his hair lies.

A longhair needs careful combing against the hair. His steel comb should have both wide-set teeth and fine teeth. Break up large knots with a wide-tooth comb by working from the bottom of the knot up, and straighten out small mats with the fine-tooth comb. Also, remove dirt specks.

With a natural-bristle brush, gently groom in the opposite direction to which the coat lies. Don't be too rough, or you'll ruin the coat. A little baby talcum sprinkled into the coat, then brushed out, will help clean the pet.

From a pet shop, buy a malt-flavored intestinal lubricant so that swallowed hairs won't collect in balls. It may also correct bad breath and prevent dry stool.

SUIT CHALLENGES CAT LICENSING BY THE COUNTY. The Courier Journal, 26th June 1971
A suit has been filed in Jefferson Circuit Court seeking to keep county officials from carrying out Jefferson Fiscal Court's cat licensing resolution. The court action seeks to nullify an April 27 Fiscal Court resolution that would require all cats in the county over six months old to be licensed, tagged and vaccinated against rabies effective July 1. A Louisville cat breeder, Nikki Horner, filed the suit "as a class action for herself and for all other cat owners in Jefferson County."

The case has been assigned to Jefferson Circuit Judge Macauley Smith and will receive a preliminary hearing on Wednesday. The suit contends that the Fiscal Court resolution lacks legislative authority and that the county dog warden has no jurisdiction over cats. It maintains that enforcement of the resolution would throw the county "into an uproar, with police officers in the county and city abandoning their chase of bank robbers and purse snatchers to pursue cats on foot, in helicopter and in high speed police cars, with their guns drawn and Mace in hand to capture the thousands of unlicensed cats at large."

Named as defendants in the suit are County Judge Todd Hollenbach; Jefferson County Commissioners Maurice Archer, Thomas Helm, and William H. Walden: and John R. Bennett, Jefferson County dog warden.

FISCAL COURT UNCOLLARS ITS RESOLUTION ON CATS. The Courier Journal, 30th June 1971
Jefferson County Atty. J. Bruce Miller yesterday moved to get cat lovers off his neck by taking collars off their cats. On Miller's recommendation, Fiscal Court revised an April 27 resolution requiring cats more than 6 months old to have licenses and a rabies shot by July 1. The cats still have to have both, but now they won't have to wear the license tags around their necks. The revision was made, County Judge Todd Hollenbach explained, because the collars could be dangerous to some breeds of cats.

County officials contend the licensing and rabies shots are necessary because of the danger of rabid cats, a danger the officials say is as great as that from rabid dogs. But many cat owners are unhappy with the licensing law, and one of them, Nikki Horner, has filed suit in Jefferson Circuit Court to keep county government from carrying out the resolution. The suit contends that the Fiscal Court resolution lacks legislative authority and that the county dog warden has no jurisdiction over cats.

COURT ALLOWS CAT LICENSING TO BEGIN TODAY. The Courier Journal, 1st July 1971
Court action yesterday left the Jefferson County cat licensing regulation standing for the time being. But Mrs. Nikki Horner, the cat owner who filed suit to nullify the regulation, won't have to obey it while the litigation continues, officials said. Jefferson County Fiscal Court voted April 27 to require licensing, tags and rabies vaccinations for cats. Later the county government retracted the requirement that the cats be tagged. Mrs. Horner's suit seeks to stop enforcement of the regulation, which takes effect today for cats six months old and older.

Jefferson Circuit Judge Macauley Smith originally had been scheduled to hear Mrs. Horner's suit. But he disqualified himself because she is the ex-wife of Smith's neighbor and veterinarian. Judge Marvin Sternberg, who took over the case, refused to sign an order yesterday that would restrain the county from enforcing the cat regulation. But he did so with the understanding the rule would not be enforced against Mrs. Horner and her cats while the suit is in court, County Atty. Bruce Miller said.

Miller said the cat regulation will still be in effect for the rest of the county's cat owners. He said a final determination on the merits of the case against the regulation probably would come in late summer or early fall.

Mrs. Horner, a spokeswoman for Cat Action Team (CAT), is a breeder of cats and manager of the annual Greater Louisville Cat Show. She operates Shawnee Cattery, 1853 Brownsboro Rd. Other CAT members will not be excused from the cat regulation provisions, Miller said. The cat lovers' organization was created to encourage better understanding and legal treatment for cats and their owners according to Mrs. Horner.

CAT-LICENSE SELLERS BUSY; FEW COMPLAIN. The Courier Journal, 2nd July 1971
Any businessman would like to have the kind of day that Jefferson County Dog Warden John Bennett had yesterday: hundreds of customers and mail orders and practically no complaints. Bennett's "customers" were cat owners nearly 400 of them who brought their pets to be vaccinated and licensed to comply with a fiscal court resolution that went into effect yesterday. He said the Animal Shelter on Manslick Road received "1,100 or 1,200 pieces of mail" requesting cat licenses. The Animal Shelter ordered 2,000 licenses in preparation for the enactment of the resolution and sold all but about 200 of the licenses yesterday, Bennett said.

The licenses cost $1.50 each and are issued only to owners of cats that have been vaccinated against rabies. The rabies shots, which are given at the clinic, cost $4 each for the initial vaccination, which protects the animal for a year. Annual booster shots also cost $4 each, Bennett said. Bennett said his office received only two "complaints" of unlicensed, unvaccinated cats yesterday. They came from "people calling about neighbors having a lot of cats," he said. The complaints are to be investigated today. Cat owners who don't comply with the new regulation will be cited, Bennett said.

Few of the cat owners who visited the clinic yesterday complained about having to vaccinate and license their pets, Bennett said. He added that the most frequently asked question was "Will I get my money back if the law is changed?"

The resolution originally called for cats over 6 months old to be licensed, vaccinated and identified with collar tags, but the collar rule later was rescinded after several cat owners protested. They claimed their pets could easily hang themselves by wearing collars.

Mrs. Nikki Horner, a breeder of cats and manager of the Greater Louisville Cat Show, has filed suit in Jefferson Circuit Court in an attempt to nullify the regulation. She has been exempted from the rule while the litigation continues, but Circuit Judge Marvin Sternberg refused to issue an order to restrain the county from enforcing the regulation against other cat owners.

10TH LIFE' WON BY CATS IN JEFFERSON. Lexington Leader, 1st April 1972
Cats in Jefferson County were given their tenth life Friday. Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Marvin J. Sternberg ruled that a cat resolution last July 1, which would have set up a vaccination and licensing procedure, was illegal. Sternberg said "the legislature has not conferred the authority on the Fiscal Court to require the vaccination of cats against rabies, nor are there any statutes from which this authority may be inferred." The suit was filed by Nikki Horner, a Louisville cat breeder, "as a class action for herself and for all other cat owners in Jefferson County."

THE VERNON LOYS AND THE ANIMAL REALM' IN THE 51ST STATE OF MIND?
The Upland News, 11th January, 1973

By Patricia Reid. Sometimes it's difficult to tell whether people "have" their pets or if, in reality. It's the pets that have their owners over a barrel. Visiting the Vernon Loys in Upland is like dropping by an idealistic animal realm. [. . .] Ella Loy, the "mother" of all the animals, can be found inside the house gingerly petting "Pegu Lashio" or "Kaleua Lampi" or any one of the other 9 Siamese or Burmese or Havana Brown cats living inside. The Loys have bred and sold these rare cats for some 10 years and were one of the first people in the area to have the Havana Brown variety of Siamese cat. The names are after geographical cities or areas in the countries the cats are from.

Ms Loy explained that the Siamese cats are never allowed outdoors, but they have two large long-haired "domestics" cats which are "gopher cats" and spend most of their time outdoors with the ducks although, of course, they're allowed inside and do visit the other cats frequently.

It's impossible to glance in any corner of the house without spotting a tiny ball of fur curled up, or hear a cat playing with a favourite toy or scratching on a giant "maze" carpeted scratch board in the back room [. . .] At one time they had 45 kittens in their "Cattery". Ms. Loy told many stories about the closeness between the dogs and cats they mix easily, often sleep together and one of her Toy poodles even nursed three kittens once.

MEET RUMTUM HE'S A RARE CAT
The Sydney Morning Herald, 28th June, 1976

Rumtum Toad, one of the world's rarest cats, sat for his photograph in yesterday's sunshine and looked mildly astonished at all the fuss. Rumtum is intelligent and good-natured, with amber eyes almost matching his attractive dusty apricot coat. Formally named Brahramam Rumtum Toad, his official description in cat show language is "six-months-old red Abyssinian longhair kitten." On Saturday he was the first of his breed to appear at an Australian cat show. It was the 46th annual cat show of the Federal Cat Club of Australasia, held at Sydney's Town Hall over the weekend.

At the home of his owner, Mrs Pat Sheumack, of Burwood, the kitten is simply Rumtum, a name which seems to match perfectly his good-natured temperament. Mrs Sheumack explained it would be some time before Rumtum actually would compete in shows. "For one thing, we have to decide whether he's to be called long or short-haired. He's medium really," she said.

ATTENTION: RUSSIAN BLUE BREEDERS [LOST CATS]
(1975 Cat World International)
While exhibiting at the Empire Cat Club Show (Feb. 22-23, 1975) at McAlpin Hotel, Broadway & 34th St., New York City, I learned that in the hotel basement live several blue cats and kittens. This was brought to my attention by two elevator operators who thought they were Korats. An examination made by me and the other Korat breeders indicated that the cats are apparently purebred Russian Blues. A few years ago, the mother and father cats were lost in the hotel by exhibitors. Since then several litters have been born and Many taken home by hotel personnel but now there are no more willing to take them in. There are at least six 3-month old kittens, one about 7 months, the dam (who is pregnant again) and the father. The hotel personnel have been feeding these cats and their health and condition seems good. The basement is dry and warm and litter is provided but the little kittens are practically wild, are extremely timid and will bite or scratch to escape if caught. We would have adopted any we could have caught and kept hold of long enough to put in a carrier as we felt we could, in time, win over the little kittens, but we could successfully capture none. I would appreciate your printing this letter on the off-chance that the owner of the original breeding pair might see it and identify him/herself. Perhaps he/she has wondered whatever became of the cats. We feel sure they are purebred and, knowing their pedigree, would give them much value. - Kathryn M. Robert, Moriches, NY, USA

LOOSE WILDCATS?
The Chillicothe (Ohio) Constitution Tribune, February 21, 1986

From other outdoorsmen, farmers and observers, and even our own findings, there no doubt is a hybrid mix of cats roaming our countryside at the present. They are a mix of the small short-tail domestic species bred from the "wild cat" variety. It seems some of the residents in the county west of Chillicothe had these type of cats and they took to the wild. When they crossed with the common house cats that roamed free over the lands, a species of cat resulted that is larger than usual and lives off the land. From actual sightings, tracks in the snow and capture, we may have a new predator problem.

SHOWING THEIR FELINES. CATS NOW OUTNUMBER DOGS AND OWNERS THINK THE TREND IS PURR-FECT The San Bernardino County Sun, 30th December, 1986
By David Inman, Gannett News Service

Cats? Man's (and woman's) best friend? That statement is enough to give longtime cat fans like Carol McKenney a feeling of vindication. "It used to be everybody said cats were sneaky, aloof, that kind of thing," says McKenney. "We always knew they were wrong, but now other people are realizing it, too."

McKenney and her husband, Jack, have owned cats for 22 years and now share their home with five. "I love animals of any kind," she says. "My father raised dogs. But cats are my kind of pet. They don't grovel. When you walk in at night, they aren't all over you, lapping you in the face."

But keeping cats isn't enough for Carol McKenney. The couple's home is also filled with cat figurines, cat sweat shirts, cat pictures and cat stationery. How does her husband feel about all this? "He's the one who started me on the figurines," she says.

Donna Crane's Chatco Collection, a catalog business based in Batesville, Ind., sells nothing but cat-related items. In business since 1980, Chatco now sends out more than 100,000 catalogs each year.

"And that number has doubled each year," Crane says. Her customers can choose from 70 offerings including earrings, money clips, napkin rings and a wrap skirt, all decorated with cat designs. "Most of our customers are cat owners," she says. "They're just people who appreciate the graceful form of the cat. Or they want to let other people know that they're cat people."

As for herself, Crane says, "I have two cats. I hold myself to two because I live in town. If I lived out in the country, I'd be like the old woman who lived in a shoe."

Cat industry observers differ about when the real cat craze began. Was it a few years ago, when Garrison Keillor, on public radio's "Prairie Home Companion," first ran bogus commercials for Bertha's Kitty Boutique: "Oh, if you keep a cat, or keep two or three, you know' that cats are humans, too, like you and me. And have needs as we do, and if they could speak, they'd say, I need some stuff from Berthas Kitty Boutique.'"

Was it when "101 Uses for a Dead Cat," a popular cartoon book from the late 1970s, fell off the best-seller lists?

Or maybe it all started very quietly in 1972. That year, for the first time, the national cat population continued to rise about 5.6 percent annually while the dog population held steady or declined slightly.

The pet cat population has doubled since then, according to the Pet Food Institute. And last year, for the first time, there were more pet cats in America (50 million) than dogs (49 million), according to Pet Age magazine, a Chicago-based trade publication.

"For the immediate future, certainly the next five years, according to members of the industry and marketing experts "momentum is behind cats," editor Karen Long writes.

Big money can be tied up in a cat. If you get a California Spangled domestic cat, for example, you're probably going to pay at least $1,400. That's how much the new breed is going for in this year's Neiman-Marcus catalog. It took Paul Casey, a former Hollywood scriptwriter, 15 years to develop the breed, which looks like a miniature wild cat and includes several bloodlines. The cats come in silver, bronze, black, charcoal, gold, red, silver blue and brown. There's also a "snow leopard," born white, that develops its markings as it gets older. Neiman-Marcus, advertising the animals as "leopards for your living room," offered them as its exclusive his-hers Christmas gift for 1986, and was swamped with orders.

PRODUCTS THAT ARE THE CAT'S MEOW The San Bernardino County Sun, 30th December, 1986
Gannett News Service

Can't get enough of cat-related items? Consider these offerings from an electronic cat to a book about cats in advertising from several cat-alogs.

- "The Cat Sold It!," a softcover picture book looking at advertising agencies' uses of cats as illustrative subjects in campaigns. (Crown Publishers Inc., New York. $9.95,96 pages; 113 illustrations.) "They're (cats) some of the real stars of the advertising world and have been pictured in almost every possible kind of advertising," write authors Alice L. Muncaster and Ellen Yanow Sawyer.

- Fluffy Kitty, a motorized cat with microphone ears that responds to commands. It purrs when it's stroked, roams around the house (when it's in "explore" mode) and meows. Housebroken; doesn't shed because it's made of fire-resistant acrylic fur. Uses six "D" batteries, not included. It's $54.95 plus $6.95 handling and service charges from Potpourri, Dept. 134,204 Worcester St., Wellesley, Mass.

- Cat chalkboard, set of four fur mice and beverage napkins, for $15, $9.98 and $5, respectively, plus $3.85 for postage and handling. From The Chatco Collection, P.O. Box 59, Batesville, Ind.

- The Electronic Cat Door, made to be opened exclusively by a specially coded key worn on your cat's collar. Measures 8 3/4 inches square. It's $124.95 from Hammacher Schlemmer & Co., Midwest Operations Center, 11013 Kenwood Road, Cincinnati, Ohio.

- "Cats Cats Cats" sweat shirt, white and covered with black paw prints, $24.95 plus $3.95 postage and handling from Potpourri.

- Cat Bag and Kitty Cucumber and Friends stickers. Cat Bag features more than 200 cat stickers and is $9.95; Kitty Cucumber is more than 220 stickers of cats in old-fashioned clothes and goes for $10.25. From The Official Sticker Co., 348 N. 30th Road, Box 802, La Salle, 111. 61301. Shipping and handling is $2.25 for orders 10 or less; $3 for orders $10.01 to $30

MORRIS II: THE BURT REYNOLDS OF CATS STILL HAS SEVEN LIVES LEFT The San Bernardino County Sun, 30th December, 1986
by Barbara Hoover
Gannett News Service

"Oooh, look at those fat legs!" squeals the blond model. "He's so cute!" "He does look finicky. Do you think he's lonely?" worries the brunette model, as if she'd be quite willing to solve the problem.

Morris, the Burt Reynolds of cats, still mesmerizes the girls. And the boys, the moms and the dads. Morris, inimitable spokescat for 9 Lives cat food, was getting his picture taken amid the models in a Detroit fashion studio. He poses elegantly on a stool, 14 pounds of muscled beefcake rippling under a red-gold fur coat that would delight Liberace. His magnetic amber eyes could make Don Johnson snarl with envy. Morris cuddles up to handler Bob Martwick, who leads him into ever-cuter positions with the help of dry cat food morsels.

Yum, Morris, look this way. Yum, Morris, look that way. Ow! Morris, take it easy! (A fang grazes a photographer who's trying the food ploy.) And a little later, there's another Ow! as Morris' claw gouges the blond model, who pokes a finger into the steel carrier where Morris has prepared for a nap.

Morris may be beautiful, but he's not always nice. But, hey, is Burt or Don always nice? After all, Morris has had 18 years of stardom, enough to earn him the right to be a little, well, finicky about attention.

Of course, it hasn't been the same Morris all that time. This is Morris II, now about 7 years old, the original Morris having trotted off to the big litter box in the sky in 1978. But, like Lassie, Morris can endure as long as his fans do with the help of a judicially chosen lookalike.

Martwick, who supplies animals for ads and commercials in the Chicago area, rescued the first Morris, a battered orange tomcat, minutes from doom in an Illinois animal shelter in 1966. "I thought he'd make a few magazine ads and that would be it," recalls Martwick. But in 1968, Morris hit pay dirt doing his finicky routine for a 9 Lives commercial.

As soon as the cat food folks realized what a star they had in Morris, they began looking for a successor. They haunted animal shelters, they took pictures, they held kitty auditions. No cat came close to matching Morris' streetwise beauty or charisma. For a whole Morrisless year after his death, the search went on.

Finally, the future Morris II was spotted in an East Coast animal shelter and brought in to audition with two other orange cats. "No cat could look exactly like the first Morris he was unique," says Martwick. "He had green eyes and a scar in one of them which gave him a squint. The second Morris has amber eyes, but he looks the most like the first Morris. And when he auditioned, he was just so good with the camera."

Just like the first Morris, Morris II has got it pretty cozy. He lives with Martwick and a dog named Charlie in the apartment above Martwick's boarding kennel set on six acres in suburban Chicago. Morris, Martwick's biggest star, has the run of the place, standing guard in the office, greeting visitors. He goes on supervised outdoor walks "we can't let him just go out by himself, he's too valuable," Martwick says.

And in his leisure time Morris sleeps and plays with his toys especially his favorite mouse and catnip ball. He's also adept at opening doors, especially those of cabinets where dry cat food is stored. And he's not bad at opening the bags of cat food, either.

Morris does not like other cats. "Like most cats, Morris is a loner," Martwick says.

And he's as busy as ever, still getting thousands of fan letters, mostly from adults who want an autographed picture. Morris obliges with a paw print.

"Nobody ever thought Morris would last this long," Martwick says. "We're still doing commercials we did three last month and there are three more scheduled for next month.

Morris also flies around the country a lot, promoting this and that. He even does a lot of meowing in behalf of vaccination and neutering.

"Morris felt that if he was going to advocate neutering, he had to have it done himself," Martwick says. "There are millions of cats put to sleep every year. It's especially important to neuter males. One male cat with access to plenty of females can father thousands of kittens in a few years."

When Morris makes "purr-so-nal" appearances (as his PR firm likes to say) on these important issues, people listen. Or at least watch. Not long ago, Morris even upstaged New York Gov. Mario Cuomo's wife, Martwick says. Mrs. Cuomo was on the podium saying thanks to Morris for doing a film or the New York Medical Association to promote human health. "While she was speaking, all the TV cameras were taking pictures of Morris," Martwick says.

How does Morris handle this stardom that just won't quit?

"Zzzzzzzzzzz," says he, curled gracefully in the carrier.

NEWS ARTICLE ON PUREBRED CATS
By Gina Spadafori, McClatchy News Service, 1990ish

In any given week, I hear animal stories that would break your heart. Tales of abuse and abandonment, of stupidity and selfishness. After a while you get sort of used to such stories, and each time you hear one, the wall around your heart gets just a little higher. The trick for any caring person is to keep those walls from getting in the way of helping, and from protecting you from the anger the stories should provoke.

I can still get plenty angry, believe me, and sometimes the oddest things set me off. Like Connoisseur magazine and the Neiman-Marcus catalog. I've never really looked at Connoisseur magazine, and that's really not surprising. I hardly belong on the same mailing list with the "if you have to ask you can't afford it" crowd and, honestly, that's the way I like it. But I just had to check out a recent September issue, which featured a cover story on rare cats.

In case you didn't know it, purebred cats are in, really in, and the rarest, oddest varieties are the most sought after. ". . .As long as you (can) buy a member of your family," the article points out, "you might as well buy an attractive one; and ... with cats, as with ice cream, there is simply no point in not having the best." There's nothing wrong with purebred cats, of course; I am extraordinarily fond of a friend's Maine coon cat, a true character if there ever was one. But the belief that a living thing is a "collectible," like a piece of art or a rare vase, is more than a little misguided. It's the same kind of mind set that prompts some people to change pets when they have their home redecorated, looking for one that better matches the new decor. Such people exist, believe me.

"Artists work in paints; I work in genetics," is how one breeder sums up the process of developing a rare breed of cat. It's an interesting attitude, but nothing a month of working in the euthanasia room at the local shelter wouldn't change. What happened to the cats and kittens along the way whose genes weren't designer enough? Where did they go?

"There are 54 million cats in the United States today," says the magazine. "If you own a cat of which there are only two hundred in the world, you cannot help feeling honored when it climbs in your lap." People who share this belief are missing a very important point: Every pet is special, no matter which way their ears or coats curl. I always feel honored when one of my pets climbs into my lap, because each one is an individual, unique in personality and markings, like no other creature in the world. What could be more special than that?

And then there's the Neiman-Marcus Christmas catalog. At least this year the firm's annual paean to conspicuous consumption isn't selling live animals, as was the case in 1986 when a "California spangled cat," a rare breed that looks like a small leopard, was the big-ticket item. (There are still plenty of dead animals for fur fans, though.)