Persian and Angora Cats were described in “Animal Life and the World of Nature” (1902–1903): "There is no doubt that the Persian cat is the most delicate variety to keep. Perhaps it is that they suffer from good treatment, but whatever be the reason, it is an undoubted fact that they are very liable to attacks of enteric trouble, and those who take a fancy to keeping Persian cats must therefore make up their minds to diet them on sound lines. To begin with it is very undesirable to feed Persians on sweets and dainties; a little raw meat, fish (which must be perfectly fresh), milk, and brown bread which has been made palatable for them by being soaked with gravy - these may be regarded as the staple courses.

Of the several varieties of the Persian cat the two commonest are the tabby and the blue. There is a white variety (sometimes called the Angora), and there are various other colours, but on the whole it will be found that the best to keep is one of the quieter colours. They need constant attention to their coats in the way of grooming; but if a comb and soft brush be used regularly and the cat be not allowed to get the hair into a matted condition, this attention need not occupy many minutes a day."

“The Outline of Science” (circa 1923) edited by J Arthur Thompson contains “The Story of Domesticated Animals” (Chapter 36) with a short section on the ancestry and the different breeds of cats. "Stone Age man boasted no ‘household’ hence he had no cat. For the domesticated cat is before all’ things a ‘household’ animal, living idly, and rendering no service for the shelter afforded, save catching an occasional mouse - for sport. When civilisation had, so to speak, got into its stride, and man had an abiding resting-place, and started keeping ‘pets,’ the cat appeared. When its domestication actually began we do not know, but it had very definitely established itself with the ancient Egyptians of the XX (20th) Dynasty, that is to say about 1,000 BC. So much so that it had come to be regarded as a sacred animal and was embalmed at death, as witness the mummified cats in the British Museum.

Cats are far more stereotyped creatures than dogs. That is to say, they are by nature prone to go on, generation generation, with an almost machine-like precision in regard to their structural characteristics; and hence they offer no new features upon which the breeder might seize for the development of new types. This much is shown by the fact that after some 3,000 years of domestication we have still have few distinct breeds of cats. True, there are the tabby, and the tortoise-shell- which are nearly always female - black cats, and white cats; long-haired cats, strangely coloured Siamese cats, and cats with ‘bob-tails.’ But they are all cast in the same mould. differing only superficially; and this even though descended from several distinct but closely related wild ancestors, of which the Egyptian wild cat may be taken as the type.

There is one point about our domesticated cats which is not only extremely interesting but also very puzzling and this concerns the pattern of the coat. which presents two quite distinct types. In the one the head is longitudinally and the body transversely striped, after the fashion of the European wild cat and the Egyptian cat. In the other the body is marked by broad bands, roughly spiral, on the flanks. This type represents the true ‘tabby’: the word having reference to the well-known pattern of watered silk. Cats of all colours may be thus marked. Even when the two types are crossed the several members of the litter will present both types but no suspicion of blending - some will be striped and some will be ‘tabbies.’ No explanation of these very striking differences seems possible."

[Note: the chapters were written by different authors; the author of this section evidently believed in the theory of “blending” traits. Elsewhere in the book there is a discussion of Mendelian inheritance which easily explains the inheritance of the 2 different types of tabby!]

In 1926, Cat Gossip editor H C Brooke noted that at a cat show in Lille there were classes for "Short-hair Persians" (chats persans a poil ras) as well as the normal Long-hair classes. Brooke wondered how "Short-hair Persians" were distinguished from ordinary Short-hairs. In those days, the Persian had not yet become the flat-faced creature we see today and might have been termed a "British Longhair".

Evelyn Buckworth-Herne-Soame, author of "Cats: Long-Haired and Short, Their Breeding, Rearing and Showing" (1933), wrote of breeding for colour: "In breeding pedigree cats of different colours, the first thing to remember is to mate colour to colour - cream to cream, black to black, and so on. ... Anyone owning a tortoiseshell female or queen, as we call them in the fancy, will find her a positive bundle of charms, for she produces kittens of several colours - reds, creams, blacks, and tortoise-shells - in fact, the colours contained in her own brightly patched coat. But again, her kittens must mate with studs of their own particular colour."

Of the Tortoiseshell and White Persian, she says "This is a most picturesque and fascinating variety. It is a great pity there are not more of them. Fanciers are hampered in having none, or very few, males of the species or I am certain the breed would go ahead very quickly." Black and Whites, or Magpies were described as "So scarce that shows never give a class for them, thus making things difficult for anyone trying to work the breed up. At present, black and whites have to be entered in the 'Any Other Colour' Class." while "A Smoke is one of the most handsome cats living; he is also very strong and very affectionate. His light silver undercoat is all tipped with black, while his frill, flanks and ear tufts show up pale and silvery against his body coat. His face , head and paws must be jet black. Add to these points his grand copper eyes, and no more charming variety of longhair cat can be found. One of the chief failings in this charming variety is tabby marking on the face."

Of the Abyssinian, then growing in popularity, Buckworth-Herne-Soame quoted H C Brooke's earlier works. As well as writing his own pamphlet on the breed, Brooke contributed to Frances Simpson's 1903 "Book of the Cat" and his views are detailed in the retrospective article covering the 19^th Century to the turn of the 20^th Century.

Capt W H Powell, cat fancier and experienced judge, wrote of the Abyssinian in 1938: "There is no other breed of cat against which nothing can be laid in the way of disparagement. The coat of the Persian requires constant attention and the shortness of his nose renders him liable to sniffles. The Siamese is immune from the coat trouble, but even its most ardent admirers must sometimes wish her vocal powers were less well developed. The quiet, unassuming Abyssinian combines all the good points and none of the failings of his more widely advertised relations." Of the controversial "Silver Abyssinian" (or Chinchilla Abyssinian as it was also known) he wrote "I hope it will never again be allowed in the show pen."

A Mrs H W Basnett's contribution to "Fur, Feather, Rabbits and Rabbit Keeping" (1938) read "The typical Abyssinian has a long, lithe body, showing well-developed muscular strength, and the beauty of the long, fine head is accentuated by luminous, almond-shaped eyes. The whole head is set off by large ears, broad at the base, which, while matching the feet and legs in colour, are tipped with a darker shade. The coat is short and close-lying, of a rich, tawny brown colour, and instead of being striped or barred, each hair is 'ticked' with black or brown, i.e., two or three bands of colour on each hair being preferable to a single ticking'. The feet and legs must be clean colour, free of barring and toning with the body colour, whilst the under parts of the body should preferably be an orange-brown to harmonise with the main colour."

Of the Siamese, another of the earliest cat breeds, Ida M. Mellen, American authority on cats and author of the "Practical Cat Book" (1939) wrote "Although this cat generally is referred to as the Royal, and even as the Sacred Siamese, it is the common cat of Siam, just as the Manx, equally an aristocrat, is the common cat of the Isle of Man." Dr. Hugh M. Smith, Adviser in Fisheries to His Siamese Majesty's Government between 1923 and 1934 had written to Mellen: "There are no "palace" cats in Siam. There are no "royal" cats, although the strikingly marked creatures would be the natural ones to be kept in palaces. Any person can have a Siamese cat, and as a matter of fact there are many people outside the palaces and many foreigners who keep such cats as household pets. There are no "temple" cats. The Buddhist priests, who do not live in the temples but in special buildings in the temple grounds, may keep cats, as they do dogs. A Siamese prince whom I know very well was visiting in London and was interviewed by one of the thousands of Siamese cat fanciers there. He told her there were more Siamese cats in London than in all Siam."

There was also the curious experiments of crossing of Siamese cats with Persians and even with tabbies as detailed in "Siamese-Persian Cats" by Clyde E. Keeler and Virginia Cobb, "Journal of Heredity" v. 27. No. 9. Sept. 1936, and "Crosses with Siamese Cats" by K. Tjebbes, Journal of Genetics, V. 14. p. 335, 1924. He noted that in 1939 when Ida M. Mellen reported these facts in her "Practical Cat Book" the experiments were still proceeding.

The following guide to the recognised breeds dates from around 1938 and is from the USA; it omits the Abyssinian:

"All cats that are popularly kept as pets fall into two groups, short-haired cats and long-haired. The domestic cats of the United States-the common cats of our homes and high- cats ways-are short haired. Two distinctive varieties, the Manx and the Siamese, are also short haired. The long-haired type includes the Persians. There are fourteen recognized colours, or combinations of colours, for long-haired cats, and the same number for shorthaired cats. Among the domestic short-hairs, and among the Persians, a particular colour will often give a name to a cat, such as: tortoise-shell cats, chinchilla cats, calico cats, silver tabbies, smokes, Maltese (often called "blues"), etc. So a difference in name may not mean a difference in race; the same breed of cats has several names. Only the Siamese has its own individual colour standard.

DOMESTIC CAT: Despite the fact that this cat's breeding may be a complete mystery, the common domestic cat must meet as many standards as the Persians when entering the cat shows. This speaks rather well for domestic pussies, since large numbers of them reach fame by the show route. But more important than possible show rating is the domestic cat's value as a friend and workman. Adversity has given this cat much strength and endurance, and a tough constitution. Probably originating in stock descended from the nearly deified cats of Egypt, the domestic cat today is often a fellow who works for a living. Whether on farm or shipboard, in the United States Treasury or in your own home, this is the cat that plagues the rats and mice the world over. Well cared for in your home it will be as courteous and presentable as any cat with an impressive pedigree.

MANX: This is the short-haired cat without a tail that has become almost as well known in porcelain and bronze as it is in its own lush fur. Good resident of the Isle of Man for many years, the Manx cat has now become so rare it cannot be exported from the Isle. The Manx is an amiable, intelligent cat, one much sought as a companion. However, it is unusual to see one in a home, even in Europe. The Manx never had a tail. Writers have prepared many tales to explain this fact, but it continues to be a mystery. When it runs, the Manx has a gait more like a rabbit than a cat. The Manx is an ideal pet for persons who want a decidedly individual cat.

SIAMESE: Picturesque, formal, this handsome cat is an all weather aristocrat. It is the chosen temple and palace cat of the ruling Siamese class, and takes its name from Siam. The face, ears, feet, and tail are usually a warm seal brown, while the body is a pale fawn colour shading off to cream on the chest. There are blue Siamese, but you won't see one in a blue moon. Perhaps it has been the cat's association with royalty that has inspired in the Siamese a tendency to be demanding and to require more personal attention than other breeds. Basically the Siamese is a competent cat. Sometimes it is a bit vocal, but it has a warm temperament and is as capable of bestowing affection on a human being as any other good variety of cat. Until a few years ago the Siamese was rare in this country; now it has a large following and is seen regularly at cat shows.

PERSIANS: The Persian is the most widely owned variety of "show cat" in the United States. In its present form the Persian represents a cross between the Angora and the Persian of an earlier day. However, since most of the Angora characteristics were dropped in favour of what the Persian had to contribute to the cross in the first place, the name Persian can be honestly continued for this variety. Properly kept, a Persian is a gorgeous pet. Any thought that these luxurious cats are lazy or difficult to keep healthy may be disregarded. The Persian has a sturdy constitution. His one hazard is his long coat of hair which, combined with his habit of self-grooming, may bring about the formation of hair balls in his stomach. Regular care of the Persian's coat will eliminate this danger […]may not make good mousers because this cat takes such Persian pride in its appearance that it will not risk getting dirty in the pursuit of a mouse. "

Other, less common, breeds existed. The Khmer was a French breed recorded since the 1920s and reportedly brought to Paris from Indochina by 2 French servicemen. It appears to have died out in the 1930s although cats known in France as Khmers were described as late as 1966. In some respects (including the story of its origin) it resembled a Birman and in others it resembled a colourpoint Persian.

H C Brooke, foremost breeder of Abyssinian cats for many years, was Vice-President of the Abyssinian Cat Club when he wrote this description of the breed and its history. At the same time, he condemned cat fanciers for their lack of interest in breed histories and their excessive interest in exhibiting.

It is with genuine regret that I have to state that it has been impossible, even though some years ago I appealed for the help of some of the oldest members of the Fancy, to discover any really satisfactory facts regarding the history of this beautiful and interesting breed in this country. The fact is deplorable, and I cannot but regard it as typical of the want of deep interest in matters apart from mere breeding and exhibiting, which is so noticeable in the Cat Fancy. I could give other instances, which, however, would rather be out of place here.

In my opinion, and in that of certain eminent Continental Zoologists, the Abyssinian Cat may be regarded as the nearest approach to the Sacred Cat of Ancient Egypt now existing. (Sad to say [...] I am not aware that any English naturalists have turned their attention to this eminently interesting breed.) From the various mural and other paintings which have been preserved to us from the days of the Pharaohs, we see that the most common coloration of the domestic cat in Egypt some three thousand years ago, was much that of the African Wild Cat of to-day: that is to say, rather lightly striped in the manner of the tiger, not with the heavier longitudinal markings we usually call "Tabby." When and where and how the true tabby markings originated I cannot say, and I doubt if anyone knows.

A foreign scientist of some eminence wrote a few years ago that he considered the tabby [stripy] pattern to be latent in all domestic cats but the Siamese, and with this opinion I quite concur, though I am sure not only breeders of Abyssinians, but also of [shorthair] Blues, would be very thankful were it not the case. I have examined several dozen skins of the African Wild Cat, which has received so many names in every language. (Fettered, Egyptian and Caffre Cat, it has been called in English; in Latin it has borne yet more synonyms), and whilst the large majority have been the common grey lightly striped form, there have been others which in gradation lead up to the Abyssinian as we know it.

As far as I have been able to ascertain, the first specimen of the Egyptian or African Cat to be described was the female mentioned by Rueppel, under the name of "Smallfooted Cat" (F maniculata) in his "Atlas zu der Reise in Noerdlichen Afrika". It appears to show some of the characteristics we demand in the Abyssinian: small size: "Its size is that of a middle-sized domestic cat, and smaller than the European Wild Cat by one third: all the proportions of its limbs are on a smaller scale"; colour: "Ochreous, darker on the back" (c.f. the "eel-stripe"). The illustration shows an ochreous coloured cat, with slight markings on tail, limbs, and face - just, as we find in inferior Abyssinians. This cat was found in Nubia.

At the present day, in the Natural History Museum, is to be found a small Surdanese Wild Cat (F ocreata), of a rusty-red colour, slight in build, with slender limbs, and lightly marked on tail and legs. It reminds one at once of a certain Abyssinian Champion, whose colour is admirable but who fails in "ticking". In the specimens I have studied, I have been able to observe how the striping in some individuals degenerates into indistinct spotting, the spotting in its turn degenerates in certain specimens into a sort of mottling - an impression also given by some inferior Abyssinians - and then we get the plain unmarked specimens, with more or less ticking. I failed to find any well-ticked skins at the British Museum, but at the great Wembley Exhibition I saw a number of African Wild Cat skins exhibited by a firm of furriers, almost identical with our Abyssinians. The "foreign" type we prefer in this breed is apt to appear and become more or less fixed in any variety in which we selectively breed with small, slender, and elegant specimens, in preference to those of a cobby or massive build.

In the accompanying illustrations I show the gradations in the African Wild Cat of to-day from the faintly spotted form to the faintly mottled, well-ticked, modern Abyssinian type; and in the papyrus painting, over 2.000 years old, of an Ancient Egyptian Cat, we find the brown body with barred legs and tail of the third rate Abyssinian of today, the belly being of an ochreous yellow, such as we look for in a brown Abyssinian.

As I remarked above, it has been impossible to obtain details as to the early history of the breed in this country, though surely it should have been possible to ascertain when the breed first received official recognition, when it was first catered for at Shows, who were the first exhibitors, and so forth. Some details as to the early exhibits would also have been of great interest. The earliest reference I have seen is that made in one of the late Dr. Gordon Stables' books, "Cats, their points, etc." (1882). The cat therein portrayed is described as being the property of Mrs. Barrett Lennard, and as having been brought from Abyssinia at the conclusion of the Abyssinian War. The portrait, however, is not instructive, as it resembles no Abyssinian Cat that I have ever seen, but I judge this to be due to poor colour printing. In the quaint "Book of Cats" (CH Ross, 1867) no description is given, but we find this statement: "In Abyssinia cats are so valuable that a marriageable girl who is likely to come in for a cat is looked upon as quite an heiress".

When The Cat Club was doing its best to ruin The National Cat Club, nearly thirty years ago, it dropped the title of Abyssinian from its Register, and inserted instead "Ticks". At that time what we must call "British Ticks", often also known as "Bunny Cats", were far more common in various parts of the country than they are now; these cats were usually as well ticked as any Abyssinian, though some had a "mottled" appearance. Mr Louis Wain was very fond of them, and obtained for me two or three nice specimens from various parts of the country. Their ground colour was usually a dark grey or blackish grey; they had heads of a pronounced "British" type, and heavily barred legs and tails. At that time the Abyssinian seemed to stand in danger of becoming extinct; of the few that existed many were shy breeders, kittens were difficult to rear, and these British Ticks made a useful outcross. It is remarkable how they crop up in different parts from time to time from ordinary "garden cat" parents; this, I think, is undoubtedly a reversion to ancient type. About five years ago I saw a fine male in the possession of the caretaker of a Public Hall in North London; there is a charming little queen in a cottage near here which appeared in an ordinary mixed litter of kittens belonging to a Taunton draper.

A few years ago an extraordinary and beautiful form appeared amongst those owned by Sir William Cooke; in these the ground colour was creamy white, but the ears and dorsal stripe showed the rabbit-coloured fur so characteristic of the breed. Unhappily this lovely mutation was allowed to die out, and at present I only know of one existing specimen. The eyes of these cats were blue. To me it is very saddening to think that apathy has been responsible for the loss of several charming varieties of cats, and when we consider how any interesting or pretty mutation appearing in Rabbits, Mice, or Rats is eagerly fostered, I feel the Cat Fancy has little cause for pride. The fact that this Albinism appeared progressively shows that it was not, as has been suggested, due to a chance Siamese cross.

Probably the best Abyssinians ever seen in this country were Sedgemere Bottle and Sedgemere Peaty, the property of Mr. Sam Woodiwiss. They were, as far as I know, not related, and if this be the case it is really remarkable how two such specimens were obtained. They were very much the colour of a hare. Peaty ended her days in my possession, and I have always regretted not having preserved her skin, to at least retain her glorious colour, though her beautiful sinuous form and delicate limbs can hardly be imagined by those who have not seen her.

About thirty years ago some very good Abyssinians were shown by the late Mr. Heslop, of Darlington; Mrs. Alice Pitkin also exhibited some fair specimens, many of hers, however, being too dark and "British Ticks" in type. Later Mrs. Clark, of Bath, possessed many excellent specimens. I bred quite a number at that period, perhaps the best being Chelsworth Peaty, who greatly interested Queen Alexandra, then Princess of Wales, when I exhibited her, suckling a ferret, at a Botanic Gardens Show. I sent quite a number to Continental menageries and fanciers; early in the century, however, I gave up all dog and cat breeding, and left London for the West Country to devote myself entirely to hunting. Had not Mrs Carew-Cox about this time devoted herself to the breed I very much fear it would, ere now, have become extinct. Neglected [...] by the Fancy at large in an inconceivable manner, this beautiful and interesting breed certainly owes its existence today mainly to the devoted care and affection bestowed upon it by Mrs Carew-Cox, who for a quarter-of-a-century has fostered it in the face of discouragements which I verily believe would have "choked off" any other person in the Fancy. Not for her the "big business" in stud fees, the "queued-up" queens, the cups and specials galore, which fall to the lot of many [Longhair] breeders; no, in the face of rotten judging, lack of recognition, poor prizes, lack of market, and a heartbreaking mortality in kittens, this plucky lady has carried the Abyssinian flag triumphantly through. She cannot (or modestly will not?) tell me how many champions she has bred since some thirty odd years ago she fell in love with the first specimen she saw at an hotel at Winscombe, Somerset, where they were said to have been left by one who had been a traveller in "furrin parts". Incidentally, I may mention that a good many years back Mrs Carew-Cox published a couple of letters from a gentleman who had been shooting in Abyssinia, and who stated that he had there shot a pair of wild cats, whose skins he brought to England, and which seemed from the description to correspond in every way with our present-day exhibition specimens.

To conclude, I will now give a description of the characteristics of this lovely breed.

The general appearance of the Abyssinian is that of a rather small and very elegantly built cat, with graceful slender limbs, elegant head, with rather large ears and lustrous eyes. What is commonly called in the Fancy the "British type" is here out of place; we do not want round short head, small ears, cobby build, powerful limbs. Of course, to those who can see no beauty in a cat which has not a head like a Pekinese the Abyssinian will not appeal, and I have read descriptions by such people referring to the Abyssinian as "gaunt" and "half -starved looking". As a matter of fact, any person capable of appreciating truly graceful lines and sinuous and elegant shape in the Cat, will admit that in this respect the Abyssinian has but one rival, to wit, the Siamese. The most usual colour of the Abyssinian very strikingly resembles that of a wild rabbit, in fact I have known many whose fur could not be distinguished from that of the rabbit, when placed side by side, until carefully examined, when it is seen that the fur of the rabbit is grey near the skin (under colour), whilst that of the cat is, or should be, rufous. The "ticking" is a most essential property in the Abyssinian, and is caused by blackish, or dark brown, tips to the hair. Some - the best ticked - have about threequarters of the length of each hair rufous, then two, or three, bands of brown or orange shades, the darkest being at the tip. Others have merely the rufous base and the dark tip. The under-colour should always be as bright and clear as possible, not a dull lifeless brown, which much detracts from the beauty of the cat.

Some years ago there were a number of so-called "Silver-Abyssinians" in existence. I regard silver as an absolutely alien colour to the breed, and though there would have been no harm done if these silvers had been kept to themselves, I cannot but think that they did an infinity of harm to the breed, by introducing a grey tinge into the coat, with the result that the beautiful ruddy tinge which we used to see in the cats of long ago, is now apparently lost to us. How they originated, or whether any cross was made use of to obtain them, I do not know. I am not aware if any Silvers exist now; personally I hope not, though some may not agree with me in this matter. Brown of a warm tint is evidently recognised by the older writers as the real Abyssinian colour, and I think Harrison Weir, writing in 1882, is the first to mention "Silvers", which he does as a sort of afterthought, referring to them as a new variety. For a while, some judges seemed to go crazy about them. Some Abyssinians are far more grey in general appearance, and in others the predominating tint is rufous. We find the same difference in the Wild Rabbit, whose coat so closely resembles that of these cats. Some greyish looking cats have yet a lovely ruddy undercoat. But to give a general impression of the colour we should strive for in these cats - though it seems non-existent nowadays - it is hard to improve upon the comparison with the Hare or Belgian Hare, dear to the older writers.

Absence of markings, i.e., bars on head, tail, face, and chest, is a very important property in this breed. Those places are just where, if a cat or other feline animal shows markings at all, they will hold their ground to the last with remarkable pertinacity. The less marking visible the better; at the same time, the judge must not attach such undue importance to this property, that he fails to give due importance to others. For instance, it does not follow that an absolutely unmarked cat, but of "cobby" build, failing in ticking and colour, is, on account of absence of marking, better than a cat of slender build, well-ticked, and of nice colour, but handicapped by a certain amount of "barring" on legs or tail. The belly fur is not ticked as on the rest of the body, and should be free from spots or stripes; the colour should be a light brown, matching the other parts.

Much has been said for and against the "eel-stripe" - the darkish line which in some specimens runs down the centre of the back. Personally I am indifferent; but, if allowable, it is certainly not to be regarded as a racial characteristic. (For the simple reason that all breeds tend to have a darker line down the back, which in some is an absolute defect; in the case of the Abyssinian it is not objectionable, and is approved by some people.) A little black tail tip seems to me to give a nice finish; the heels are also black. Ears large and open, and a blackish or dark brown tip to the ear is desirable. The head looks slender and pointed, but not of the wedge-shape or "marten-face" sought for in the Siamese. The heads of old males naturally tend to be more massive and round than we wish to see in the case of females and young males. Eyes: These should be large and lustrous, of a kind expression; more oval than in the "British" cat. As regards colour, I prefer a bright green, personally, but a nice amber eye is certainly preferable to a "greenery-yallery", washed-out looking eye. White marks of any kind, such as on chest, throat, or toes, taboo in show specimens. The colour of the paws should be of a very delicate yellowish brown tinge, harmonising with the general colour scheme.

The character of the Abyssinian is usually very gentle, rather shy, not taking readily to strangers, but very affectionate. In short, it is one of the most charming and interesting varieties we have, and it has time and again been shown that a really good Abyssinian can usually be relied upon to do pretty well when it comes to judging the "mixed special prizes" at Shows.

In 1927, judge Mrs Basnett reported on the Paris Cat Show held on 14^th and 15^th of January by the Cat Club de France and wrote, " Looking through my catalogue I saw a class marked 'Chats de Chartreux,' which did not appear to be a breed known in England, so I went round to find out what they were and was told 'The American cat' - and concluded that nobody was quite sure as another owner said they were Maltese."

Mrs Basnett also wrote "The Sacred Burmese Temple Cats interested me very much, with their long fur on the tail and coat resembling that of a poorly bred Persian; their colouring is exactly like that of the Siamese, but their feet sometimes have white toes. I was given to understand that they are very difficult to rear, only about one in ten survive. I do not think they possess the same quick movements as the Siamese, life to them seems much more dreamy and slow, but they are very loving and intelligent." This clearly referred to the Birman; confusingly the name Burmese Temple Cat was also used at that time for the gold-eyed brown Thai cats analogous to modern Burmese or brown Orientals.

In 1927, Mrs Amy Lawrence wrote "In the Natural History Museum [South Kensington, London] there is an enormous cat which is said to be a 'Russo-Persian' cat. It has an immense coat, and is similar in every way to a Persian long-hair, except that it is larger than any specimen I have ever seen. An old uncle of mine possessed what HE called a Russian cat, also a long-hair with immense coat and very large." However the only "Russian" cats Mrs Lawrence had seen at cat shows was the small short-haired Russian Blue that looked like a blue Siamese cat! Her uncle's huge Russian cat had been a tabby.She wondered "Do Blue Russians really come from Russia, and if so, then where do those immense long-hairs come from, and why were they called Russians even by Museum authorities?"

In 1926, Dr Jumaud's book "Les Races des Chats" (The Breeds of Cats), which was based largely on the works of Professor Cornevin of Lyons, described the Carthusian cat (felis catus carthusianorum) and Tobolsk cat. The Carthusian was apparently the "Maltese cat" known the the Americans, though Jumaud's description referred to a large head with large, full eyes, short nose and small, erect ears. Its coat, he said, was half long and woolly and the colour was grey with bluish reflections. However, there was another variety of Russian cat known as the Tobolsk variety: "This variety, described by Gmelin, exists in Siberia, and is sometimes called the Tobolsk cat. It is larger than our common cat, and somewhat resembles the Carthusian in shape. The head is large, with big eyes, short nose, and small erect ears. Coat: as is fitting for an animal of a cold country, the Tobolsk cat has long fur, longer than that of the Chartreuse cat. Its texture is woolly, and in colour, uniformly reddish."

"He is only an alley cat, but we love him." One often hears people say this, or something like it, but it is a mistaken sense of values that leads anyone to speak apologetically of the household pet because it has short hair and no pedigree. For the domestic short-haired cat is a member of as good a breed and is as capable of development as is the Persian, the Manx, or the Siamese. But the Persians, the Manx, and the Siamese have the glamour of imported stock, whereas domestic short-haired cats have always been with us.

It is a proof of the amazing strength of the strain that among its strays and hoboes, cats without benefit of breeding, living as they can in holes and corners, one finds kittens that are really beautiful in colour and in build. One does not see many domestic short-hairs in shows, but ask any of the few exhibitors of such animals where their stock came from, and the answer usually is, "Oh, just a couple of cats that I picked up." A short-haired silver tabby that began life as a stray was second best cat in the largest show in New York City in 1934- It is interesting, too, to note the pure whites and blacks and Maltese among these so-called alley cats. Breeders take great pains to preserve purity of colour in Persians, yet nature does it for the shorthairs without any fuss at all.

What was the origin of the cat? Darwin declared that he had never been able to determine with certainty whether these animals were descended from several distinct species or had only been modified by occasional crosses. As far back as we know there were many varieties; chief among them the Asiatic cats, including the Persians, the Angoras, and the Siamese, and the European cat, now known as the domestic short-haired cat. As to the beginnings of the latter there is one theory that I like to believe, and it is as reasonable as the next one. When I see a neglected alley cat I like to think, "Long before the Christian era your forefathers were worshiped as gods." Not that this is any comfort to a hungry cat, but it seems to invest the poor thing with a sort of dignity to reflect that it derives from the sacred cats of Egypt.

Richard Lydekker is one authority who holds this view. In the Library of Natural History which he edited and part of which he wrote he says, after mentioning that the ancient Egyptians tamed and trained the wild caffre cat, "We are inclined to follow those who consider the caffre cat the original parent stock of the domesticated cats of Europe." These cats are supposed to have entered Europe by way of Gibraltar. Probably most of them were undomesticated wanderers, but it is a fair guess that some of the sacred cats, bored perhaps by attending goddesses, joined the emigrants. Many reached England and settled there, and, cats being great sailors, their invasion of America was only a question of time. It is thought they may have been modified by mating with native wild cats in the north of England, but not much, for the caffre cat in Asia and Africa is about the size of one of our domestic cats and looks not unlike them.

At any rate there is the theory, and here are our cats. Despite the indifference of breeders, the standard for domestic short-haired cats is pretty well fixed in England and the United States, and the show rules of cat fanciers' associations include classifications for them. I do not know that shows are good things for our house pets. If you love your cat you don't need a judge to tell you its qualities, and a cat who has always been a homebody is likely to find the crowds and excitement and strain of an exhibition rather terrifying. However, blue ribbons do lend prestige, and a wider participation in shows would at least give our humble alley cats a better social position.

Domestic short-hairs must conform in colour of coat and eye colour to the standards laid down for long-hairs. These you will find in the chapter on Shows, and Long-hair Standards. One must not expect to see in domestic cats the delicate shades that breeding has produced in the Persians, but there are handsome silver tabbies, brown tabbies, orange tabbies, and tortoise-shells, as well as blacks, whites, and blues. I have heard tortoiseshell cats, with their Joseph's coats of black, orange, and cream, called calico cats in American rural districts. Our short-haired blues are generally known as Maltese. Eye colour is largely a result of selection, and shorthairs are seldom perfect in this respect, but I once picked up a stray Maltese kitten who had the brilliant copper eyes of a Persian blue. Attached to the Washington Square Book Shop in New York City is a beautiful yellow short-hair with eyes of a warm yellow, matching his coat. I don't know how he would be listed in a show, but if good looks and good manners merit a prize he could compete with any thoroughbred, unpedigreed though he is.

In their build the short-haired cats differ signally from the Persians. They are more slender, more lithe, and more vigorous-more like the feline creatures of the wild. Their noses are longer, their heads less round, their ears more upstanding. The standard requires a well-knit and powerful body, a deep chest, and a tail rather thick at the base, tapering toward the tip, and carried level with the body. The coat must be heavy but not cottony, and any sign of a long-hair bar sinister is fatal to success in the short-haired classes. Cats with lockets of a contrasting colour under the chin are denied winners' ribbons.

Our domestic cats are the Cinderellas of their race, sitting in chimney corners and doing the mouse-catching of the house while the Persians go about getting themselves in the cats' social register. But they are also adventurous. It is mostly the common cats who go down to the sea in ships and who patrol the farms and stores of the world for rats. They are very practical pets. You may not be able to purchase a pedigreed cat, but you can always find a short-haired kitten that needs a home. They have an intelligence which has been sharpened through many generations by the necessity of scrambling for a living, but hardships have not marred their native courtesy. Meet a cat on the street and it hardly ever fails to rise, to bow, and to utter a polite "P-r-r-t!" of greeting-except, of course, the poor strays whose experiences have made them distrust humanity.

The life that has stimulated their wits has also given them a heritage of terror and uncertainty. It is rather pathetic to see how this uncertainty will show in adopted strays in an abnormal anxiety about dinner. Whereas the Persians whose lives have always been safe are like Hafiz, the cat in George Eliot's Daniel Deronda, who sat calmly watching the family at the tea table, "regarding the whole scene as an apparatus for supplying his allowance of milk."

ABOUT PERSIANS AND ANGORAS (1936)

In the beginning there were Persian cats, brought to Europe and America from Smyrna and other ports on the Oriental coast, and Angora cats, from the mountainous Turkish province of Angora. The Persians had silky, uniformly long and abundant coats, and broad heads; the Angoras had narrow heads, and their hair was longest on the stomach, pendent like that of the goats of their native country. Interbreeding has made the two one, and the official term is now "long-haired cat." Round heads, wide-set eyes, firm legs, cobby bodies, and long, fine, even hair have been the objectives of most breeders, and it is the Persian characteristics that are strongest in the best long-hairs today. The narrow Angora head is considered a blemish and is seen only in the poorer specimens of the breed.

The captains and crews of trading vessels that plied between the Orient and our Atlantic ports brought the first long-haired cats to this country. They throve best in Maine, probably because of the cold climate, and today in Boothbay Harbor and other Maine coast towns long-hairs are as common as short-hairs are in most parts of the United States. They are known as Maine coon cats, and there is a legend that the Adam and Eve of the tribe were brought here by a certain Captain Coon and got the name from him; but I have not been able to run Captain Coon's record to earth. The generally accepted theory is that some old Maine farmer who saw an animal with a broad head and a bushy tail in his poultry yard and at first supposed it to be a raccoon but found it was a cat, first gave the name.

But these coon cats were never show stock. The marvellous, proud, long-haired beauties who take awards in American shows were mostly imported (they or their progenitors) from England by breeders. In the Mauve Decade and the early part of this century the cat vogue flourished in England and Scotland; and the Champion family, Miss Elsie G. Hydon, Miss Evelyn Langston, and other scientific breeders produced some fine Persian blues, chinchillas, silvers, tabbies, and other varieties of the long-haired cat. Some of these breeders emigrated to the United States with their cats; Americans took up breeding, sales increased, cat societies sprang up, shows multiplied . . . . and then came the World War, and put an end to this, as to so many pleasant things.

It is only in recent years that the interest in cats in England and America has begun to revive, and there is little pecuniary gain in breeding them now. People have not the money they once had to pay for pedigreed animals, and it costs money, in stock, in overhead, in care, and in food, to raise thoroughbred cats. It is fortunate that there are breeders who are true cat-lovers and are content to work for small profits because they do love their cats and take delight in developing the best. And there never were Persians like those of today. Even Miss Carroll Macy's King Winter, the grand chinchilla who was the sensation of cat shows twenty-odd years ago (I can still see him sitting royally in his silk-lined cage with his hundreds of trophies from former shows for a background)-even he would probably go down, in a battle of points, before some of the champions exhibited now.

The story of experiments in pigmentation, of controlled matings by which the many colours and shades of colours of long-haired cats have been developed, is too long to be told here. Of all the colours the blues are by far the most popular. I do not know how they started, but Mr. C. A. House, a veteran English judge of cats, suggests in his book, "Our Cats and All About Them", that they derive from Russian blues, cats with thick short fur, like plush, that were first brought to England from Archangel by sailors. Harrison Weir, the artist, who wrote the first cat book (I believe) and got up the first cat show (it was in the Crystal Palace in London more than half a century ago) declared that the blues were just a variant of the blacks. The earlier blues had a dark streak along the spine, but the fanciers worked hard to eliminate this and produced the true, even, lavender blue which is the ideal today.

I love the blues, I suppose because mine were blues; they had the same grandfather that Miss Hydon's first American cats had - Siegfried, a magnificent male raised by Miss Shirley Turner and Miss Elsie Bunker on the Bunker farm in Merrick, Long Island, where my cats now lie in a wood beside the pond where Siegfried took occasional swims in hot weather. Siegfried went to California, and is buried there, but his descendants are many in the land. He was a brave cat, but very fatherly, not at all above tending baby kittens when their mother went gallivanting. But Siegfried's title to excellence was not so much in his coat, though that was very fine, as in his build and expression. Fine coats do not always make fine cats, and a Persian with beautiful hair may be inferior in bone formation. In choosing a Persian kitten one should remember that the important points are the massive build and the sweet expression which properly set eyes give to a good long-hair.

Many people think that Persians are lofty and indifferent, and they do often seem that way in shows, but who would not? We would be bored and haughty if we were set up in cages with an endless procession of cats walking by us, making personal remarks about us, carrying us to and fro to judge our points. It is an evidence of the amiability of cats that they so seldom go berserk in shows. There is an impression, too, that Persians are delicate and rather lazy, that they are not good mousers, that they are like the lilies of the field that toil not. But I have found that Persians have hearts that are just as stout, under their fluffy attire, as that of any short-haired alley cat. It may be that their digestion requires special care, but my long-hairs were no more susceptible to disease than my short-hairs. Of course a Persian hobo does look a wretched creature, just as a two-legged down-and-outer whose clothes came originally from Bond Street or Fifth Avenue looks more forlorn than one in overalls or a Mother Hubbard.

The few Persian strays I have known showed good stuff. Take Black Pussy. On a sleety day two winters ago Robert Claiborne, a New Yorker who likes cats, picked up a draggled, emaciated one on Third Avenue and took him home. He was indeed almost at the last gasp, but he was not whining; he faced adversity with head unbowed. Washed and brushed, fed and petted, he bloomed out into a handsome, urbane Persian, sinking gratefully into the lap of luxury. I suppose he was returning to his original cycle. Then came another cycle. Mr. Claiborne sailed for the Virgin Islands and took Black Pussy along. Armed with a clean bill of health from the Speyer Hospital, the cat passed quarantine and took up his duties with his master's firm, the Virgin Islands Fruit Products Company in St. Thomas.

There were huge rats in the warehouse. Black Pussy cleared them out, and a sight it was to see him, with his tail like a plume, bringing down a rat almost as large as himself. Then he sought other game. No lizard or crab was too much for him, and once he killed a ten-inch centipede and brought it home. His cache was the top step of an old stone stairway, and there was quite a fuss when one of the negroes stepped barefooted on the centipede. But no negro dared molest Black Pussy, and in his favourite post, mounted on a sea wall near the warehouse entrance watching for crabs, he is a most effective watchcat.

He still hunts, and he has taken up sailing, though he does not try to handle the boat; he prefers to sit in the prow like a figurehead. He is fully aware of his decorative value. He lies for hours in the green caverns of the brushing coconut palms on a terraced roof, as if he knew he could not find a better background for his ebony self. I had an S O S from Black Pussy's master recently. The cat was indisposed, owing to eating lizards, which are not good for cats. I immediately mailed medicine, and though at first he retreated up a spreading grapevine to avoid it, he capitulated, came down, took his pill, and recovered.

Black Pussy is quite a conversationalist. He has a whole lexicon of miews, one for every occasion. His behaviour and his life are a complete proof that a Persian can be just as intelligent and as capable as any short-haired cat that ever lived.

In the autumn there begins a mighty grooming and conditioning of cats that have show possibilities, whether these be in fact or in the fancy of fond owners. For in November the cat-show season opens. Among the first shows in New York City are those held by the Cat Fanciers' Association, Inc., and the United Cat Clubs of America, Inc. Each of these organizations has many member clubs in the United States and Canada. There are other large societies, such as the Cat Fanciers' Federation and the American Cat Association, and all of these, and their member clubs, have shows through the autumn and winter. There are cat shows from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Maine to Florida, and naturally (for cat people are very human) each show is the biggest and best of its kind. Among the specialty clubs (those devoted to one breed) the Persian clubs far outnumber all others, and in exhibitions, except for those that are solely for other breeds, the long-hairs always predominate.

Shows are necessary to the cat fancy, as breeders in the aggregate are called, but I would not exhibit a pet cat. Old troupers may thrive on it, as movie stars do on the acclaim of the public; I knew one champion who when his travelling cage was put on the floor along with his trunk of trophies would step into it and settle down, ready for a journey to the far side of the continent perhaps. But a show is an ordeal for most home cats, and there is always the danger of infection where numbers of cats are gathered together. No matter how many precautions the show managers take, this peril does exist. If, however, you wish to exhibit your cats, a necessary preliminary is to register them with some recognized cat club, procure the club's show rules, and study the classifications and standards. Select the club that is sponsoring the show you mean to enter, for rules differ. If your cats have been well cared for, special conditioning is not necessary. A cat that is properly groomed and fed and kept happy is ready for a show any time, except in the hot months, when no cat's coat is at its best.

To condition a neglected cat, valet it every day according to the directions in the chapters On Grooming a Cat, Diseases of the Ears, and Diseases of the Eyes. No judge would admit a cat with a hint of cots in the hair or canker in the ears. To clean white cats there is a white fuller's earth, but well baked flour will answer. Of course it must be thoroughly brushed out of the hair. Plenty of nourishing food, and a half teaspoonful daily of cod-liver oil if it seems needed, will put your pet into the right physical condition.

Cats should not be fed before a journey, even a short one by automobile. At shows there is a feeding committee, and chopped beef is taken to the cages at regular times, but you may take your own food if you prefer. It is wise to stay by your pet during the show, in order to give it confidence and guard it against any possible harm at the hands of some ill-advised visitor.

There are special carriers and crates to be had if one is sending a cat to a distant show, but if you ship a cat by railway you risk a tragedy. Once a cat and two kittens were sent from California to New York, and when the crate was opened the kittens were dead and the mother so near death that she had to be killed. Somehow the trainmen had overlooked the instructions about food and water. Even on short journeys accidents may happen. I knew of a Persian kitten whose cage was crushed, with the kitten inside, by the fall of express packages insecurely piled above.

But if shows have their risks they undoubtedly have their delights and their advantages. It is gratifying if your pet makes a win, and even if it fails you learn something from what the judges say. But show managers are canny. There is generally something, if no more than a ribbon, for every cat. And you can avoid a too crushing defeat by conning the standards closely and not entering your pet in a class where it obviously has no chance of success.

The long-hair standard demands a body that is low on the legs, deep in the chest, and massive across the shoulders and rump, with a short, well rounded middle piece. The head must be massive too, with a broad skull, and it must be well set on a neck that is not too long. The ears must be neat, round-tipped, and set well apart; the cheeks full and the jaws powerful; and the nose of the snub variety, and broad. The eyes must be large, full, round, very brilliant, and wide set, with that serene gaze which distinguishes the Persian cat. The back must be level, the legs thick and strong (the forelegs perfectly straight), and the paws large and compact. The rather short tail is slightly lower than the back, and must not trail when the cat walks. The hair must be long and fine over the entire body, and full of life, standing out fluffily; and the ruff should be immense. The brush must be full, and the ear tufts and toe tufts long and feathery. A "button" or a "locket" under the chin disqualifies a cat.

In-the Persian gamut the colours and combinations of colours are fourteen. The great point in a solid colour is that it shall be pure and even from the roots to the tip of the fur. Each has its right eye colour. White cats must not have any coloured hairs; the eyes are deep blue or deep orange. The blacks must be of a dense, coal black, with copper or orange eyes. The blues must be a real blue, and their eyes copper or orange. Red cats must be of a rich yet brilliant red, and the eyes copper or orange. A good chinchilla is of a pale, unshaded silver, with green eyes. Cream cats must be pure cream, free from markings; the eyes are copper or orange. The shaded silver cats are rather dark on the spine, shading gradually down the sides and face and tail to a very pale silver; the eyes are green. Smoke cats are black, shading to smoke ( a light undercoat and black points) with a silver frill and ear tufts; the eyes are copper or orange.

The body of a masked silver is chinchilla or shaded silver, with a black or dark silver face, and green eyes. Silver tabbies are a pale silver with broad black markings, and green eyes. The coat of the brown tabby has a tawny background, with broad black markings; the bars on the legs and tail are like rings, and on the chest they have the effect of necklaces. Copper eyes are best, but orange eyes are permitted. The red tabby has a coat with an even groundwork and markings of a deeper, richer red, patterned like those of the brown tabby; the eyes are copper, or a very deep orange. Tortoise-shell cats sport three colours, black, orange, and cream, and the colours are not brindled but in clearly defined patches. They have amusing noses, half black and half orange. The eyes are copper or orange. Last of all there are the blue creams, who have these two colours in patches, and copper or orange eyes.

Both Manx cats and domestic short-haired cats have the same standards of colour and eye colour as have the long hairs. Only the Siamese have their own special coats. The standards of build and body required for the three different short-hairs are described in the chapters on these breeds.

A cat may look at a king, but not many cats have the opportunity. Siamese cats for more than two hundred years have dwelt in the royal palaces at Bangkok and had kings, queens, princes, and princesses to look at. Those who did not live at court lived in temples and had priests to serve them. So they are not only royal but sacred, the modern prototype of the sacred cat of Egypt. Of course there have always been street cats in Siam, but they have kinks in their tails and do not count. The first Siamese cats to leave that country were two fine specimens that were given to some titled Englishwomen by the uncle of Prajadhipok, the recently abdicated king. They were much admired in England, and founded the line which soon became popular there, and, later, in America. The origin of the Siamese cats is obscure. They may have come from crosses between the sacred cats of Burma and the Annamite cats when the Siamese and the Annamese conquered the Burmese empire of the Khmers about three centuries ago.

The Burmese sacred cats were an ancient race of which little is known. It is said that they were like the Siamese in colour, but had splendid bushy tails and long hair [note: possibly the Birman, not the Burmese]. The Burmese, like the people of Siam, believed that the spirits of the dead dwelt within the sacred cats. I have seen in shows cats that were called Burmese, but I doubt if they were authentic. However, our best Siamese are genuine. King Prajadhipok must have had cats in his entourage when he last visited America, for he gave two to a New York woman during his stay. Siamese cats are like Prajadhipok. Though born to palaces they are very democratic and alertly interested in everything they see. A Siamese cat is more energetic and can be in more places at once than any other member of the Felis domesticus. I took my collie-setter Luddy to call on Frederick B. Eddy's Siamese in Red Bank, New Jersey, and he retired under a sofa with his tail to the world, disconcerted by a liveliness with which no mere dog could cope.

The number of Siamese cats in the United States is not large compared with the number of longhairs, but they are getting a good hold, and there is a flourishing Siamese Cat Society of America, which conducts its shows under the Cat Fanciers' Association of America. Its standard of points conforms to that of the Siamese-cat societies in England. True Siamese are medium in size, with a wellmuscled body, not fat, and very lithe and graceful in action. The head is wedge-shaped, long and narrow, the ears broad at the base and small at the apex and very neat and well-defined. The legs are rather thin and not long; the hind legs are slightly longer than the forelegs. The feet are somewhat smaller than those of the domestic short-haired cat. The tail is thin and tapering and not very long.

A good many people think that Siamese cats have kinked tails. So learned a commentator as M. Oldfield Howey asserts in his fascinating book, The Cat in the Mysteries of Religion and Magic, that the kinked tail has been a Siamese characteristic for two hundred years. There is a Siamese legend which says that somebody once tied a knot in a cat's tail to remind it of something (perhaps to leave the throne room backward) and the knot stayed. Another form of the story is that a princess strung her rings on her cat's tail while she bathed, and tied a knot to keep them from falling off. But the royal Siamese have no kinks. Any kinky-tailed Siamese in America were brought here by sailors who picked them up in the streets over there. Richard Lydekker in his Library of Natural History, after describing the "breed of cats in Siam reserved for royalty," adds, "Siam, together with Burmah, also possesses a breed known as the Malay cat, in which the tail is but half the usual length, and is often, through deformity in its bones, curled up tightly into a knot."

The coat of the Siamese is soft and short and glossy. The body is coloured a clear, pale fawn, the face is deep chocolate brown shading to fawn between the ears, and the ears, tail, legs, and feet are brown. Siamese kittens are born snow white, but the distinctive markings soon appear, and at one year of age these cats attain their loveliest contrast between the fawn and brown. After this they slowly darken. There is a blue-point Siamese in which the body is pale blue and the face, legs, and tail dark blue. Blue points are rare, a sort of "sport," but the Cat Fanciers' Association includes a class for them in its show rules. The pigmentation of the blue point is what is called recessive, and those who are curious about scientific breeding might be interested to know that if a seal point were bred to a blue point the darker colouring of the former would probably prevail in the kittens. The eyes of the royal Siamese are blue, and the better the cat, the darker are the eyes. In shape they are almost round, but with a slight Oriental slant toward the nose.

Devotees of the Siamese insist that they are the smartest cats in the world. But every cat-lover knows that his or her cat, be it Siamese or Persian or Manx or plain alley, is the smartest cat in the world.

The "Mystery of the ships and the magic of the sea" envelop the beginning of Manx cats, or rather the beginning of our knowledge of them. This does not extend very far into the past. By shipwreck they came to the Isle of Man, leaving their tails behind them, if they ever had any. The cats will not tell, but I do not think they mind their taillessness. The Manx cats I have known appeared well satisfied with themselves, and I could almost imagine them saying to tailed cats, "Why have a tail? You cannot catch mice with it, or fight with it, or wash your face with it. Its only function is to serve as a handle for naughty children to pull, or, if you are a mother, something for your kittens to play with just when you want to take a nap."

As to the value of a tail as an ornament, that of course rests in the eye of the beholder. It is a matter of taste. People who own and admire Manx cats think that a tail makes a cat look awkward, and that the animals of their chosen breed are much trimmer and more graceful than your finest tail-wavers, as Manx owners call cats with tails. But in a world where conformity is the thing, deviation from type requires explanation, and there have been many attempts to explain why the Manx has no caudal appendage. Most of them are just legends. There is an old rhyme which says that the cat was the last of all the animals to board the Ark, and so Noah, impatient to be off, slammed the door on its tail.

Said the cat, and he was Manx,
"Oh, Captain Noah, wait!
I'll catch the mice to give you thanks,
And pay for being late."
So the cat got in, but oh,
His tail was a bit too slow.

Another version holds Noah's dog responsible.

Noah, sailing o'er the seas,
Ran fast aground on Ararat.
His dog then made a spring and took
The tail from off a pretty cat.
Puss through the window quick did fly,
And bravely through the waters swam,
Nor ever stopp'd till high and dry
She landed on the Calf of Man.
Thus tailless Puss earn'd Mona's thanks,
And ever after was call'd Manx.

There are, however;' more factual accounts connecting Manx cats with shipwreck and the sea. An old Manx newspaper states that early in the nineteenth century an East County ship was wrecked on Jurby Point, and "a rumpy cat swam ashore." There is a tradition that there were tailless cats aboard the Spanish Armada, and that two of them, escaping to land from one of the vessels which was wrecked on Spanish Head, near Port Erin, began the propagation of the breed in the Isle of Man. Another story has it that the Adam and Eve of Manx cats were the survivors of a Baltic ship that went down off the coast of the Calf of Man.

But whether they came from the north or the south, the east or the west, they became identified with the quaint little island in the Irish Sea, a feature in its trade with tourists, and a part of its folklore. At the Jubilee Congress of the Folk Lore Society in London, in 1928, Miss Mona Douglas, in an address on animals in Manx lore, said that the Manx peasantry believed that the cats had a king of their own, a wily beast that pretended to be a demure house cat in the daytime, but at night travelled the lanes in awful state, wreaking vengeance on persons who were cruel to cats. They believed, too, that the fairies were friendly to cats, and that it was of no use to shut Puss in, or out of, the house at night, for the wee people would hasten to her assistance, and work their magic on doors and windows to gratify her will.

Naturally, with ships plying between the Isle of Man and England, tailless cats soon became common in Liverpool and other coast towns. They have never been taken up by fanciers as the Persians have, or the Siamese, and people who breed them seem to do it not so much for commercial reasons as for the love of them. There is a British Manx Cat Club, of which Miss Helen Hill Shaw is the secretary. Miss Shaw has bred tailless cats for forty years at her home in Surrey, and she has done more than almost anybody else to keep the strain pure. It has not been easy. "I never know what to expect in a litter," she wrote me. "Even when two pure Manx cats are mated, there will almost always be one or two kittens with stumps or even tails." This suggests a theory. May it not be that long ago some experimenter tried selective breeding with cats whose tails happened to be short, producing shorter and shorter tails until they were eliminated, and may not the tailed offspring of tailless cats be throwbacks to that time?

The absence of a tail is not the only distinguishing mark of a Manx. The standard of points set up by the British Manx Cat Club says that a very short back and very high hindquarters are essential, since "only with them do we get the true rabbity or hopping gait." The flanks must be deep, and the rump round, "as round as an orange." The coat is what is termed double, very soft and open like a rabbit's, with a soft thick undercoat of fur. The head should be large and round but not snubby like the Persian's, and the nose longer than a Persian's but not so long as that of the domestic short-haired cat. The cheeks are prominent, the ears broad at the base and tapering. As to colour, Manx cats are found in all colours known in the longhaired or the domestic short-haired breeds, but the colour is not so important as the formation. The taillessness must be absolute. Not even the merest bud of a tail is permitted, and many cats cherished by their owners as Manx would be disqualified in any show where the judges knew their business. In the pure Manx there is a slight hollow where the tail starts in other cats. A tuft of hair is not a bar sinister, but the hair must not conceal a stump, for a tail is no less a tail for being hidden.

Manx cats are very individual, very brave and active, and loyal and affectionate. Miss Shaw says that she once witnessed the reunion of a Manx cat and his mistress, from whom he had been parted for four years. "He recognized her at once, jumping on her knee and then on her shoulder and kissing her, and he made it very clear that if he could help it he would not be parted from her again." The cats in the Shaw home in Surrey live together in the greatest amity. They sleep cuddled up together, any number of them, of different generations, and never quarrel. "Home would not be home to us," their mistress says, "without the warm welcome of our little Manx family, headed by Champion Josephus, the latest of a long line of champions descended from the kittens I brought to England, forty years ago, from a girlhood visit to the Isle of Man."

Around the year 1820 a family named Hurley owned a large farm at the place now called Toms River, in New Jersey. The love of the sea was in their blood, and as the sons grew up they had their own sailing vessels, and adventured far and wide. And among the curiosities they brought back with them from their voyages were tailless cats from England, which, they said, came originally from the Isle of Man. That is the earliest account I have of Manx cats in America. On the large Hurley farm the breed grew and flourished exceedingly, and when a son or daughter married and moved to another part of the country a pair of Manx cats went along as part of the dowry. Farmer Hurley's descendants and the descendants of his tailless cats have come down through the years together, and today his great-great-granddaughter breeds cats of this strain at her home, jolly Hill Farm, near Philadelphia.

I fancy that some of the Hurley cats wandered away from the farm and set up a bold buccaneering tribe of their own, which still endures, for there are many tailless and bobtail cats around Barnegat, New Jersey, which is not far below Toms River, and wild creatures they are, living by their wits. When you cross the causeway from the mainland to Ship Bottom, the first town on Long Beach Island, and turn north toward Barnegat Light, you may, if you have quick eyes, see them in the dunes. They subsist on the offal of the fishermen's catches, and perhaps they receive largess from the men at Loveladies' Coast Guard Station, but no man can come near them, and they will fight the fiercest dog.

Even in captivity they retain their outstanding he-cat qualities. The Hurley great-great-granddaughter, Miss Elsie Walgrove, says that her Manx are "great hunters, not afraid to go far and wide from home, and very sturdy, some of the neuters weighing as much as thirty pounds." One of her champions, Minus, attacked and killed a large weasel that had been stealing valuable cockerels from her chickenhouse, and Minus is a lady, too. Like all the Hurley family they love boating, and they enjoy riding on the market wagon. They will not, as a rule, take up with tailed cats, but with their own kind they are most friendly, and as companions for human beings they are, their admirers say, better than any dog.

I have been told by cat connoisseurs that there are few really good Marx, true Manx, in America. The trouble is, I think, that in shows over here the standard is not insisted upon as it is in England. People exhibit bobtail cats as Manx, and too many judges will let them get by on their markings and colour, which are not important in this breed. After all, though, if one is an individual owner and a connoisseur rather in the qualities that make cats delightful and stimulating than in points of structure, what does it matter if one's Manx has an inch of tail where the hollow would be?

I know a Manx cat named Michael; of the first litter of kittens born to his mother, a petite Manx called Mrs. Lena Dodds, he was the only one marked with the bar sinister. His mistress gave the perfect kittens to friends and kept Michael because even at the earliest age he showed character. Michael is now a handsome coal-black giant, swaggering about on his tall hind legs and ruling the cats of the neighborhood with a high handor should one say paw? He is afraid of nothing, and can find his way anywhere. Carried away once in an automobile, unknown to his owners, to a distant railway station, he came home on his four legs through many miles of traffic, all by himself. Both he and Mrs. Lena Dodds should belong to the nearest Izaak Walton Club, for they are tireless fishermen. They stand for hours on a flat stone in the shallow stream that runs through the foot of the garden, they even stand in the water, watching and waiting for a catch. Woe be to the fish that tries to swim past them. They have caught quite large ones with a single sweep of a paw.

Michael looks like a large black hare, and when he sees a strange cat his nose twitches as a rabbit's does when it is excited. But as both he and Lena hunt rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks, it is hardly likely that they have rabbit blood. Their favourite game is hoppity-hide-and-seek, which they play in the tall grass of a neighboring field, and their mistress says that when one of them, leaping high in the air, succeeds in landing on the other, she could fancy that she hears them laughing-so mischievous and gay are their movements. Lena and Michael have very sensitive nervous systems, and their ears are attuned to the slightest sound. They are quick to hear the approach of an automobile; if it is the family car they run to meet it, but they are never deceived by a strange motor.

Few Manx cats are imported to America for breeding or show purposes. Those brought here are usually the pets of English families coming to live in the United States. Shipwreck has had its part, too, in bringing them, just as shipwreck carried the tailless cat originally to the Isle of Man. A huge gray and white Manx I know, named Jack, was purchased at the tender age of ten days from a Barnegat fisherman, and the fisherman said that the kitten's ancestors were washed ashore from an English ship that went down off the coast in a storm. It would be interesting to know why Manx cats, for all their intelligence and charm, for all the romance of their history, are still caviar to the general. Perhaps some time the popular taste will turn to them as it has to the Persians and the Siamese, but at present the majority of Americans seem to prefer their cats with tails.

The Manx History continued with "The Myth of the Rabbit-cat"

I had often heard of rabbit-cats, but had never met one until, quite recently, I was introduced to Swamp Angel, formerly of the Great Swamp near Chatham, New Jersey, but at the time of our meeting living in a New York apartment, and not liking it very much. One is always seeing newspaper stories about rabbit-cats. They tell of a hybrid creature with a cat's head and eyes, short forelegs, long hind legs, a brief tail like a rabbit's, close, soft fur like a rabbit's, and a trick of hopping instead of walking. The mother is always a cat, but the assumption is that the father was a rabbit, and no matter how emphatically science declares that the Carnivora and the Herbivora do not interbreed the rabbit-cat theory persists.

"No scientist could convince me that there is no such animal," one woman writes me. "I know I could swear to one. Twenty-two years ago, at Winthrop Rifle Range on the Potomac River, I saw an animal that had the general appearance of a cat but many of the characteristics of the rabbit. Its front legs were so short that it ambled rather than walked, and it would sit up any old time on its queer little bunny tail. Its fur was shorter and softer than a cat's, its jaw was not shaped like a cat's, and it made a sound quite unlike a miew. No one; who saw it had any doubt that its mother had met a rabbit in the woods."

In the Culver Citizen of August 22, 1934, appeared an article by Samuel E. Perkins III, formerly president of the Indiana Audubon Society, and leader of many nature hikes. He describes three strange kittens, part of a litter of which the others were ordinary kittens, all of them born to a cat who liked to go adventuring in the fields behind the Morgan County farmhouse where she lived.

"One would guess that she had been wooed there by a gentleman cottontail rabbit," he says. "Three of the kittens had rabbit tails. I felt the tail bone of one, a tawny male, and it had three vertebrae, each one-fourth of an inch long. It curved upward, hidden in a ball of fur. The kitten's back was arched like a rabbit's, and he used his hind legs as a rabbit does, hopping toward his saucer of milk. I suggested a Manx father, but no one had ever seen or heard of a Manx cat anywhere thereabouts. And in the Manx cat there is no tail at all, and no ball of fur such as these kittens had."

A moving-picture man made films and snapshots of the kittens, and Mr. Perkins wrote to Dr. H. E. Anthony, curator of mammals at the American Museum of Natural History, telling of his find and of a queer kangaroo-like cat he had seen in Indianapolis. Dr. Anthony replied that a cat was a cat. He discounted the hybrid theory. "So far as we are aware no such animal could exist," he wrote. "It is possible that your specimens are of the peculiar types of cat which appear unexpectedly, and are well known to students of genetics, though puzzling to the layman."

Swamp Angel was found by Charles Perry Weimer, the artist, in the course of a hunting trip along the margins of the Great Swamp. No man has penetrated into the depths of the Great Swamp, and strange creatures are said to inhabit it, but Mr. Weimer saw nothing strange in a nest of kittens he stumbled over until he lifted one, a coal-black atom, and perceived that it had no tail. All the others had tails, so Mr. Weimer left them to the mother, presumably off foraging, and tucked the odd one in his pocket. Mrs. Weimer named it Swamp Angel, and brought it up by hand.

Swamp Angel had Chatham people puzzled. His long, limber hind legs and his trick of standing erect on them, his lack of a tail, and his soft, thick fur led many who saw him to recall that there are numbers of black jack rabbits in the Great Swamp. Newspapers printed stories and pictures of him, and he became quite a celebrity. His traits are as contradictory as his appearance. He has none of the cat's sense of direction. If he wandered from the door of Mr. Weimer's Chatham studio, where he spent the first year of his life, he could not find his way back but would sit under a bush waiting to be fetched. Yet he is very intelligent and responsive. He has no miew, but a musical purr. He has claws on his forefeet but none on his hind feet, so he cannot climb. He has a rounder head, a blunter nose, and a more amiable gaze than have most bobtail cats, but that is what I think he is-a nice bobtail. The only alleged hybrid I have seen, Swamp Angel leaves me on the side of the scientists.

Clyde E. Keeler, of Harvard University, explains these cat eccentricities on the ground of exostoses or bony distortions of the vertebral column. He writes me: "These distortions are commonly found in human beings suffering from arthritis. They characterize many Siamese cats, the Manx cats, and the bob-tail which is so often erroneously called rabbit-cat. In inbred stocks a particular grade of exostoses will become characteristic of the strain. The Manx cat is bred for complete loss of tail. The Siamese when affected has a kinky tail. These exostoses are found in bulldogs, and in several varieties of mice." Siamese-cat societies would excommunicate Dr. Keeler for mentioning Siamese and kink-tails in the same breath. They call kink-tails Malay cats. Kink-tailed cats abound in Malay Land, and they probably have corrupted Siam. People who have lived in the Philippines tell me that all the cats in those islands have kinks, as if somebody had tied knots in their tails when they were very young."

It is ignorantly said that mutilations far back in the strain account for the crooked tails and the taillessness of some cats. Certainly there have been mutilations. James Baillie Fraser, a traveller-writer of the last century, told of islands off the coast of New Guinea where all the cats had docked tails. Their owners did it to protect them from impecunious neighbours who liked cat stew. By burying the tail of one's cat with suitable incantations one could bring terrible illnesses on the thief who dared to cook and eat the cat. So docked cats were safe. However, we know that acquired characteristics are not transmitted.

An unbalanced diet has its effect on the bony structure of cats. An artist who used to sketch in Marblehead told me that the stray cats there were curiously deformed. One she saw was a hunchback, and another had two tails, one growing out of the other. Now these cats had nothing to eat but fish. They would gather around the docks when the boats came in, and when a fish fell to the ground as the men tossed their catch into the baskets they would make off with it and devour it. This may have been good for their brains, but it was bad for their bones. Cats in the Orient have little to eat but what they find in the streets, and perhaps that is why there are so many kink-tailed cats in those countries. And it may be that Swamp Angel's forebears found poor hunting in the Great Swamp, and became so reduced that they were unable to bequeath him a tail.

HAIRLESS CATS IN THE 1930s

Letter From Henry Sternberceh of Wilmington, N. C. to The Journal of Heredity in 1936 titled 'A "Cat-Dog" From North Carolina Hairless Gene or "Maternal Impression"?'

Hairless Cat Or Cat-Dog: Three views of an abnormal kitten which appeared in a litter of four, only one of which was normal,—two of the others being short tailed. The genetic nature of this variation is unknown, but it has a striking resemblance to some of the genetic hairless forms in rabbits and mice.

From the very moment of its birth, which was about twelve hours after the rest of the litter, the nonesuch was surprisingly independent in its actions. It was born with its eyes open, and was able to crawl a little - two characteristics quite unknown to new-born kittens. The nonesuch acts both like a cat and a dog. While it makes a noise like a cat, it sniffs its food like a dog. Nothing delights the nonesuch more than gnawing a bone in a very dog-like manner. When resting, little nonesuch places its paws straight out in front just as a dog would do. The little creature doesn't relish playing with the rest of its family, being entirely contented in stretching out and watching the others frolic about.

The Editor replied:

Geneticists would be more inclined to ascribe the appearance of the unusual animal described above to the action of a recessive mutation than to the ancient doctrine of maternal impressions. If the curious kitten does represent a mutation, it is one of no little genetic interest, as offering a further parallel between mutations in the cat and the rabbit. (See Keeler and Cobb, Journal of heredity 24 :181-184. May 1933). To judge from Mr. Sternberger's pictures and the description, "Nonesuch" must rather closely resemble the Rex rabbit. It was hoped that it might be possible to obtain "None-such" and test the matter genetically. Unfortunately his owner is reported to feel that this unusual creature should be so valuable for museum or sideshow purposes as rather to put it out of range of genetic experimentation. In a later letter from Mr. Sternberger we learn that all the other members of the litter have died, so that there seems little hope of being able to do more than record the occurrence of this odd form.

Professor Etienne Letard (Professor at the National Veterinary School of Alfort (Seine) France) replied in a 1938 issue of the Journal of Heredity in a letter titled 'Hairless Siamese Cats'

Hairless Siamese Kittens And Their Parents: Two views of hairless Siamese kittens twelve hours old, and their parents. All of them are hairless though one has a thin coat of short hairs. Note the fur distinctly visible on one of the kittens. This is especially thick on the ears and in the axes of the limbs. It disappears in a few days, being followed a short time later by another transitory coat.

The fact that this mutation was observed in animals which have always lived in Paris, proves again that it is not always in special environments that one has to search for visible variations, and emphasizes again the random nature of spontaneous changes in inherited characters which appear to be one of the basic mechanisms of organic evolution.

Humanity has used cats in many ways to express and to personify forces of good and evil that it did not understand. The Egyptian worship of cats had its germ in the feeling that they were one manifestation of the divine, and the Celtic tribes of early Europe believed that the demoniac powers which, they thought, surrounded them and threatened them appeared oftenest in the form of cats-large black tomcats. The belief that cats enshrine the spirits of the dead has cropped up in various primitive peoples, but it remained for Japan to give it its quaintest turn. East is East and West is West, and it is hard for the Occidental mind to comprehend why a cat that is born with a black mark on its back resembling a woman in a kimono is thought to contain the spirit of the owner's honourable grandfather or great-aunt and is sent to a temple to be kept from contamination by the vulgar. Nevertheless, there have been quite recent examples of this faith in some sects or portions of the Japanese public.

These kimono cats were never given away, or knowingly sent out of the country, but early in this century one was stolen and carried to England. A Chinese servant committed the theft, and he smuggled the cat, a female, aboard an English ship. The captain wanted to return her to the priests of the temple from which she was taken, but so great was popular indignation over the theft that he was afraid to reveal that he had her. And even a British officer might have itching fingers where such a curiosity was concerned. So the little Kimona sailed for England, and went to live with a family in Putney, who, according to an account Dr. Lilian Veley wrote for Cat Gossip, respected her traditions and gave her a happy home. Kimona was uncannily human in her ways, and decided in her likes and dislikes. She would eat no fish or vegetables or milk, nothing but raw meat. She was not snooty about her past except in one respect. British tomcats she simply could not abide, and she lived and died a spinster. Dr. Veley took some photographs of Kimona, and they were printed in "Cat Gossip" shortly before the cat's death in 1911. The black saddle on her white body might with some stretch of the imagination be thought to resemble a fat woman in a kimono. She had a black mark on her head, coming down over the cheeks, like a cap with lappets. Her tail was black and very short, broad at the base, almost triangular in shape.

There is a statue in Japan that is dedicated to cats, not the sacred kimono cats but the little commoners that are sacrificed to make catgut for the samisen, the Japanese banjo. It stands in front of the great Buddhist temple to Nichiren in the Yamanashi Prefecture, and one of the figures, that of a nun, has a cat's head. Samisen manufacturers placed it there, not so much from remorse as that they feared that the spirits of the slain animals might return to haunt them and injure the samisen business. Incense is burned there, and prayers are said to appease and propitiate the cats and to assure them that the manufacturers regretted the necessity of making them into samisens. Even the geishas of Tokio contributed their hard-earned yens to have religious services for the dead cats before the big bronze statue. And I suppose it did the geishas good, if not the cats.

Cats play a more sinister part in some of the remote districts of Japan, where apparently the belief in vampires still survives. In the London Sunday Express for July 14, 1929 there was printed a report that the dread vampire cat of Nabeshima was once more, after a long absence, abroad in the land, seeking to bewitch the wives of the descendants of the old fighting Samurai. F. Hadland Davis in his Myths and Legends of Japan tells the story of this feline vampire that once upon a time harried the noble Nabeshima family. It slew O Toyo, the sweetheart of the Prince of Hizen, an honoured member of the Nabeshima race, and assumed her form, and in that guise sought to destroy the prince. But he was saved by the vigilance of Ito Soda, a faithful soldier, and the vampire, changing into a cat again, escaped to the mountains, where it was slain by hunters sent by the prince. That is the legend, but if we credit the item in the Sunday Express some of the Japanese believe that the creature had a life in reserve. It is to be hoped that it has not the fabled nine lives of our own harmless cats.

CHOOSING AND RAISING KITTENS IN THE 1930S

Of course, relatively few females were spayed and there was a constant supply of kittens. Many were moggy kittens, although purebreds were becoming increasingly popular as pets and many cat care manuals gave brief details of the recognised breeds. The following guidelines are taken from an American publication of 1938 and sadly omits the native Maine Coon cat, but includes British imported breeds such as the Persian and Manx. It advises on selecting, litter-training and feeding kittens and also how they should be handled.

Choosing a kitten for a pet is a question that often settles itself when some cat family youngster comes to your door, unbidden, and meows to be let inside. But whether a young cat adopts you, or you procure one by purchase from a reliable dealer, there are rules you should follow to determine whether your choice is good. Here is a kitten yardstick:

1. The eyes should be bright and clear.
2. Make sure that its first teeth are cut-the kitten should be able to eat solid food.
3. Its legs should be sturdy, its bones well knit.
4. Its shape should be normal for its breed.
5. The kitten should be active, ready to romp.
6. Its breath must be inoffensive.
7. Choose a kitten with a live coat (not animal life), refuse a kitten with loose hair tufts. A dull coat is a signal that the animal is ailing.
8. A healthy kitten has clean hind parts. If the kitten has dirty "pantaloons" its health needs improvement.
9. Examine the ears for excess discharge, and signs of canker. A cankerous condition in the kitten's ears generally betrays a system that will produce mange.
10. Runny nostrils point to a cold in the kitten's head, or is an advance symptom of distemper.
11. Up to about six months, a kitten will usually gain a pound a month. So a four-month kitten should weigh about four pounds.

Rule No. 4 of this yardstick states that a kitten's shape should be normal for its breed. Here are breed points to watch:

Persians
Head: broad and round, good width between ears, short nose and face, ears small and tufted.
Body: cobby, breadth of chest, low on the legs.
Tail: short and full, with no taper.

Domestic
Head: slightly oval in shape and more pointed, fairly long nose, ears more upright.
Body: well knit, long body with good breadth of chest.
Tail: thick at base, tapering toward tip.

Siamese
Head: long and narrow. Neatly defined ears, broad at base and small at the top.
Body: medium size, lithe, and well muscled. Forelegs a trifle shorter than back legs. Has thinner legs than other cat varieties, and smaller feet.
Tail: thin and tapering, fairly short.

Manx
Head: large and round, not snubby. Nose medium length, ears taper from a broad base. Prominent cheeks.
Body: short arched back, higher hindquarters, round rump, deep flanks and flat sides, shorter well-knit forelegs.
Tail: the Manx cat shouldn't have one.

Whether you bring your young kitten in a box from a pet shop or pluck it off a back-yard fence, plan to give your future cat satisfactory care. To begin with, don't bring home a cat that is less than eight weeks old. Cats younger than this can't get along on solid food. Be careful how you handle the youngster. Many people seem to believe that a kitten is made out of rubber. Well, a small cat is probably a little tougher than a small human being-but not much. Follow these rules when handling the kitten:

1. Put one hand under the kitten's stomach, supporting the fore-part of the body well. Use the other hand to support the rest of the body - then lift.
2. Lifting by the tail is forbidden. The tail is part of the spine and wasn't designed to be a handle.
3. Lifting by the neck is wrong. This action may hurt the kitten's intestines.
4. Don't lift a kitten by a leg. It looks awkward, it doesn't do the kitten any good, and you probably will get scratched or nipped (and you will deserve it).
5. Approach the kitten gently; avoid frightening it. Coax it to do what you want it to do. Persuasion is more effective with a cat than force.

Caution children against squeezing the kitten. They may squash the life out of it. Inside the little barrel of ribs are sensitive organs: a heart, a stomach, lungs, and a liver; remember them. Your love for a kitten is better shown in ways that will enable it to grow into a healthy, friendly cat.

Kittens are housebroken in much the same general way as puppies, but there are a few differences. Follow these rules:

1. Provide a pan; place it in a secluded, permanent spot. For a young kitten the sides of the pan should not be more than an inch high.
2. Keep a folded newspaper in the pan. Shavings, sand, ashes, sawdust, or shredded newspaper are sometimes used, but remember these loose fillers will adhere to the kitten's paws and be tracked all over the house. A folded newspaper filler can be disposed of easily. It is true that a young kitten may make the mistake of thinking any newspaper that is on the floor has been placed for it, but with careful training the kitten will soon understand that it is the pan, not the paper, it is to use.

Training Routine:

1. When you bring the new kitten home take it to the pan immediately and place it on top of the paper. Even though this first step is not successful, it is worth while to make the effort, because it is the beginning of training.
2. If the kitten does not understand the pan's purpose, be patient. Place it on the pan at frequent intervals.
3. Shouting, shaming, or spanking will have good effect in scaring the kitten, but so far as practical results go you can give yourself zero for these exertions.
4. Rely on the fact that the kitten is a cleanly animal. As soon as it gets the idea behind the pan, it will co-operate always. There are some kitty toilets on the market which are well designed for cleanliness and convenience.

Remember to be patient with a young kitten. It may be breaking the sanitation rules because it is in panic over its presence in a strange house, with strange people. If you watch your kitten when it wanders off to dark corners you may be able to prevent accidents by hurrying it to the pan. Clean the kitten's pan thoroughly once a day with scalding water. An occasional treatment with a disinfectant and deodorant is advisable.

Whenever it is possible to do so, learn what your kitten has been having to eat. Then the first days you have it, feed it the same food at regular mealtimes. Do not feed the kitten immediately after you bring it home. Like a new pup (only more so) a kitten should be fasted for the first several hours after arrival. A good indication of the proper time to offer food is when it quiets down and starts to purr.

Warning: One of the ways to kill a cat is to feed it to death. Curb your generosity. Remember your new kitten has a small stomach. Several little feedings throughout the day are better for the youngster than one or two large feedings.

1. How often should the kitten be fed? Up to the age of three months, the kitten should be fed four times a day.

2. What should be fed to the kitten? Food for a cat varies sharply with its age. Here is an ideal age-food chart:
- Up To Four Or Five Weeks: Milk and cream, cooked cereal, prepared barley, infant food, custard.
- Five Weeks To Seven Weeks: Milk and cream, scraped beef, cooked cereal, custard, canned salmon, fish flakes.
- Seven Weeks To Eleven Weeks: Any of the above, rabbit (cooked), lamb kidney (raw), chicken (cooked), whole wheat toast (crumbled).
- Eleven Weeks To Old Age: Milk and cream, chopped or sliced raw beef, cooked meat (no pork), cooked fowl or game, vegetables (no starchy ones), cooked cereal.

3. How much should be fed to a kitten?

Feedings must be suited to the individual, as to amount, kind, and frequency. Between a kitten and a two-year-old cat there is a range of stomach sizes graded all the way up from one ounce capacity to seven or eight ounces. The kitten should not be fed more than its stomach can hold. Up to ten weeks, feedings should be about one ounce or under. If the kitten leaves food in its dish after a feeding, remove both the food and the dish.

4. Should the diet be varied?

Yes, as much as possible, but foods chosen should be kept within the correct food list. Pleasing variation keeps the cat's appetite keen, and gives you an opportunity to feed it foods that will build its body. While there isn't opportunity to change the menu much up to five weeks, after that you should experiment. Try giving your cat a little beef jelly, or replace cooked cereal with bits of whole-wheat toast and milk.

5. What about meat?

When a cat is between five and seven weeks old it becomes a meat eater; start it with scraped fresh beef. Cats are meat eaters, as dogs are, and will do best on a diet that is largely made up of meat. The meat should be chiefly raw beef. I have said that the cat is a fastidious pet about grooming; it is also fastidious about food. Ordinary ground beef may displease your cat; remember it is a light eater and odour conscious. It is better to buy fresh beef and have your butcher grind it, or you may bring the beef home whole and cut it with a scissors. Raw liver is a welcome addition to the cat's diet about once a week. A useful variation is to cut the meat in long strips, across the grain, which makes the cat chew its food before swallowing. Often a cat prefers chunks of meat to too much ground meat. Other meats which are permitted in the cat's diet should be broiled, boiled, or roasted.

6. How many times does a cat eat a day?

Up to three months a cat eats four times a day. Then feedings diminish to three meals. Here is a model day:
- Breakfast: Meat or fish, cereals, toast.
- Luncheon: A full meal of milk and cream.
- Dinner: Meat in which vegetables are mixed.
(If it seems necessary, a small amount of milk may be given the cat at bedtime.)

Starting at about five months of age, place your kitten on a two-meal-a-day schedule:
- Breakfast: Meat, fish mixed with vegetables, toast.
- Dinner: Meat.
(A cat may be given a small saucer of milk at noontime. The full meal of the day should be served in the evening.)

7. Should you feed your cat grass?

The average cat system demands green grass almost daily. This is a need that may be cared for easily in the summer. In winter plant a few pots or tin pans with oats, so the cat may nibble at greens when it wants to.

8. What vegetables may be fed?

Green spinach, green beans, celery, asparagus, tomato (strained), carrots. All vegetables should be completely cooked and chopped.

9. Should prepared foods be fed?

Yes, canned cat foods, and cat biscuits are useful adjuncts to the menu. However, make certain the product you choose has the right nourishment value. If the canned food is made from fresh meat products, or fresh fish, it should be satisfactory: Use canned cat food occasionally, but don't use it as a permanent substitute for raw meat.

Note: There is no rule as to the exact amount of food a cat needs, nor is there any positive way of determining just what a cat will eat. In matters of food, the cat has a mind of its own. In using my feeding rules, take into consideration the fact that the outdoor cat will need more food than one that leads a quiet life; remember that some cats are greedy and some are not; be willing to alter the model diet to suit your particular (often really particular) cat.

Up to the time the kitten cuts its second teeth (about seven Aim months), its diet should include an extra supply of the chemicals that build sturdy bones and prevent rickets.

1. Lime For Bones: One-fourth teaspoonful lime-water to every ounce of milk.
2. Calcium For Teeth: One-fourth teaspoonful of calcium lactate daily, mixed into its solid food.
3. Halibut Liver Oil: Two drops a day, dripped into the food, or raw cod liver oil at the rate of 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoonful daily. Note: Mix a pinch of kelp or "vitality" product with food every day. Brewer's yeast is also valuable.

When a kitten is seven months old, these health foods may be dropped, because its diversified adult diet will provide sufficient minerals. Always remember that raw beef contains just about everything that a cat needs to live on healthfully. But be certain that the beef is fresh.

Clean fresh water is a necessary part of your pet's diet. Water Milk is NOT a substitute for water. See that the cat has water available at all times. The water bowl should be rinsed and refilled several times a day.

Cats sometimes resemble goats in their attraction to strange foods. Some owners follow their pet's craving for astonishing foods, and feed them wholly on diet oddities. These owners may be unwilling to follow the simple diets I have suggested, but by not doing so they shorten the lives of their pets. Simple, correct foods will help a cat live for about twelve years. Establish a kitten in sensible food habits. If you feed a young cat balanced, nourishing meals from the start, there is little danger that it will develop a craving for everything from string to Gorgonzola.

This book makes no attempt to deal with breeding as a science or as a business. Breeding is a big subject, and individual owners, keeping cats as pets or mousers, hardly need to go into its complexities. But pet cats and mousers do have kittens, and there are basic facts and simple rules which all owners of female cats should know. A veterinarian who served for years in the clinic of a large animal hospital told me that he always tried to discourage owners from letting their cats breed, for so often it is the beginning of a vicious circle. Mrs. Puss has kittens; the owner keeps them till they get to be in the way, then gives them away to friends, to the butcher, to the grocer; the kittens perhaps stray away from their new owners and breed in their turn; and so the army of homeless cats is increased.

If you have a female cat, follow one of two courses. Either have her spayed, an operation which with modern methods is attended by little risk and which makes of her a quiet, satisfactory pet, or resign yourself to some annoyance when she is in season, and guard her from wandering at these times. With proper precautions breeding as a hobby is all right, and should raise the standard of pet cats.

When your cat desires to mate she shows it by great restlessness, by crying, and by treading the ground with both hind legs. Some cats begin to call at seven or eight months, but if you want your pet to develop into a strong cat and to produce strong kittens do not mate her till she is one year old. The male should be at least a year old too. Stud cats are at their best between one and three years of age. Queens, as breeders call female cats, differ very much as to the frequency with which they come in season, but the average is about three times a year, and the period lasts from three to fifteen days. Some cats are almost unbearable at these times; others make very little fuss. Spring is the best time for mating. Then the kittens have the benefit of ripening warmth and sunshine. Breeding in the autumn is a mistake, as the winter is a bad time for growing.

If your cat is of a definite breed and colour, say a Persian blue or cream or orange, a domestic shorthaired white or Maltese [blue], a seal point or a blue point Siamese, get a sire not only of the same breed but of the same colour. It takes an expert to experiment successfully with colour crosses. If your female is deficient in any point, choose a male who is strong in that point. Suppose you have a Persian whose head is too long and narrow. Be sure that her mate has the broad head and short, blunt nose of the best Persians. By following this rule you stand a better chance of getting kittens of the right type. Be sure that your cat is in good condition, and that the mate you pick is healthy. If you want the service of a pedigreed stud cat you must be prepared to pay, for it takes money to raise these cats. But with an unpedigreed cat of one of the fancy breeds you never know what weak points your kittens may inherit. Domestic short-haired cats are different, they have the strength of the peasantry, an elemental beauty, and some of the finest specimens come from the so-called alley cats.

Mating should take place from three to five days after your pet begins to call, and afterward she should be kept quiet, not handled much, and not allowed to roam. Pregnancy, which may be assumed when she ceases to call, lasts about sixty days, but kittens have been known to live that were born as early as the fifty-eighth day and as late as the sixty-sixth. Never feed a queen so much as to make her fat. She needs about the same amount of food as usual for the first half of the time, only a little more raw beef. Three or four weeks before the event it is well to add to her breakfast and supper a meal at noon and a nightcap of warm milk. Most of these little future mothers are quite normal, except that they drink more water. It sometimes happens, however, that a sensitive cat will be listless, develop nausea, and take dislikes to certain foods. But a little humouring will generally bring her through.

Like the provident creatures they are, cats begin in good time to look about for a proper cradle for the kittens. If they are left to themselves they are as likely as not to pick a bureau drawer with your best silk undies in it, so keep your bureau drawers shut, and provide a comfortable box in a secluded spot, not too warm, not in a draft, and shaded from the light for the protection of the babies' eyes. Line it with newspapers, which must be changed every day, and a clean, soft blanket of smooth material, free from fuzz.

Healthy cats rarely have any trouble when their kittens are born, and it is best not to interfere with them. Just watch to see that the first babies do not get cold and that the mother does not lie on any of them. But cats are careful mothers. Difficult births sometimes happen to cobby Persians if their pelvic bones are too close together, and then you will need a veterinarian in a hurry for a Caesarian operation. But to normal cats motherhood comes easy unless their vitality has been exhausted by too much breeding. One family a year is enough for any cat.

When the kittens have arrived, leave the mother alone with them for a few hours, then coax her from the box with some light food, say warm milk with an egg beaten in it. Pretty soon she will be eating eagerly, much more heartily than when she was a carefree spinster. Give her plenty of food. And a cat should not be expected to nurse more than four kittens; if she is debilitated one or two are enough. To guard against accidents it is a good plan, if the kittens are valuable, to have a wet nurse ready, a healthy cat who will not mind taking foster children with her own. If the strangers are smeared with her milk and slipped in when she is not looking, she will accept them and tend them as her own. If the kittens are not valuable and you are not sure of good homes for them, the humane act is to destroy them, leaving one to nurse the mother and prevent caked breasts. Newborn kittens have hardly any sensibility [this was the prevailing, but very wrong, opinion in 1936], and a few drops of chloroform or submersion in warm water will end their troubles before they begin.

Speaking of caked breasts, if for any reason they occur they ought to be treated promptly, for they are painful and dangerous. Massage them gently till you have drawn out what milk remains, then cleanse them with warm water in which bicarbonate of soda or boric acid has been dissolved, and, finally, rub them with camphorated oil.

A wet nurse, we know, is the best substitute for the mother who cannot care for her kittens, but wet nurses are not always on call, and kittens can be raised by hand. Miss Doris Bryant, proprietor of Doris Bryant's Cat Specialty Shop in New York and a breeder of Siamese cats in her spare time, told me that she fed four orphaned kittens for the first six weeks of their lives on a formula she worked out, and they lived and became lusty cats. The formula consisted of two heaping teaspoonfuls of Squibb's Dextro-Vitavose mixed with one cup of whole milk. This she brought to a boil, adding a tablespoonful of limewater when it cooled. She gave the babies as much as they wanted, feeding them with a medicine dropper at three-hour periods, night and day at first. By degrees the intervals were lengthened. At four weeks they began taking beef juice, and at five weeks a little scraped beef. Even nursing kittens are better for some extra nutriment. Miss Elsie G. Hydon, of Bogota, New Jersey, whose Persians are famous, favours Mellin's baby food, prepared as for newborn infants; Cream of Wheat well cooked; and unsweetened evaporated milk, one part milk to two parts water, mixed.

At about nine days the eyes of the kittens, who are born blind, begin to unclose. If, as sometimes happens, they fail to open, they should be bathed with warm water and gently manipulated. Adhesion of the eyelids for an abnormal period is called ankyloblepharon, and sometimes an operation is necessary to correct it.

The box for the kittens' nursery should be roomy enough so they can crawl around in it freely. When they adventure out of it, give them a safe and pleasant place in which to mature. Some people think that cellars are good enough for kittens. I wish such people might be shut in cellars themselves. A garden is ideal for kittens in warm weather, but they can be happy in a room with a sunny window. If they have a good mother, and most cat mothers are efficient, she will attend to their manners, but if you expect her to housebreak them properly you must have the sanitary pan, with its clean sand or torn paper, near their box.

Weaning, which should not be attempted before the kittens are eight weeks old, may be started by taking them from the mother at night. Soon the saucer can be substituted entirely for the breast. Miss Hydon thinks eight weeks too early for weaning. She prefers kittens to nurse for three months.