112 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



seven toes on each front paw, and that 

 they look down upon and despise any 

 cats that can not boast as many. They 

 probably do not realize that they are 

 boasting of a deformity, for seven toes 

 are just as abnormal for a cat as a club 

 foot for a man. 



There is also a great prejudice 

 among some people in favor of exces- 

 sively large neuter cats. Now neuter 

 cats are undeniably large, or get to be 

 so in time, and there is no question in 

 my mind but that they make the only 

 suitable pet cats, but if they grow in 

 weight beyond a certain point they be- 

 come abnormal, and a post mortem 



pagated in our streets under the most 

 adverse conditions, because ever so 

 many sentimental persons "just love 

 to have female cats for pets, the kit- 

 tens are so cunning," until they become 

 annoying or too many, when they are 

 promptly turned out in the streets to 

 shift for themselves. There they take 

 up there abode in dark and filthy cor- 

 ners, live on garbage, and rear their 

 families, to become a nuisance to the 

 public, and some say, a menace to 

 health. But the army of the living is 

 as nothing to the army of the dead. 



Again we are told that cats are 

 treacherous, and this belief, thought- 



THE ATTENDANTS REALLY LOVE THE CATS. 

 Only cat lovers are permitted to care for them. 



would show the organs to be diseased, 

 a condition certainly not to be culti- 

 vated. 



Have you ever heard that a cat had 

 nine lives? If you have go into the 

 business and try to raise them by the 

 quantity, and you will change your 

 mind! It is true that an occasional 

 strong healthy cat will live through an 

 extraordinary amount of torture (more 

 shame to the human nature that de- 

 grades itself by such practices), and 

 that a great number of cats are pro- 



lessly accepted by many people, is re- 

 sponsible for a vast amount of the 

 misery endured by our feline friends. 

 The eat is not treacherous! Its teeth 

 and nails are sharp, and it often gives 

 a scratch while playing, as a strong 

 man in shaking your hand will come 

 perilously near to crushing your fingers. 

 The man is forgiven, but not the cat. 

 On the contrary the master's hand is 

 withdrawn, Puss receives prompt 

 chastisement, becomes frightened and 

 rebellious, snarls and bites or 



