CAT SUCKLING YOUNG FERRETS. 



AN instance came under my notice last year of a 

 litter of young ferrets being brought up by a cat 

 foster-mother. The old ferret died when the young 

 ones were about seven weeks old, when they were 

 put to a cat which was at the time suckling one 

 kitten. She took very kindly to her new family, 

 and reared them all in perfect health. After they 

 were fully grown they remained on capital terms 

 with her, though having a most thorough dislike to 

 any other cat. The practice cats and rabbits some- 

 times have of killing their offspring soon after birth 

 is, I believe, caused in most cases by the want of a 

 sufficient supply of water, as the mother suffers 

 from an intense thirst at such periods, and instinct 

 compels her to have recourse to any available 

 moisture. Nothing can be more cruel than the 

 way rabbits, I am sorry to say, are sometimes 

 kept, being fed on corn, bran, hay, and other dry 

 goods, with occasionally a little green- meat ; such 



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