72 PET RABBITS, CAVIES, AND MICE. 



show purposes, ought certainly to be provided with 

 separate hutches, or they will assuredly get their coats 

 damaged. Any food that is stimulating to the growth 

 of coat should be given, but care must be taken here to 

 see that it is not of a kind to overheat the system or 

 derange the liver. They need patience to get them to 

 perfection, and we opine it is the knowledge of the 

 unlimited patience needed that deters so many from 

 taking up the variety. One thing that can be done with 

 success is to grease the coats of Peruvian cavies to 

 assist the growth. Now we shall be accused of advo- 

 cating trickery. Well, we have at the present time 

 some Yorkshire terriers, and a close examination of the 

 coats of each, i.e., cavies and terriers, has satisfied us 

 that there is much in common between them. The 

 texture is about the same, and the gloss needed on a 

 first class specimen about similar. Not only does the 

 greasing process produce a lovely gloss, but it tempers 

 the hair, and prevents that brittleness which often re- 

 sults in broken hairs. In the case of exhibition terriers, 

 one plan is to keep the dogs for a week in grease, then 

 wash them and keep for a week out of grease. But if 

 cavies are judiciously greased that is if the grease is 

 rubbed well into the hair roots, and not left on in thick 

 substance, as the hair grows, they will not need wash- 

 ing. You must never show them with coats so greasy 

 as to be detected. Care should be taken always to tie 

 up the sweep and any other long part of the coat in such 

 a manner as to prevent it getting soiled and broken in 

 the hutch floor. A good deal depends upon training 

 the coat. It should be rolled up in linen rags, and so 

 tied as to avoid curling, and be frequently unrolled and 

 brushed the way it is desired it should fall when undone 

 for the judge. It is impossible for that official to gauge 

 the length of coat and true merits of a Peruvian cavy 

 unless he does unroll its coat, although we know of one 

 judge who professed to be able to do so. Well ! In 

 concluding these remarks upon Peruvian cavies, we will 

 append the recipe for the grease with which we dress 

 our terriers' coats: Four ounces of cocoa-nut oil; two 

 ounces of olive oil; two ounces of castor oil; one ounce 

 of palm oil; one ounce of cantharides; and two drachms 

 of oil of rosemary. If you take a jar, and the recipe to 

 a chemist, he will have it ready for you the next day. 



