INTRODUCTION. 



FANCIERS have long felt the want of a work dealing in a popular manner 

 with cats, and it was therefore with great pleasure that I undertook to 

 write THE BOOK OF THE CAT, and to give the results of a long ex- 

 perience in as simple and interesting a form as possible, so that the book 

 might be instructive to cat fanciers, and also readable to that portion of the 

 community which loves cats for themselves and not only for their prizes and 

 pedigrees. It is possible that the beautiful reproductions in this work may 

 result in the conversion of some cat haters, who, seeing the error of their ways, 

 may give poor puss a corner in their hearts. Dogs are more essentially the 

 friends of men, and cats may be considered as the chosen allies of womankind. 



In the past, as I have endeavoured to show, many noted celebrities of the 

 sterner sex have shown a sympathetic feeling for the feline race. At the present 

 time the number of men fanciers on our cat club lists and exhibitors at our 

 shows tends to prove that the cat is gradually creeping into the affections of 

 mankind, even in this busy work-a-day world. I have given a full description 

 of the various breeds, and have suggested advice as to the feeding, housing, 

 and general treatment of cats. The chapters on the management of shows, 

 containing also simple rules for the guidance of exhibitors, will, I trust, prove 

 useful and instructive. 



In my work I have received most valuable assistance, for which I am deeply 

 grateful, from Mr. H. Gray, the well-known veterinary surgeon, whose chapter 

 on the diseases of cats will, I am sure, be very interesting to breeders and 

 fanciers. To Mr. H. C. Brooke I must tender my sincere v thanks for his 

 chapter on foreign cats, and to Mr. E. N. Barker for his excellent survey of 

 the American cat fancy, and to Mrs. Pierce for her notes on Maine cats. Mr. 

 Robert Holding's chapter on the anatomy of the cat, with its excellent diagrams, 

 forms a valuable addition to the work. To Mrs. S. F. Clarke I am greatly 

 indebted for the number of clever photographs with which she has so kindly 

 supplied me. 



To many of my " catty " friends I offer grateful thanks for interesting items, 

 paragraphs, and pretty photographs ; and last, but not least, I have to thank 



