49 



' IN A PLAYFUL SORT OF WAY. 

 (Photo: E. Landof, Baling.) 



CHAPTER IV. 



HOUSING OF CATS. 



' T^HE proper housing of valuable stock 

 J_ is the first essential subject to be 

 studied by the beginner in the cat 

 fancy, and one requiring both careful thought 

 and attention. For I do not hesitate to say 

 that, of all the domestic animals, the cat is 

 the most difficult to keep healthy and happy 

 in the unnatural condition of total or partial 

 confinement. Belonging to the ferae, its ori- 

 ginal and savage nature still shows glimpses, 

 not wholly tamed, in its independence of 

 character and its roving habits ; while yet 

 its civilised side shows the keenest appreci- 

 ation of the comforts to be found in the 

 home life. A house cat that enjoys its free- 

 dom to go out as it pleases, to climb the 

 garden walls, and anon to lie in purring con- 

 tentment before the kitchen hearth, is a 

 creature ailing little. It is the pedigreed pets, 

 in their luxurious prisons, that too often fall 

 a prey to disease. To establish a cattery, 



therefore, that shall be a pleasure and a pride 

 to the owner, and not a source of worry and 

 grief over perpetual illness amongst the in- 

 mates, it is necessary in the very first incep- 

 tion to study the chief needs of cat nature. 



Let us consider these in order. How our 

 typical healthy cattery may be best arranged. 

 It must be dry was ever a cat yet seen of 

 choice sitting in the wet ? It must have 

 ample space, both of houses and runs, and 

 inducements for exercise a well-branched 

 dead tree sunk in the gravelled run is good, 

 besides divers posts, shelves, and benches. 

 Let the aspect be bright, with lots of sunshine. 

 A cat is a devotee of the sun it is the life of 

 young growing things, and the greatest de- 

 stroyer of disease germs ; and it is very easy 

 by coverings or the growth of climbing plants 

 to provide temporary shade during the height 

 of summer. For this last, nothing is better 

 than that most useful and least fastidious king 



