54 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



desire to explore the world. Then the rest 

 of the tray forms a glorious playground for 

 the first week or two, when one adventurous 

 mite finds out he can climb up the shallow 

 sides, and tumble out on a large strange world 

 of floor and trot after mamma. A well-known 

 fancier tells me she has not had one litter with 

 weak or bad eyes since she adopted the straw 

 truss plan. 



One of these trays might be placed each 

 side of the wooden partition, and if necessary 

 to shut a nervous or surly cat up with her 

 family, one might be enclosed in a wire front- 

 age with door, as the sleeping-pens were ar- 

 ranged. Let there be a good large window in 

 this room, as the kittens, when running about, 

 will want all the sunshine and air possible. 

 This run should be of asphalt, for dryness and 

 warmth, with plenty of play places arranged 

 in it. An old barrel with the bottom knocked 

 out affords great games, also the tree I have 

 before spoken of ; a tree-stump or two, or a 

 heap of dry brushwood stacked in a corner, 

 will supply those climbing and hiding holes 

 kittens so greatly enjoy, and afford protection 

 from winds. 



A grass run and a gravelled one are designed 

 in the plan, each having access to the other, and 

 will allow the cats ample exercising ground 

 according to weather. An oval flower-bed in 

 the centre of the grass plot, planted with 

 some evergreen bushes, is a good idea. It 

 affords shelter, and the cats can dig in the dry 

 earth. For the benches in the gravel run, an 

 old outhouse door, painted and mounted on 

 stout legs, makes a very good one, which the 

 cats love to sit upon. 



The stud houses are simple : a wired-in 

 space of 12 feet by n feet contains a house wiih 

 lean-to roof 4 feet by 8 feet long, iitted 

 with sleeping bench and box, wired win- 

 dows, door for attendant, and small trap- 

 door for cat. En passant, all doors should 

 be fitted with good locks, and locked up 

 after feeding at night is done. The stud 

 run is gravelled, but a border of grass might 

 be left on two sides grass is such a necessity 

 for cats in confinement, and they prefer to 



select it growing for themselves. The design 

 here suggested is capable of either modification 

 or extension. The plan can be enlarged to 

 any extent. For instance, if desired, an 

 attendant's cottage could be built at one end 

 instead of the stud house, and comprise a 

 special kitchen, and also an upper room, fitted 

 with convenient pens for a hospital for the sick 

 members a very necessary adjunct to the 

 cattery, as a sick cat should be at once re- 

 moved from its healthy companions and kept 

 in a place quite apart. More stud houses 

 could be arranged at an angle on one side of 

 the chief runs, or, if only a very few cats are 

 intended to be kept, one of the divisions could 

 be dispensed with, perhaps, and the dimensions 

 of the other two made smaller. But whatever 

 your ambitions may be, great or small, when 

 you are about it have the work well done. 



The heating of catteries is a rather vexed 

 question, many famous breeders affirming that 

 stock raised without it are healthier and 

 harder ; others maintaining that a certain 

 amount of heat is a necessity for producing a 

 good coat. A very experienced breeder once 

 told me the heaviest-coated kittens she ever 

 bred were reared over some hot-water pipes, 

 : n a temperature of 70 ! With adult cats 

 having partial freedom and allowed to come 

 into the house in severe weather, and 

 with stud cats, I consider the no-heat plan 

 decidedly the best ; but I do not think it 

 possible to rear young stock during the colder 

 part of the year in an outdoor cattery without 

 artificial heat. It is the damp of the English 

 winter which proves so fatal, and damp can- 

 not be kept out of the very best constructed 

 houses except by the admission of dry heat. 



Kittens that are cold will not play, and if 

 you see them huddled together on a cold day 

 looking listless and uneasy, instead of romping, 

 be sure it is fire heat they need. 



A thermometer should hang in each house, 

 and the heat be carefully regulated by that, a 

 minimum of 48 and a maximum of 55 being 

 suggested. In houses where a flue is practic- 

 able, a stove of the Tortoise pattern is to be 

 recommended, but it needs a high guard around 



