23S 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



owners would not mind exhibiting their 

 precious cats, as they could be sent or taken 

 home after their turn round. Certainly neuters 

 are the only cats that ought to be led into the 

 ring, and in this way their fine proportions 

 and generally heavy coats can be seen and 

 judged to the best advantage. It is too often 

 a practice with fanciers to have the worst of 

 the litter kept for a pet and made neuter, and 

 therefore we see many blues with light green 

 eyes, and cats with the blemish of a white 

 spot, in the classes set apart for gelded cats ; 

 and if a beautiful, almost perfect, neuter is 

 exhibited, fanciers are apt to protest at what 

 they consider is " a grave mistake." From 

 the lips of some noted and over-wrought 

 breeders of Persian cats I have heard the ex- 

 clamation, " I shall go in for neuters only ! " 

 This has been called forth, perhaps, by a 

 succession of failing litters or by a rampageous 

 stud cat that 

 has fought 

 with the 

 neighbour's 

 torn or has 



MISS CHAMBERLAYNK S " BELVEDERE TIGER. 

 (Photo : J. A tkins, Upper Norwood.) 



wandered off on amorous thoughts intent, 

 perhaps never to return, or on returning to 

 bring disease to the cattery. Certainly, for 

 a thoroughly comfortable domestic pet there 

 is nothing like a neuter cat. They are more 

 affectionate, and with children more docile, not 



less keen in catching rats and mice, and they 

 are proverbially very clean in their habits. One 

 great advantage that neuters have over the 

 other long-haired breeds is that they retain 

 their lovely coats nearly all the year round. 

 In spite, however, of the many points in favour 

 of neuter cats, they are nevertheless rather 

 looked down upon in the fancy. Certainly, at 

 our shows no cats are more attractive to visitors 

 than the big burly neuters, and I would fain 

 see a better classification for these really fine 

 animals. 



A specialist society was started in 10,01 by 

 an admirer of these cats, but either through 

 lack of energy or want of enthusiasm the work 

 was not carried on, and the club died a natural 

 death. It remains for some other fancier with 

 a love for pet pussies to start a society, for 

 as it is the neuters fare badly at our shows, 

 the classes provided never numbering more 

 than two, and the special prizes being few and 

 far between. Formerly neuters were judged 

 by weight, and I remember some specimens 

 exhibited at the Palace that really looked like 

 pigs fatted up for market. It was in 1886 

 that the classification for neuters at the Crystal 

 Palace show ran thus : " Gelded cats, not 

 judged by weight, but for beauty of form, 

 markings, etc." Happily, therefore, this state 

 of things has been abolished, and though 

 neuters should be big, massive cats, yet they 

 need not, and should not, be lumps of inert 

 fat and fur. It is true that a big show cat 

 appeals to the non-exhibitor, and visitors to 

 our shows are always greatly impressed with 

 huge animals over filling their all too small 

 pens. The heaviest and biggest neuter I have 

 ever seen was possessed by Mrs. Reay Green. 

 This enormous silver turned the scale at 20 Ib. 

 I believe the record weight at the Crystal 

 Palace was 25 Ib. It is a libel to say that 

 neuter cats are lazy and uninteresting. I 

 have always possessed a neuter, either a blue 

 or a brown tabby, and these beloved pets have 

 ably fulfilled their duties as mice-catchers of 

 the establishment. My " Bonnie Boy," who 

 but recently joined the noble army of neuters, 

 is as keen as a knife, and will sit for hours 



