NEUTER CATS. 



239 



watching a likely hole, and never a mouse 

 escapes his clever clutches. He kills them in- 

 stantly, and then amuses himself for hours 

 dancing about and throwing his dead prey with 

 wild delight into the air. Then, again, he is, 

 I am sorry to say, just as destructive with the 

 poor London sparrows, and many a time I 

 have had to chastise my pet for stalking the 

 game in our little back garden. 



Miss H. Cochran, writing of neuters, says : 

 " There are, without doubt, a great number 

 of people who like to keep a cat, especially a 

 Persian, for a pet pure and simple one that 

 will be the admiration of all, and of service in 

 ridding the house of mice and rats. They will 

 attain a greater size, and in nine cases out of ten 

 retain all the pretty habits and antics of their 

 kittenhood. Neuter cats are often very trouble- 

 some in a large cattery ; they fight with each 

 other and with the queens, which have a poor 

 chance against their superior size. I think 

 they do it for fun." 



In Fur and Feather "Zaida" thus writes of 

 neuters : 



Undoubtedly it is a crying mistake for neuter cats 

 to be allowed to compete in open classes, but per- 

 sonally I should be delighted to see more classes for 

 them at shows, and much greater interest taken in 

 them. Sometimes one is tempted to think the 

 ordinary run of cats has deteriorated in general 

 beauty, remembering the splendid animals, both 

 English and foreign, which we used to see in friends' 

 houses in our childhood ; but the real explanation 

 lies in the fact that formerly " house " cats were 

 almost entirely kept as pets, and handsome kittens 

 were obtained for the purpose. Nowadays anything 

 not good enough for breeding from is made a neuter, 

 and fanciers undoubtedly look on them with a certain 

 contempt. Why should this be more the case with 

 cats than with horses ? For a perfect household pet 

 the neuter cat holds its own, if only the public would 

 universally acknowledge it. But too often every 

 purchaser of a kitten starts breeding, and multiplies 

 a race of weedy, ill-kept animals, who do little credit 

 to their owner. A cat with kittens is undoubtedly a 

 charming sight ; but a female cat is more or less of 

 a worry, and is, besides, only in coat for a very short 

 time each year. Then a torn cat roams, fights, and 

 is often objectionable, but the stay-at-home cat is 

 always a thing of beauty, never requires periods of 

 seclusion, will mouse and rat with the best, and be 

 a credit to any establishment. In short, we should 



like to see more of them, not fewer, and a neuter 

 class for every colour in a show. In many a house- 

 hold cats are now disliked through the ill-advised 

 action of some member of the family in starting 

 breeding with more zeal than knowledge, and without 

 proper convenience. If a lovely neuter, or even 

 two or three, reigned in their glory, there would be 

 an end to the trouble, to the groans of the other 



" BEXON'I." 



THE PROPERTY OF Miss COTTOR. 

 (Photo: F. Wallace, Dalkeith.) 



members of the family, to the " wasn't .engaged to 

 wait on cats " of the servants. 



In the schedule of the Beresford Cat Club 

 show, held at New York, January, 1903, the 

 classification for gelded cats reads thus : 

 " Class 25, neuter, white or black ; Class 26, 

 neuter, blue or smoke ; Class 27, neuter, ' any 

 other colour ' ; Class 28, neuter, any colour 

 tabby with white." It will be seen, therefore, 

 that in America a much more liberal classi- 

 fication is given for long-haired neuters, and 

 for short-haired there are three classes pro- 

 vided. I do not know, nor have I heard of, 



