357 



TABITHA S AFTERNOON TEA. 

 (Photo : C. Reid, Wishaw, N.B.) 



CHAPTER XXX. 



REARING OF KITTENS. 



IT may truly be said that the subject most 

 interesting to cat fanciers is the successful 

 rearing of kittens, and pages might be 

 written on what to do and what not to do in 

 order to bring up a family of kits in health and 

 strength. Experience teaches us many tilings, 

 and certainly during the number of years I 

 have been breeding Persian kittens I have had 

 ample opportunity of judging what food suited 

 the little mites best, and which was the surest 

 method of bringing up a wholesome litter of 

 kittens. I am sure that in the olden days 

 there was less delicacy amongst Persian kittens 

 than at this present time. 



"With the advent of the first family the 

 anxieties of the novice begin. Perhaps a 

 goodly sum has been risked in the purchase of 

 a pedigree queen, or else with much careful- 

 ness and taking thought a valuable kitten has 

 been reared to happy matronhood. So far 

 well ; the trouble has been slight, but the 

 account book shows all on the debit side. 

 Now, as we gaze upon the tiny blind bobbing 

 atoms, over which the mother croons and 

 22 



purrs with pride, here is the investment that 

 has to swell our credit column. And ignor- 

 ance here spells loss. 



If a large number yearly are successfully 

 raised, a still larger number sadly " pass out," 

 and might claim the baby's plaintive epitaph : 



" Since I am so quickly done for 

 I wonder what I was begun for ! " 



Neither does the comfortable law of the 

 " survival of the fittest " seem to hold good 

 here. At least, Nature and the exhibitor arc 

 at variance in their ideas of such, for always 

 it is our choicest, our sure and certain cham- 

 pion, that slips our too eager grasp. 



Here is our experimental nest of champions ; 

 they are but two days old, and in this early 

 stage of their existence the less they are 

 handled and examined and the mother inter- 

 fered with, the better. 



Attend to two things darkness and fresh 

 air ; and leave them alone till they introduce 

 themselves of their own accord to your notice. 



Shift on to a clean nest the second day after 



