Uncommon Pets 205 
cheetah seems to be that it must have plenty of liberty and change, and it certainly 
gets the latter when forming part of a travelling show. Cheetahs are very quiet and 
inoffensive, being, if anything, more gentle than a puma, but very timid and excitable 
—a strange noise for which they cannot account disturbing them for days and upsetting 
their nerves. Diarrhoea and fits are the two ailments which these animals generally 
suffer from; the former can be treated by variation of diet, the latter by keeping the 
animals on short commons. Overfeeding is a common fault which must be carefully 
euarded agaist. The dietary is beef or mutton chopped into mouthfuls, and fowls’ 
heads and necks; they also relish occasionally a small dish of animal blood to lap 
at af warm. Beef does not always agree with cheetahs. These animals are extremely 
sensitive to chills and draughts, and the temperature in which they are kept must 
always be an equable one. 
A larger cat than the others mentioned, and one that is more readily tamed 
than any of the family, is the Puma (f. concolor). Not only is it after awhile quite 
trustworthy as a pet, but it also becomes greatly attached to whoever looks after it 
well. It differs from other members of the family in that if caught adult it does not 
take kindly to a captive existence, but usually pines away and dies; if caught as a 
kitten, however, it is most affectionate, and can be safely trusted about the house 
except where there are dogs, for it never gets over its natural antipathy to those 
animals. The feeding is simple, beef being the chief article of diet, but the puma 
shows a great predilection for live food, such as fowls and small mammals. Taking, 
as these animals do, to a captive life so readily it is not to be wondered at that 
they enter into domestic arrangements, and they very frequently bring forth young, 
either one or two at a time, in captivity. 
Generally speaking, the feeding of the foreign cats in captivity is not a particularly 
difficult matter, beef forming the staple article of diet with the exceptions noted.* 
Those who live in the country, where plenty of small animals and birds can be 
trapped, will have an easy task to feed thew cats. A full-grown ocelot or other cat 
of the same size will want about a pound of beef every evening, with the exception 
of those times when the dietary is varied. Mutton, guinea-pigs, fowls’ giblets, hashed 
vegetables, vats, mice, and small birds all form alternative diet, and the animals 
will be kept in better health where the dietary is varied. If the animals are 
young they will require a little more attention with regard to feeding, and must 
be given boiled milk, boiled meal, and sloppy foods generally, as they are not able 
to assimilate their food so well as the adult animals. Otvelots have been noticed to 
be fond of eating land and fresh-water snails. A supply of cut grass should be 
given at least three times a week, and a lump of rock salt and sulphur put in the 
cage for medicinal purposes. 
The diseases from which foreign cats 
suffer ave usually catarrh and inflammation 
of the lungs, generally caused by the cage { 
not being thoroughly and properly dried after 
being cleaned. Too much care cannot be 
exercised In seeing that the cage is always 
well dried after each scrubbing-out. When 
a cold sets in it is almost impossible to 
administer medicine, as the cat usually 
resents being interfered with. All that can 
be done is to give half-an-ounce of the Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S., North Finehley. 
best castor oil in a saucerful of milk. THE PUMA. 
* See also the Article on the Lynx, page 229. 
