THE CAT AND ITS DISEASES. 855 
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every conceivable color, from perfect black to spotless white, and many of 
them are desirable as pets und valuable as mousers. 
HEALTH OF CATS. 
Most people never think that a cat suffers a loss of health that is worth 
notice, and they entirely neglect their pet until it is perhaps found dead in 
the alley. To expect an animal of such a delicate organism to be free from 
disease is most unreasonable. It is doubtless true that many have little 
concern, too, whether the cat suffers or not. Two classes will perhaps put 
alow estimate on a work which is devoted to the comfort and health of 
an animal which they lightly esteem. One class will be found in the 
country, where vile mongrel cats are the only ones known, and whose only 
redeeming characteristic is a fecundity that supplies the demand as rapidly 
as it is made by the deaths which ensue from neglect and cruelty. The 
other class will be those who cultivate the contempt for the cat which 
many profess, because they suppose it is popular, without reflecting that it 
is not an evidence of superior taste to despise what God has created. But 
the great admiration—often extravagant, of course—evinced for this ani- 
mal by a host of good people, the high money value put upon it by such 
people and by most people in our cities, and the frequent applications made 
to the family physician when a favorite cat in the household is suffering, all 
point to a large class who will welcome the present treatise. Before the 
treatment is entered upon, a few hints are in order upon the care which is 
calculated to ward off in great measure the ailments to which this animal 
is subject. To preserve the health, the smoothness and gloss of the fur, 
and the temper, one must regard the food, drink, housing, and general 
management. 
Foop.—In this matter perhaps no error is more general than that of 
starving a cat to make it a good mouser. The practice has arisen from the 
mistaken notion that a cat kills mice and rats for food only, while the truth 
is that she does it quite as much because it is at once her sport and her nature, 
and that she will follow it up more faithfully if she is properly fed 
and kept in her normal health and spirits. If one wants his pet to be- 
come a thief and prowler, with an abundant stock of fleas and vermin, let 
him neglect to feed her regularly. Give at least two meals a day at regu- 
lar hours. After each feeding remove the dish and never use it a second 
time without first washing it. The quantity that is requisite can best be 
determined by experience, but some breeds, the Angora in particular, re- 
quire more than others. 
Oatmeal porridge and milk, or white bread soaked in milk a little 
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