CHAPTER XVI 



CONCERNING CERTAIN CAT CHARACTERISTICS 



I WONDER if a trace of the natural enmity be- 

 tween the cat and the dog does not extend some- 

 how to the cat-lover and the dog-lover. There really 

 seems to be a trace of belligerency in the feeling 

 which one friend who is devoted to dogs endeavors 

 to conceal when another proclaims a preference for 

 cats. One may safely say that he prefers horses to 

 cows, or that he loves a kangaroo better than a pigeon 

 hawk. But let a man or woman say : " I do not 

 care for cats but I do love dogs," or vice versa, and 

 immediately a secret and more or less successfully 

 veiled antagonism is roused in the heart of the hearer 

 whose loves lie in the opposite direction. 



St. George Mivart says, " Though the cat is much 

 less demonstrative in affection than the dog, yet cats 

 differ as men do, and some individuals manifest 

 strong feelings of regard for one or other members 

 of the family with whom they make their homes." 



Champfleury explains this difference by saying : 

 "Here the schism between meditative beings and 

 active natures reveals itself. The barking of a dog 

 has an irritating effect on the delicate organs of the 



237 



