General Treatment of Cats 



duty which they have shirked. How are these de- 

 serted ones cared for by " some one " ? In nine 

 cases out of ten the servants of the house are strictly 

 forbidden to feed a stray cat, for fear of "coaxing 

 her to stay." From door to door the hungry cat or 

 kitten goes, only to be driven away by a broom or 

 some worse missile. 



In one neighborhood where a mysterious influx of 

 half-grown starving kittens appeared, it was found on 

 inquiry that a minister living in one of the houses 

 ordered the family cat to be shut out and no longer 

 fed, that she might be made to seek other quarters, 

 because she was too prolific. In Old Orchard, at the 

 close of one summer, forty deserted cats were seen 

 about the beach, some of them so wild that no one 

 could get near them. At Nantasket there are some- 

 times a hundred cats left to starve in the same way. 

 The excuse is often heard : — 



" Oh, a cat can get its own living ! " 



Possibly, in the country, where there are plenty of 

 mice-infested barns and outbuildings; but on a de- 

 serted sand beach in winter, or on a city street, what 

 chance do the poor creatures have".' My heart 

 goes out to the cats who are so cast out, with nothing 

 left them but to crawl into insufficient shelter be- 

 neath doorsteps of deserted buildings, rubbish heaps, 

 broken platforms of railway stations or wharves, and 

 there suffer the pangs of maternity and die uncared 

 for by the slow process of starvation. 



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