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House Cat Care. General information on feeding cats, epileptic fits, house breaking cats.
House Cat Care
The cat is very sensitive to treatment, and responds to good care; if we wish a cat as a real pet we must provide it the comforts of a home. A special sleeping place should be given ; this may con sist of a box or a basket, in which should be placed a bed of soft straw or hay, with disinfected sawdust sprinkled on the bottom of the box; this bed should be changed as often as is needed. A bit of carpet or a cushion may be used for bedding, but this needs to be frequently cleaned, or it may become infested with fleas. The bed should be placed in a warm and pro tected situation ; cats should not be put out of doors at nights. In case the cat is valuable, the risk of losing it is great if it is allowed to run out at night. More over, it does greatest damage to birds at night, or during early morning.
If puss is confined in the house, a shallow tin or box of dry earth or ashes should be kept in some convenient place, and she should be taught to use it. This should be emptied every day to keep it perfectly sanitary.
If a number of cats are kept there should be a special room or building with an outside run for their use. This place would need to be heated in cold weather, and must be free from damp, frost and draughts. Cats do not do well in pens or cages.
Food for CatsCats should be fed well at regular periods. Bread and milk is an acceptable food to most. Potatoes mixed with meat scraps and gravy may be given now and then ; occasionally fish heads, or other fish scraps, boiled with or without rice, are greatly relished. Many cats like porridge in the winter months, and all enjoy getting raw meat off of bones; however, smaller bones of chicken or game should not be given lest they cause internal injury. Cooked meat, in reasonable quantities, should be given each day. Cats are fond of grass, mint and catnip; catnip especially should be harvested in the summer, so that it may be given in the winter. Some advise the feed ing of a little raw meat three times a week, but this sometimes produces indigestion, or what is often called "fits." Above all, a dish of clean water should be kept where puss can help herself, for she likes to drink many times a day. Feeding her milk is not compensation for lack of water, therefore her special drinking dish should be kept filled with clean water, where she can reach it at any time.
Cat Care
Cats are sensitive and nervous creatures, and there fore it is necessary to treat them with gentleness and kindness. They are timid, but are fond of notice. They are very sensitive to the tone of voice, and often a stern command serves quite as well to warn or punish as a whipping. They are greatly benefited by warmth and sunshine, and should have plenty of exercise. Bathing is not necessary for the short haired cats, for they are very cleanly and attend to their own washing. The long-haired cats need more care, and cannot be allowed their liberty. They need to be carefully washed, dried and combed before a fire, often enough to keep them clean. Some advise the cleaning of the fur with fine flour, which can be rubbed in and brushed out. During the summer months cats are often troubled with fleas. One remedy for this is to wet the fur in a solution consist ing of one quart of water to two tablespoons of creolin. This kills the fleas, and leaves no unpleasant odor, and is not poisonous to the cat. A lather of tar soap also may be used for this. An old fashioned remedy was to spray the cat's fur and bedding with spirits of camphor. Carbolic acid should never be used as a disinfectant around cats as it does not agree with them.
Cat Epileptic Fits
The epileptic "fits" with which cats are afflicted are often caused by internal parasites, and some good vermifuge should be given. One grain of santonine sprinkled into a little milk and fed three times in one day on an empty stomach will usually effect a cure; this treatment may be repeated twice at intervals of two days to make sure. As santonine is a poison if given in large quantities, it should be followed with a teaspoonful of castor oil at night. Cats are often afflicted with diarrhoea, and the cure for this is to keep the patient confined, and give only a very small amount of food, which should consist of boiled rice and a little boiled milk. For constipation give a teaspoonful of castor oil; one authority advises Gar field tea steeped strong and given in teaspoon doses.
Puss has a strong love for places and does not take readily to anew home. Therefore, if it is necessary to move a pet cat, she should be taken into a room of the new house, close the doors and windows, and pet her and talk to her so that she feels that she is not alone. Then she should be allowed to examine the room until she becomes acquainted with it ; and her nest should be placed in the corner. Later she should be allowed to examine the entire house at her leisure, anql usually after a little she will settle down into her ncv/ quarters contentedly.House Breaking CatsEvery cat allowed in the house must be broken to cleanliness when young. This is best done by giving kittens close attention, and putting them out of doors, or in their box with the sand tray as soon as they are seen to be sniffing around corners of the room. If the worst happens, the kitten's nose should be nibbed in the urine or excrement and then it should be put out of doors. To a cat, which has a most sensitive nose, there could be no greater punishment or indignity than this. With care in putting the kitten out of doors at intervals, usually one or two repetitions of this punishment is enough. A kitten has a far better memory than has a puppy.
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