Our Cats and All About Them Part 8

WHITE.

Of English, or short-haired cats, the best white are those from a tortoisesh.e.l.l mother, and as often some of the best blacks. These whites are generally of soft yellow, or sandy tint of white. Although they have pink noses, as also are the cushions of their feet, they are not Albinos, not having the peculiar pink or red eyes, nor are they deficient in sight. I have seen and examined with much care some hundreds of white cats, but have never yet seen one with pink eyes, though it has been a.s.serted that such exist, and there is no reason why they should not. Still, I am inclined to think they do not, and the pale blue eyes, or the red tinted blue, like those of the Siamese, take the place of it in the feline race; neither have I ever seen a white horse with pink eyes, but I find it mentioned in one of the daily papers that among other presents to the Emperor of Russia, the Bokhara Emba.s.sy took with them ten thoroughbred saddle-horses of different breeds, one of them being a magnificent animal--a pure white stallion with _blue eyes_.

The cold gray-white is the opposite of the black, and this knowledge should not be lost sight of in mating. It generally has yellow or light orange eyes. This colour, in a male, may be crossed with the yellow-white with advantage, when more strength of const.i.tution is required; but otherwise I deem the best matching is that of two yellow-white, both with blue eyes, for soft hair, elegance, and beauty; but even a black male and a white female produce whites, and sometimes blacks, but the former are generally of a coa.r.s.e description, and harsh in coat by comparison. I think the blue-eyed white are a distinct breed from the common ordinary white cat, nor do I remember any such being bred from those with eyes of yellow colour.

ABYSSINIAN.

To breed these true, it is well to procure imported or pedigree stock, for many cats are bred in England from ordinary tabbies, that so nearly resemble Abyssinian in colour as scarcely to be distinguished from the much-prized foreigners. The males are generally of a darker colour than the females, and are mostly marked with dark-brown bands on the forehead, a black band along the back which ends at the tip of the tail, with which it is annulated. The ticking should be of the truest kind, each hair being of three distinct colours, blue, yellow, or red, and black at the points, the cushions of the feet black, and back of the hind-legs. Choose a female, with either more red or yellow, the markings being the same, and, with care in the selection, there will be some very brilliant specimens. Eyes bright orange-yellow.

ABYSSINIAN CROSSES.

Curiously coloured as the Abyssinian cat is, and being a true breed, no doubt of long far back ancestry, it is most useful in crossing with other varieties, even with the Persian, Russian, Angora, or the Archangel, the ticking hues being easy of transmission, and is then capable of charming and delightful tints, with breadths of beautiful mottled or grizzled colouring, if judiciously mated. The light tabby Persian, matched with a female Abyssinian, would give unexpected surprises, so with the dark blue Archangel; a well-ticked blue would not only be a novelty, but an elegant colour hitherto unseen. A deep red tabby might result in a whole colour, bright red, or a yellow tint. I have seen a cat nearly black ticked with white, which had yellow eyes.

It was truly a splendid and very beautiful animal, of a most _recherche_ colour. Matched with a silver-gray tabby, a silver-gray tick is generally the sequence. A yellow-white will possibly prove excellent.

Try it!

WHITE AND BLACK.

For white and black choose evenly marked animals, in which white predominates. I have seen three differently bred cats, white, with black ears and tails, all else being white, and been informed of others. I failed to notice the colour of the eyes which came under my own observation, for which I am sorry, for much depends on the colour of the eyes in selection; for though the parents are white and black, many gray and white, tabby and white, even yellow and white will appear among the kittens, gray being the original colour, and black the sport.

BLACK AND WHITE.

A deep brown, dense black ground, with a blaze up the face, white nose and lips, should be chosen--white chest and white feet. Get a female as nearly as possible so marked, and being a dense blue-black, both with orange eyes, when satisfactorily marked, and sable and white kittens may be expected.

BLUE TABBY.

A slate colour, or a blue male cat, mated with a strongly black-marked, though narrow-banded blue or gray tabby, is the best for dark blue tabbies, or a light-gray, evenly-marked female may be used. What a lovely thing a white cat, marked with black stripes, would be! It may be got.

SPOTTED TABBY.

For spotted tabby the best brown are those got by mating a spotted red tabby, the darker the better, and a brown and black spotted female.

These should be carefully selected, not only for their ground colour, but also for the roundness, distinctness, blackness, and arrangements of their spots.

For grays, blues, and light ash-coloured tabbies, the same care should be exercised, the only difference being the choice of ground colours.

FANCY COLOURS.

By other odd and fanciful combinations, many beautiful mottles and stripes may be secured, and strange, quaint, harmonious arrangements of lines and spots produced according to "fancy's dictates;" but the foregoing are the chief colours in request for exhibition purposes, and most of the colour marking. In any other colour cla.s.ses, the beauties, whatever they may be, are chiefly the result of accident or sports, selected for such beauty, or in other ways equally interesting.

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CAT AND KITTENS.

Care and attention is necessary when the cat is likely to become a mother. A basket or box, half filled with sweet hay, or clean oat straw, with some flannel in the winter, is absolutely requisite, and a quiet nook or corner selected away from light, noise, and intrusion. Some prefer a box made like a rabbit-hutch, with sleeping place, and a barred door to one or both compartments which may be closed when thought necessary for comfort and quiet. The cat should be placed within, with food and new milk by or inside, and there be regularly fed for a few days, all pans and plates to be kept well washed, and only as much food given at a time as can be eaten at one meal, so that everything is clean and fresh. Cats, as I have before stated, delight in cleanliness, therefore this, nor any comfort, should not be forgotten or omitted, for so much depends on her health and the growth of her little family, with regard to their future well-being.

The cat brings forth three times a year, and often more. The time of gestation is to sixty-three days, and the number of the kittens varies much. Some will have five to six at a birth, while others _never_ have more than two or three. I had a blue tabby, "The Old Lady," which never had more than _one_. The cat, however, is a very prolific animal, and, if of long life, produces a very numerous progeny. _The Derby Gazette_, December 10th, 1886, states:--"There is a cat at Cromford, the age of which is nineteen years. It belonged to the late Mr. Isaac Orme, who died a few months ago. The old man made an entry of all the kittens the cat had given birth to, which, up to the time of his death, numbered 120. It has now just given birth to _one_ more. It will not leave the house where the old man died, except to visit a neighbouring house, where there is a harmonium; and when the instrument is being played, the cat will go and stand on its hind-legs beside the player."

Cats live to various ages, the oldest I have seen being twenty-one years, and the foregoing is the greatest age at which I have known one to breed. But I am indebted to Mrs. Paterson, of Tunbridge Wells, for the information that Mr. Sandal had a cat that lived to the extraordinary age of twenty-four years. I have seen Mr. Sandal, and found that such was the case. It was a short-haired cat, and rather above the usual size, and tabby in colour.

When littered, the kittens are weak, blind, deaf, helpless little things, and it appears almost impossible they can ever attain the supple grace and elegance of form and motion so much admired in the fully-developed cat.

The state of visual darkness continues until the eighth or ninth day, during which the eyesight is gradually developing. After this they grow rapidly, and, at the age of a few weeks, the gamboling, frolicsome life of "kittenhood" begins, and they begin to feed, lap milk, if slightly warm, when placed in front of them.

No animal is more fond and attentive than the cat; she is the most tender and gentle of nurses, watching closely every movement of her young. With the utmost solicitude she brings the choicest morsels of her own food, which she lays before them, softly purring, while with gentle and motherly ways she attracts them to the spot while she sits or stands, looking on with evident satisfaction, full of almost uncontrollable pleasure and delight, at their eager, but often futile attempts and endeavours to eat and enjoy the dainty morsel. Yet nothing is wasted, for after waiting what appears to her a reasonable time, and giving them every encouragement, and with the most exemplary patience, she teaches them what they should do, and how, by slowly making a meal of the residue herself, frequently stopping and fondling and licking them in the hope they will yet make another effort. What can be more sensitively touching than the following anecdote, sent to _The Animal World_ by C. E. N., in 1876? It is a little poem of everyday life, full of deep feeling and feline love.

"I have a small tabby cat, very comely and graceful. Being very fond of her kitten, she is always uneasy if she loses sight of it if only for a short time. For the last six weeks, the mother, failing to recall the truant back by her voice, even returns to the kitchen for the lower portion of a rabbit's fore-leg, which has served as a plaything for some time. With this in her mouth, she proceeds to search for her lost one, crying all the time, and, putting it down at her feet, repeats her entreaties, to which the kitten, allured by the sight of its plaything, generally responds. Owing to its gambols in the open air during the inclement weather, the kitten was seized with an affliction of the throat; the mother, puzzled with the prostration of its offspring, brought down the rabbit's foot to attract attention. In vain; the kitten died. Even now the loving mother searches for the rabbit's foot, and brings it down."

An instance of the peculiar foresight and instinct, so often observable in the cat, is related in _The Animal World_, October, 1882. Miss M.

writes: "This house is very old, and big impudent rats often appear in the shop, so a cat is always kept on the premises. p.u.s.s.y is about five years old, and is a handsome, light tortoisesh.e.l.l, with a pretty face and coaxing ways. A month ago she had three kittens, one of which was kept; they were born in the drawing-room, by the side of the piano. When the two were taken away, p.u.s.s.y carried the one remaining to the fireplace, and made it a bed under the grate with shavings. When a fortnight old, both were removed downstairs to the room behind the shop.

One day last week an enormous rat appeared; p.u.s.s.y spied him, and set up her back; but her motherly instinct prevailed. She looked round the shop, and, finding a drawer high up a little way open, she jumped with her kitten in her mouth, and dropped it into the drawer, after which she descended and fought a battle royal with the rat, which she soon despatched and carried to her mistress, then went back to the drawer and brought out her kitten."

Here is another fact as regards the observation of cats, which possibly, in this respect, is not far different from some other domestic animals.

"A gray and white cat, 'Jenny' (a house cat), had three kittens in the hollow stump of an old ash-tree, some distance from the house. There, from time to time, she took them food, and there nursed them. One day, looking from the window, I observed a very heavy storm was approaching, and also, what should I see but Mistress 'Jenny' running across the meadow as fast as she could, and, on her drawing nearer, I noticed that she had one of her kittens in her mouth. She ran past and put the kitten into a small outhouse, when she immediately hastened back, and returned bringing another of her kittens, which she put in the same place. Again she started for the wood, and shortly reappeared bringing her third and last kitten, though more slowly, seemingly very tired. I was just thinking of going to help her, when she suddenly quickened her pace and ran for the outhouse; just then a few drops of rain began to fall. In a few moments a deluge of water was falling, the lightning was flashing, the thunder crashed overhead and rumbled in the distance, but 'Jenny'

did not mind, for she had her three kittens comfortably housed, and she and they were all nestled together in an apple basket, warm and dry.

Surely she must have known, by instinct or observation, that the storm was coming."--From my Book of "_Animal Stories, Old and New_."

Should it be deemed necessary to destroy some, if not all of the litter, which, unfortunately, is sometimes the case, it is not well to take away the whole at once; but it is advisable to let a day or two intervene between each removal; the mother will thus be relieved of much suffering, especially if one at least is left for her to rear, but two is preferable. Still, when the progeny are well-marked or otherwise valuable, and large specimens are required for show or other purposes, three kittens are enough to leave, though some advocate as many as five; but if this is done it is better to provide a foster-mother for two, for which even a dog will often prove a very good subst.i.tute for one of the feline race. In either case, slightly warm new milk should be given at least three times a day; the milk should not be heated, but some hot water put to it, and as soon as their teeth are sufficiently grown for them to be of use in mastication give some raw beef cut very small and fine. Some prefer chopped liver; I do not; but never give more than they can lap or eat at each meal. This liberal treatment will make a wonderful difference in their growth, and also their general health and strength; and being so fed makes them more docile. And it should be borne in mind that in a state of nature cats always bring raw food to their young as soon as they are able to eat; therefore raw meat is far the best to give them--their dent.i.tion proves this.

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KITTENS.

Kittenhood, the baby time especially of country cats, is with most the brightest, sprightliest, and prettiest period of their existence, and perhaps the most happy. True, when first born and in the earliest era of their lives, they are blind, helpless little things, dull, weak, and staggering, scarcely able to stand, if at all, almost rolling over at every attempt, making querulous, fretful noises, if wakeful or cold, or for the time motherless. But 'tis not for long; awhile, and she, the fondest of mothers, is with them. They are nestled about her, or amid her soft, warm fluffy fur, cossetted with parental tenderness, caressed, nurtured, and, with low, sweet tones and fondlings, they are soothed again and again to sleep.--They sleep.--Noiseless, and with many a longing, lingering look, the careful, watchful, loving creature slowly and reluctantly steals away; soon to return, when she and her little ones are lost "in the land of dreams." And so from day to day, until bright, meek-eyed, innocent, inquiring little faces, with eager eyes, peep above the basket that is yet their home. One bolder than the others springs out, when, scared at its own audacity, as quickly, and oft clumsily, scrambles back, then out--in--and out, in happy, varied, wild, frolicsome, gambolsome play, they clutch, twist, turn, and wrestle in artless mimicry of desperate quarrelling;--the struggle over, in liveliest antics they chase and rechase in turn, or in fantastic mood play; 'tis but play, and such wondrous play--bright, joyous, and light; and so life glides on with them as kittens--frisky, skittish, playful kittens.

A few more days, and their mother leads them forth, with many an anxious look and turn, softly calling in a subdued voice, they halting almost at every step; suddenly, oft at nothing, panic-stricken, quickly scamper back, not one yet daring to follow where all is so oddly strange and new, their natural shyness being stronger than the love of freedom.

Again, with scared look and timid steps, they come, when again at nothing frightened, or with infantile pretence, they are off, "helter-skelter," without a pause or stay, one and all, they o'er and into their basket clamber, tumble in, turn about and stare with a more than half-bewildered, self-satisfied safety look about them. Gaining courage once more, they peer about, with dreamy, startled, anxious eyes, watching for dangers that never are, although expected. Noiseless comes their patient, loving mother; with what new delight they cling about her; how fondly and tenderly she tends them, lures, cossets, coaxes, and talks, as only a gentle mother-cat can--"There is no danger, no!--nothing to fear. Is she not with them; will she not guard, keep and defend them? There is a paradise out there; through this door; they must see it. Come, she will show them; come, have confidence! Now, then--come!" When followed by her three little ones, and they with much misgiving, she pa.s.ses out--out into the garden, out among the lovely, blooming, fragrant roses, out among the sweet stocks and the damask-coloured gilly-flowers, the pink daisies, brown, red, and orange wallflowers, the spice-scented pinks, and other gay and modest floral beauties that make so sweet the soft and balmy breath of Spring. Out into the sunshine, almost dazed amid a flood of light, warmed by the glowing midday sun. Light above, light around and everywhere about; while the sweet-scented breezes come joy-laden with the happy wild birds' melodious songs; wearied with wonderment, under the flower-crowned lilacs they gather themselves to rest. How beautiful all is, how full of young delights; the odorous wind fans, soothes, and lulls them to rest, while rustling leaves softly whisper them to sleep--they and their loving mother slumber unconscious of all things, and with all things at peace. There, stretched in the warm sunshine asleep, possibly dreaming of their after-life when they are kittens no longer, they rest and--sleep.

Their young, bright life has begun; how charming all is, how peaceful under the young, green leaves, bright as emeralds; about them flickering, chequering lights play with the never-wearying, restless shadows; they know of nothing but bliss, so happy, they enjoy all--sweet-faced, gentle-eyed and pretty. Happy, there is no other word.

"Happy as a kitten." "Sprightly as a kitten." As they sleep they dream of delight, awake they more than realise their dreams.