THE DOMESTIC CAT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 230, 28 September 1935, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE DOMESTIC CAT.

A MISUNDERSTOOD ANIMAL

TIME FOR DEFENCE. ©

(By MELISAXDE KAY.)

Cats have ever been the least understood of domestic animals. Poor pussy! She is quiet, harmless and self-effacing, but throughout the ages has boivildered her master, man, and accordingly has been invested with many qualities she has never possessed. It is not fair, and I think it is high time somebody said a word in pussy's defence.

The immediate cause of this outburst is a passage in a recent book by a wellknown scientist, who cans pussy the typically feminine animal, with all the "feminine traits of timidity, deceptiv<iness, indirectness and use of tne *'on ( rue as practical weapons of defence." Now, that sort of thing should not be allowed to pass unchallenged. It is the product of a frame of mind that has endured for many centuries now.

Countless ages ago the Egyptians were so baffled by pussy that they made her a sacred animal. In those times whole cities went into mourning on the death of a cat, and those who had been closely connected with her shaveo off their eyebrows as a mark of respejt. Many of us nowadays do not so much as raise our eyebrows when the cat dies, but that only shows how good manners have declined with the passing of the vears.

The Romans also had a very high opinion of pussy; they could not understand her imperturbable demeanour and unassuming, noiseless ways; but, being a polite people, they wrote it down a mystery; and they ordained that no one should harm a cat on pain of death. One noble Roman who inadvertently killed a cat was torn to pieces by an infuriated mob. Uncultured Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages, however, people were less cultured and more superstitious; and their fear, or misunderstanding, of pussy developed into hatred and cruelty. We have all heard of the medieval witch with her broomstick and black cat. Well, pussy in those days was regarded as the personification of malicious evil. When an old woman believed to be a witch was drowned her cat was drowned with her. One sorcerer, hoping to invoke Old Nick himself, constructed a cat organ, consisting of a score of cats tethered in a row. By pulling their tails at different times, says an historian, he produced some singularly weird music. I would very much like to pull that sorcerer's nose for him until he also developed musical propensities.

Even to-day pussy has her detractors, witness the remark I have already quoted, which is by no means a rare specimen. I could provide many instances of modern ignorance about the t£ue character of my favourite domestic animal. One famous biologist tells us that in proportion to their size cats are "the fiercest, strongest and most terrible of beasts." Yet another describes pussy as the "one animal which has been esteemed and at times worshipped without having any single distinctly desirable quality."

Then it is only necessary to study the language to see how pussy has become a synonym for unpleasantness or guile. The rope whip formerly used for flogging sailors and soldiers is called "the eat"; we describe a turncoat as one who has "turned cat in the pan"; we speak of a vacillating politician as "waiting for the cat to jump"; we fight like "Kilkenny cats"; lead "a cat and dog life"; make "catcalls" in the theatre; lay traps for the "cat burglar"; make use of a "cat's paw"; and describe women's innocentseeming thrusts as "feline amenities." Psychological Explanation. The whole thing is wrong. Pussy is not like that at all. Personally, I think the prejudiced ones responsible for the calumnies are worried by a "cat-phobia." Psychologists admit that some people instinctively dislike cats, probably because remote ancestors of theirs, living in the jungle, came into unpleasant contact with wild cats. I myself have seen a person unaccountably shudder at the sight of a cat. , Yet countless numbers of distinguished men and women have been cat-lovers. It is difficult to discover a genius who has not been fond of pussy, as if an affinity exists between the aristocrats of our breed and those of the animal kingdom. Ben Jonson bought oysters for his favourite cat, and Lord Chesterfield left him a pension. Cardinal Wolsey made an intimate companion of his cat, as did Victor Hugo and Henry James. Then, think of the many cats that have appeared in fiction, from the immortal Puss-in-Boots to Pierre Loti's "Moumolle Chinoise."

Of course it is unnecessary to go so far as the German lady who advertised in a newspaper: "Wanted by a lady of rank, for adequate remuneration, a few well-behaved and respectably dressed children to amuse a cat, in delicate health, two or three hours a day." But cat-lovers everywhere will agree, I think, that poor, harmless-pussy has received enough undeserved kicks in his time, has too often been not only saddled with sins he has never committed, but also exalted unnecessarily above his station, and that the time is ripe for a word in his defence.