THE DANGEROUS CAT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1705, 24 March 1913, Page 2

THE DANGEROUS CAT.

LET BABY PLAY WITH IT?

"It would bo much batter to give the average child a. red hot poker to play witli than the ordinary house cat/ deolares Dr, Charles B. Reed, whoso efforts to mako public the dangers of contagion froili-'tho, Wit are now becoming wide- 1 spread. ' . _ .. "The average, mother, adds Dr. Ivgou, "would probabjy faint at tho idea of giving a red hcH:'poker to'her child to play with, yet sho will allow the' little one to 1 kiss end hug and' fondlo the .house eat, whose soft fur may bo literally alive with the gerihs of many' deadly diseases. The'red hot poker, ithe doctor explains, would burn tho child'but once.; The burnwould heal, and that would be all there wis to it; but he declares that tho cat is,a beloved playfellow of (the children, and at tho same time might convey to the youngster germs of scarlet fever, diphtheria, and other iliseases. ' Tho fur of the cat may contain germs of any . one of theso diseases, or even germs of all of' these diseases. Kingworms arc spread from stroking a cats i'ur, and tho germs of typhoid, tuberculosis, measles, whooping cough, smallpox, and such dread diseases aro similarly transmitted. . Many a child who lias been suffering from somo- of these diseases and is oonvaloscing is given tho _ household cat ito play with. The cat is ullowed on the little one's bed; the child strokes it and plays with it. Later ,tlio cat goes out of doors and wanders about, as is the habit 'of cats. v Ho fights and playa with other cats in the neighbourhood. The. germs this cat has caught in his fur while being petted by the convalescing child axo now transmitted to <somo of the other cats. These oats go ito their _ various'homes, and other children play withthem. Then, in a great many instances, far more than wo realise, declares. Dr. Peed, these' children are taken down with some disease, and their parents wonder "where they got it." They belief,-e they have taken tho best of care of them. . Of course the doctor does not mean that ©very cat spreads disease, that every child who pets a' eat will con\o down wilth typhoid or smallpox or some such illness; but he maintains that there is always a danger, and that tho only safe way to avoid ithid is to avoid tho cats. Eats, it is known, carry disease' germs. Cats catch rats, it is true, but they get ithe germs, from them in somo instances, and tho lesser evil, seems to bo the rat, according to the doctor, as rats arc never mado pets of, and can' bo kent down by traps and poisons From tho London "Budget." .