YOUR CAT IN WINTER

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 119, 13 February 1926, Page 17

YOUR CAT IN WINTER

HOW TO LOOK AFTER HIM

There is a very great deal of ignorance even among cat-lovers as to the best way to look after their pels, and neglect in winter often proves fatal to these very delicate and sensitive animals, states a writer in an exchange. A cat is often desperately ill for a long time before anybody notices it, and when it is finally tieated it is often too late to save it. If a cat refuses food it is always wise to act at once, especially if the refusal is accompanied by sickness. Milk should be avoided, aud a little beef tea given at once, and very often a teaspoonful of olive oil two or three times a week will keep puss well, and free from gastric trouble. In winter meat is much more important for cats than milk. Ox-cheek, oxheant, ox-liver, molts, lights, fresh cats meat are all excellent, and they should have a little raw meat if possible. The best mousers are well-fed eats. It is not generally realised how lm- , portant it is for cats to have access to

grass. People who keep cats in flats or places where there is no grass should always have a pof of growing grass kept outside the window. A great cat specialist declares that eats never live verv long lives without grass to eat. It is cruel to turn a cat out of a warm house to sleep outside on winter nights. Kittens should be at least six weeks old before thev are taken from their mothers. In the winter it is better if they are two months old. Tn cold weather it is absolutely cruel to deprive the kitten of the mother’s warmth and cosiness, although a hot bottle rolled in a soft shawl is better than nothing. Finally,'cuts and kittens going to a new home should invariably wear an elastic collar with the new address clearlv written on a small label altnched. That simple precaution would prevent many a catastrophe. As a general rule, however, it is dangerous for cats to wear any kind of collars in case they are caught and hanged in a tree.