DO YOU KEEP PETS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21924, 6 October 1934, Page 4 (Supplement)

DO YOU KEEP PETS

THEN: Don't let your kitten or your puppy follow you down tho road or to school. That is how the poor little things get lost or run over. While they arc little and silly they need to be kept safe in their own homes like babies. As soon as your puppy has a collar take care that it is rievdi- uncomfortably tight. He is growing fast and might suffer a good deal before anyone noticed. In summer and autumn both dogs and cats get fleas. If they are numerous they stunt the growth of young things and make them miserable. Even if the puppy is frequently bathed ( the following treatment is quite easy and as good for him as for the kitten: —Stand the kitten or puppy on a, sheet of newspaper out-of-doors, oi' anywhere, and then rub some insect powder into the roots of its fur. You can go all over it without doing it any harm so long as you keep the powder out of its eyes, and in a short time the insects drop out on the paper in, a stupefied condition. The powder soon kills them. The first thing a cat or dog does when it lias been relieved of this irritation is to curl lip and have a really restful sleep. I have known people take a kitten away and abandon it just because it had fleas, when, if they would take the trouble, they could easily clean the poor little thing.

If a half-starved .stray follows you home, and your mother is kind and lets you keep it, be very careful not to overfeed it at . first or it might die. All it should have is a few spoonfuls of milk with a good, long interval between meals.

If you put food or water out for birds don't put it in a place where a cat can creep near unseen and spring out on them. Always have some clean water standing in yard or garden in hot weather. It is a blessed thing to give water to thirsty creatures even if it is only a passing dog that you have never before.