The Domestic Cat Part 5

CHAPTER NINE.

THE DISEASES OF CATS.

Before describing the management and treatment of feline ailments, I may as well mention that there are three different plans usually adopted for giving a cat medicine. p.u.s.s.y must first and foremost be caught--not always an easy job, as the little creature is fond of hiding away when ill. Take her on your knee, and, as you gently soothe her, envelope her, all save the head, in a woollen shawl, and then place her in some one else's arms to hold. Now, if it is a pill or small bolus it must be dipped in oil, and placed well down behind the tongue, and towards the roof of the mouth; if it is a powder, it may simply be placed on the tongue; but the better plan is to mix it first with a little treacle or glycerine; thirdly, if it is a fluid, the mouth must be held well open, and the medicine poured down the throat out of a small phial, but only a few drops at a time.

If your cat is suffering from any severe illness, such as bronchitis, and you value her, set aside a garret or lumber-room for her accommodation, for quiet is essential to her recovery. Arrange her bed as common sense tells you will best suit her comfort; don't forget to let her have plenty of clean water to drink, and a large box of garden mould in the far corner of the room. There is only one other little matter, which must not be overlooked--and, with this, p.u.s.s.y's little hospital is complete--Gra.s.s.

_Gra.s.s_.--This is the natural medicine of both cat and dog. In large doses, it acts as an emetic; in smaller, as a purgative; its mode of action being similar in both cases, namely, mechanical irritation of the muscular and mucous coats of the alimentary ca.n.a.l; this causing spasmodic contraction of the stomach, or increasing the peristaltic motions of bowel. Gra.s.s also possesses valuable antis...o...b..tic properties, and the cat, either in sickness or health, should never want a supply of it.

If p.u.s.s.y has been out all night at a feline entertainment on the tiles, and the excitement has produced constipation, her remedy is gra.s.s. If she has made too free in the aviary, and the feathers of the Norwich c.o.c.k lie unpleasantly on her stomach, gra.s.s is her cure; or if she, at any time, feels hot or feverish, out into the garden she goes, and a little gra.s.s, taken at intervals, soon makes her feel as fresh as the lark.

Don't let your cat want gra.s.s, then; if you live in a town, and she has some difficulty in getting it, either procure it for her yourself, or, what is better, get a boxful of earth, and sow it, and call it p.u.s.s.y's garden. Now for p.u.s.s.y's ailments.

_Mange_.--All skin diseases in the cat, whether pustular, papular, or squamous, may be, for convenience' sake, called _mange_. Cats are very subject to skin diseases, especially long-haired ones, and those who have been the subjects of bad or careless treatment; for they are always brought about by poverty of the blood, from under-feeding, or surfeit from over-eating on dainties. Now I must warn the cat-fancier that there is no _specific_ for the cure of mange in the cat, and that the cure will take weeks, and at times even months; he must therefore make up his mind either to destroy the cat at once, or set about curing her in earnest. Attend, in the first place, to her diet. It must be nouris.h.i.+ng, but not heating; plenty of good milk, and no meat, unless she be very thin, when raw meat in small quant.i.ties may be given twice a day. Dress the skin with carbolic oil, was.h.i.+ng her carefully next day; then try equal parts of sulphur-ointment and green iodide of mercury ointment, mixed with an equal bulk of lard. Give her a.r.s.enic internally--one drop of the _Liquor a.r.s.enicalis_ twice a day, in milk, for a week, then thrice a day for another week, when you must omit it for a day or two, and then begin again. At the same time give her, once or twice a week, a little sulphur. Placing brimstone-roll in a cat's drinking-water is all a mistake, and does no good at all. Sometimes the disease will only yield to a course of iodide of potash. Give her half-grain or whole-grain doses, made into little boluses with breadcrumbs--which any chemist can make for you--twice a day.

_Ulcers_.--Cats are liable to a variety of these, but they can best and most conveniently be described as of two sorts--_const.i.tutional_ and _accidental_. The first are the most difficult to cure, and are usually found on the toes or feet. Confine the cat to the house for a term; any simple ointment, such as that of zinc, will do for a dressing, as it will not hurt her if she licks it. Put her on a course of a.r.s.enic, as recommended above; give her, once a week, one grain of calomel, or two or three grains of grey powder and a little sulphur; and, if the sores appear sluggish, touch them once a day with blue-stone or nitrate of silver. Feed her well and regularly.

_Accidental ulcers_ are generally the result of scratches and wounds received in the hunting-field, or during some slight difference of opinion with the p.u.s.s.y over the way. They require no internal treatment. If they look angry, bathe in warm water, or milk and water, and use, occasionally, a little lotion of sulphate of zinc--ten grains to four ounces of water, to which add one drachm of tincture of lavender. If the sores are sluggish, and indisposed to heal kindly, truss the cat in the shawl, and cauterise with nitrate of silver; afterwards dress with the mildest mercurial ointment.

_Inflammation of the eyes_ is generally the result of injury or cold caught from exposure. It may be confined to one eye, or may attack both. In either case the treatment is the same. Begin by the use of a purgative--say two or three grains of compound jalap-powder mixed in glycerine, and given in the morning; give nothing but bread-and-milk to eat, and let the cat have a little sulphur mixed with b.u.t.ter or lard every second day. The external treatment consists in bathing frequently with warm water or weak green tea, and the following lotion, may afterwards be used with advantage: two grains of sulphate of zinc to an ounce of water, or one grain of nitrate of silver to the same quant.i.ty of _aqua pura_.

_Simple Maladies_.--If you are fond of your cat you will naturally easily know when she is getting out of sorts or going to be ill. When you observe, then, from her appearing dull and apathetic, refusing her food, taking to dark corners, or sleeping all day, without attempting to go out of doors; and, especially if her coat is dry; catch her at once, and give her an emetic. Try a little salt and water first, and, if that will not act, two grains of sulphate of zinc will, given in luke-warm water. Afterwards administer as much castor-oil as you would give to a baby, or two or three grains of grey powder. Such treatment, taken in time, will often have the effect of cutting short a serious illness.

_Operations_.--Never hesitate to open an abscess if you think, or rather, if you are about half sure, there is matter in it. Afterwards foment with warm water. Poultices are unhandy. If the cat's leg has been severely lacerated and broken in a trap, and there seems little likelihood of its being able to heal, cut it off. Do it quietly, gently, and firmly; the ragged edge of the bone may be sawn off with a table-knife made into a saw with a file. (I cut a man's finger off the other day with the same instrument. About a fortnight after, the commander, sitting at luncheon, made the innocent remark: "This knife is rather blunt, steward. I'm hanged!" he roared, immediately after, as he dashed the knife through the open port, "I'm hanged if it isn't the doctor's saw!")

Be sure to leave enough flesh to form a flap to cover the bone; stop the bleeding with the actual cautery, then sew up and dress the wound in sticking plaster; only leave room for the egress of matter. Painful operations of this sort are always better performed under chloroform.

Lay the cat on her side (rolled in the shawl) on some one else's knee, pour a little chloroform into a handkerchief, and hold it _near, not on_ p.u.s.s.y's nose, or you will smother her. As soon as one portion of the chloroform gets evaporated supply its place with more; in from five to ten minutes p.u.s.s.y will be in the land of nod.

_Consumption_.--Consumption in the cat is curable, because it is not necessarily disease of the lungs. The term is used to denote all sorts of wasting disease in which p.u.s.s.y falls away in flesh, in coat, and in general health. The treatment must be careful--regulation of the diet and attention to her housing, an occasional mild purgative and dose of sulphur-b.u.t.ter. You may give her raw meat steeped in wine if she will take it; but remember your great sheet-anchor in the care of all these cases is _cod-liver oil_, a dessert spoonful every day, or even more.

And you may supplement the treatment most advantageously by giving, twice a day, the sixth of a grain of quinine.

One word of warning to cat-fanciers before I close this chapter. _Never ask a veterinary surgeon about your cat_. Their knowledge of canine ailments is vastly behind the times; their knowledge of cat diseases is simply and literally _carte blanche_. If you want your p.u.s.s.y killed or tormented to death, _go to a chemist_. The chemists in this country, through their ignorance, and impudent a.s.sumption of medical knowledge, slay their thousands annually. Their ignorant patients, however, go with their eyes open, and place themselves in chemists' hands. Well, as a paternal government refuses to protect the people, let the chemists go ahead and poison away; but, if warning of mine will be heard and heeded, they shall not poison our p.u.s.s.ies too.

CHAPTER TEN.

DISEASES OF CATS--CONTINUED.

Probably one of the commonest and most distressing of complaints in the cat is _diarrhoea_; and what makes it all the more distressing, is the fact that, instead of receiving sympathy and good treatment in her distress, she is often harshly treated, kicked about, and thrust out of doors.

Diarrhoea is usually brought about by want of regular feeding, by improper food, and exposure to wet and cold. Different sorts of food will also induce it--such as rancid horseflesh, sour milk, an over-allowance of fat or liver. If taken at once, the treatment is generally very successful; if let go on too long, the cat will rapidly lose flesh; and the advent of dysentery will make it a charity to put her out of the way.

Give her at first a small teaspoonful of castor-oil, to which add two drops of solution of muriate of morphia. This will often stop it, and remove all offending matter from the intestines. If there is no improvement, repeat the dose on the second morning, and give small doses of common chalk mixture three times a day, with two drops of laudanum divided between the three doses. Let her have nothing but bread and milk to eat, or a little corn-flour, if she will take it; if not, give her fish--she won't refuse that.

A few drops of solution of lime added to her milk will do good.

If she be very much reduced in weight, and has no appet.i.te, try two grains of quinine made into twelve pills with breadcrumb: dose, one three times a day. Or you may give cod-liver oil.

_Dysentery_ is a frequent sequel to badly-treated diarrhoea. It is simply ulceration of the coats of the bowels, combined with great emaciation, roughness of coat, dejected look, and loss of appet.i.te.

Unless a very valuable cat, I would not advise you to keep her alive.

You may, however, with patience, bring her round. Give her, then, a grain or two of calomel occasionally, and quinine three times a day, unless she exhibits any tendency to fits. House her well, and give her the most generous of diet--raw meat, eggs, etc, and a little port wine daily, or even a small quant.i.ty of brandy.

_Gastritis_, or inflammation of the stomach, is by no means rare in the cat, and is frequently the result of poison having been given with the hope of causing death. The cat simply pines, and gets thin, and refuses nearly all food, which, when she does eat, causes pain, sickness, and vomiting. The bowels, too, are often disordered. There is nothing better, in these cases, than the tris-nitrate of bis.m.u.th, from one to three grains to be placed on the tongue twice or thrice daily. You may also give occasionally a grain or two of calomel with a little rhubarb powder.

If there is much emaciation, cod-liver oil may be tried, and a small allowance of raw meat, cut into little bits; and quinine.

_Bronchitis_.--This is a much more common and dangerous disease than is generally supposed. It often attacks cats at a particular age--say, six or eight months--and, indeed, is somewhat a.n.a.logous to distemper in the dog. It is ushered in by the usual symptoms of a bad cold--staring coat, watery eyes, and a slight cough. If the disease be confined to the lining membranes of the nose and throat, there will be but little cough, but it usually attacks the bronchi (windpipes) themselves. There is pain, a slight swelling of the nose, and mattery exudation from both nose and eyes. After a few days of the acute comes _the chronic stage_.

p.u.s.s.y is now a very wretched and unhappy little object indeed. She wanders about the house coughing continually, with her little tongue protruding. She gets rapidly thin, and refuses all food; and, if not attended to, generally seeks some quiet, dark corner in which to die.

_Treatment_.--Great good can be done in the first stage by hot fomentations applied across the face. These must be frequent, or they are of no avail. Keep p.u.s.s.y indoors, and at first let her diet be low-- simply bread and milk, and occasionally fish. Give her castor-oil alone, if there is no diarrhoea; if there is, add to the dose two drops of solution of muriate of morphia.

As the disease gets chronic, and p.u.s.s.y begins to lose flesh, do everything you can to support her strength by beef-tea, nouris.h.i.+ng food, and wine. If the cough is troublesome, get her the following, compounded by your own chemist:--R. Extr. conii, Pil. scillae, co. aa., gr. xv.; Camph., gr. xx. Mix and make into twenty-four pills, and give one night and morning.

Latterly give cod-liver oil to complete the cure, which, in this case, will act like magic.

If the mange is present in any shape, it must be carefully seen to as directed under that heading.

_Fits_.--These are by no means uncommon among our domestic cats. They are of various kinds--fainting fits, delirious fits, and convulsive fits.

The former are usually caused by weakness, exposure to the weather, and general ill-treatment, or loss of blood. All that is required during the fit is rest and exposure to a current of cool air. After the fit you ought to set about getting p.u.s.s.y's bodily health into better condition by good food, tonics, and oil.

_Delirious_ fits are those in which the poor cat, through mental or bodily suffering, apparently goes wild, das.h.i.+ng madly through the house, springing through a window, and finally hiding herself away in some dark corner. You must catch her and put her into a quiet room, and do all you can to soothe her. Apply smelling-salts to the nostrils, and bleed.

This operation is easily performed by making a puncture through any of the small veins inside the ear, and fomenting in hot water. An emetic-- if the cat is not insensible--will, in all probability, do good, as, both in the delirious and convulsive fits, the stomach and bowels are generally out of order.

_Convulsive Fits_.--The cat emits a cry as of pain and terror, and falls down on her side, foaming at the mouth, and with convulsive motions of all the limbs, accompanied with cries and moans. Usually ends in a delirious fit. During the fit do nothing at all, except prevent p.u.s.s.y from injuring herself or any one else; and do this gently and firmly. A pinch of snuff or smelling-bottle applied to the nose can do no harm.

Afterwards bleed, and keep her in a quiet, cool room, and treat as for the delirious fit above described. When p.u.s.s.y has recovered--and especially if she has had a succession of fits--something ought to be done to prevent their recurrence. If too fat, you must reduce her by lowering her diet, and giving a little sheep's liver and milt two or three times a week. If too thin, tonics and raw meat must be given, and cod-liver oil every morning. If, in spite of this, the fits recur, you must have recourse to such an alterative as the following, which has done good in many such cases:--R Bromid. pota.s.s., gr. xv.; Iod. pota.s.s., Zinci sulph., aa., gr. v. Mix with moist breadcrumb, and make twenty boluses, of which the dose is one night and morning.

_Jaundice_.--Called also the yellows. The disease can hardly be mistaken. It is characterised by general feverishness, loss of appet.i.te, a disposition to "lie about," and by vomiting of a bright yellow or green fluid, covered with froth.

The skin, eyes, and lips are also tinged with yellow. It is often fatal if not attended to in time.

I give, to begin with, a very small teaspoonful of Glauber salts, diluted with plenty of water. It acts as a purgative or emetic, I don't care which. If the vomiting continues, try a few grains of white bis.m.u.th placed on the tongue, or take three drops of creosote, and five of aromatic powder, and form into ten pills, with breadcrumb. _Dose_, one three times a day. For four or five nights running give one grain of calomel on the tongue. But watch the symptoms, and omit for a night or two, if it causes too much purging. If not, you can give a small dose of castor-oil in the morning.

As she gets well, strengthen her, and encourage her appet.i.te with quinine first--no wine--and, after a week or two, with raw meat and cod-liver oil.

_Milk Fever_.--Only cat-fanciers will believe that poor p.u.s.s.y suffers, at times, the most cruel tortures, from the thoughtless practice of depriving her of her kittens all at once. Either this or cold usually produces milk fever. I need not describe it; it being synchronous with the suckling season will be sufficient to enable even a tyro to diagnose it. If the cat is very much excited, and partially or wholly delirious, bleeding must be resorted to, and afterwards give a castor-oil purgative, with three or four drops of the compound tincture of camphor, and keep her in a quiet room. At the same time, the swollen and painful teats must be frequently fomented with warm water.

Never take a cat's kittens away all at once, but always leave one at least. If she has five, and you mean to drown four, drown two one day and two the next, so that the first milk may be well drawn off.

I have not mentioned half the ills that feline flesh is heir to, but I think I have said sufficient to indicate the _general plan of treatment_ of cat diseases. Let me only just repeat that if you use your p.u.s.s.y well in the matter of housing, food, and drink--bar accidents--you will never have her ill at all.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

TRICKS AND TRAINING.

Before going on to speak of the training of youthful p.u.s.s.y, there is one subject which deserves a word or two at least--namely, the humane destruction of cats, when such destruction becomes necessary.

Kittens, at least, people have often to get rid of, or the whole world would be peopled with cats, and that would hardly do. Although I am no advocate for the rash and hasty condemnation of the sickest cat that ever is, still, I must confess that, at times, to destroy a cat is to be merciful to it.