Our Cats and All About Them Part 14

POINTS HEAD 10

Round, and broad across and between the eyes, of medium size; nose rather short and dark at tip, excepting in the red, when it should be pink; ears ordinary size, but looking small, being surrounded with long hair, which should also be long on the forehead and lips.

EYES 10

For black, orange; orange-yellow for blue; deep yellow for gray; and gold, tinged with green, for red; large, round, or almond-shaped, full and very bright.

RUFF OR FRILL 15

Large, very long, flowing, and lion-like, extending over the shoulders, and covering the neck and chest thickly.

FUR 15

Very long everywhere; mostly so along the back, sides, legs, and feet, making tufts between the toes, and points at the apex of the ears.

QUALITY OF FUR 10

Fine, silky, and very soft in the Persian, with slightly woolly texture in the Angora, and still more so in the Russian.

TAIL 10

In the Persian the hair long and silky throughout, but somewhat longer at the base; Angora like the brush of a fox, but longer in the hair; Russian equally long in hair but more full at the end, tail shorter, rather blunt, like a ta.s.sel.

SIZE, SHAPE, AND CONDITION 10

Large, small in bone, looking larger than it really is on account of the length of the hair; body long, legs short; tail carried low, not over the back, which is a fault; fur clean and glossy, even, smooth, and flakey, which gives an appearance of quality.

COLOUR 20

Black, dense, bright brown-black, with purple gloss; blue, a bright, rich, even dark colour, or lighter, but even in tint; gray, a bright, light, even colour; red, a brilliant, sandy, or yellowish-red colour.

--- TOTAL 100

[Ill.u.s.tration]

BROWN, BLUE, SILVER, LIGHT GRAY, AND WHITE TABBY LONG-HAIRED CATS.

POINTS HEAD 10

Round and broad across and between the eyes, of medium size; nose rather short; ears ordinary size, but looking small, being surrounded with long hair, which should also be long on the forehead and lips.

EYES 10

Orange-yellow for brown and blue tabby, very slightly tinted with green; deep, bright yellow for silver; gray, and golden yellow for white tabby; large, full, round, or almond-shaped, and very l.u.s.trous.

RUFF OR FRILL 10

Large, very long, flowing, and lion-like, extending over the shoulders, and covering the neck and chest thickly.

FUR 10

Very long everywhere, mostly so along the back, sides, legs, and feet, making tufts between the toes, and points at the apex of the ears.

QUALITY OF FUR 10

Fine, silky, and very soft in the Persian, with slightly woolly texture in the Angora, and still more so in the Russian.

TAIL 10

In the Persian the hair long and silky throughout, but somewhat longer at the base; Angora like the brush of a fox, but longer in the hair; Russian equally long in the hair, but more full at the end; tail shorter, rather blunt, like a ta.s.sel.

SIZE, SHAPE, AND CONDITION 10

Large, small in bone, looking larger than it really is on account of the length of the hair; body long; legs short; tail carried low, not over the back, which is a fault; fur clean and glossy, even, smooth, and flakey, which gives an appearance of quality.

COLOUR 15

Ground colour, deep, rich reddish-brown, more rufous on the nose, ears, mane, and inside the legs and belly; tip of nose red, edged with black; blue, bright, deep, rich, even, dark colour; silver, lighter and equally even tint; and so light gray; and white ground, pure white.

MARKINGS 15

Jet-black lines, not too broad, scarcely so wide as the ground colour seen between, so as to give a light and brilliant effect. When the black lines are broader than the colour s.p.a.ce, it is a defect, being then black marked with colour, instead of colour marked with black. The lines must be clear, sharp, and well-defined, in every way distinct, having no mixture of the ground colour. Head, legs, and tail regularly marked, the latter with rings, the lines on the throat and chest being in no way blurred or broken, but clear, graceful, and continuous; lips, cus.h.i.+ons of feet, the backs of the hind-legs and the ear-points black.

--- TOTAL 100

In chocolate, mahogany, red, or yellow long-haired tabbies, the markings and colours to be the same as in the short-haired cats; but in points to count the same as the last in all qualities.

Spotted tabbies to count the same in all points, the only difference being that instead of stripes, the cats are marked with clear, well-defined spots.

All fancy colours to be shown in the "any other variety of _colour_"

cla.s.s, and judged according to quality of coat, beauty, and rarity of colouring or marking. The small, thin, broken-banded tabby should go in this cla.s.s, as also those with thin, light, wavy lines.

All foreign, wild, or other cats of peculiar form to go into the cla.s.s for "any other variety or species."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "SYLVIE."]

DISEASES OF CATS.

Cats, like many other animals, both wild and domestic, are subject to diseases, several being fatal, others yielding to known curatives; many are of a very exhaustive character, some are epidemic, others are undoubtedly contagious--the two worst of these are what is known as the distemper and the mange. Through the kindness of friends I am enabled to give recipes for medicines considered as useful, or, at any rate, tending to abate the severity of the attack in the one, and utterly eradicate the other. Care should always be taken on the first symptoms of illness to remove the animal at once from contact with others. My kind friend, Dr. George Fleming, C.B., princ.i.p.al veterinary surgeon of the army, has courteously sent me a copy of a remedy for cat distemper from his very excellent work, "Animal Plagues: their History, Nature, and Prevention," which I give in full.