If you decide to keep your cats and pets in a cattery, bring them indoors now and again and thus accustom them to home life and human beings. It is much pleasanter to have a really domestic cat, rather than one that darts away when approached and is frightened at every sound.

All wooden catteries should be well raised from the ground. It is important to have good ventilation. It is a capital plan to have movable wooden shutters, so that in extra windy or damp weather these can be easily put up to form a shelter.

In constructing a cattery, be sure and have plenty of shelves fixed up. All cats have a weakness for sitting on a shelf, however hard or narrow.

During the winter we are sometimes wishful to heat our catteries, although I am not in favour of artificial heat. After a heavy rain or dense fog we have recourse to a little oil stove. Be careful to protect this in some way by wire netting or a fire guard. I have known a cat to waft its tail over the top of one of these stoves, and it was more than singed!

Cats are essentially and naturally clean animals, and it is often the fault of their mistresses and caretakers that they become dirty in their habits. Keep their earth tins clean and sweet, and you will seldom find that pussy offends. Cats so much prefer to have something to scratch in and scratch over.

Japanese mould is splendid for use in cats' tins. This can be purchased at Carter's well-known firm in High Holborn. It has the advantage of being a great absorbent, consequently no disagreeable odour is noticed, and the mould need not be changed so frequently as ordinary earth.

Mrs. Sinkin's Smoke Teufel Debenham & Smith, photo, Southampton

A house pet whose behaviour cannot be relied upon is not a desirable inmate. It is always best to have an arrangement of an earth tin in some quiet corner, and to accustom the cat to make use of this in an emergency.

I never advocate any artificial heat for cats or kittens, but if you have a delicate specimen, or one suffering from a cold, and the weather is severe, then I have found that a hot bottle at night is a great comfort. The india-rubber ones are the most handy, but failing these, a stone ginger-beer bottle filled with boiling water, and tightly corked, answers the purpose. Wrap it in flannel and place in the bed last thing at night.

It is a good plan during the winter months to keep a store of dry earth in some covered place, so that you can have a constant supply with which to replenish your tins. There is nothing a cat resents more than being asked to use a tin containing damp earth.

All sleeping boxes or hampers for cats should be raised, and, even for a cat sleeping in the house, a bed, on a chair or box, is much to be preferred to letting her lie on the ground where there is certain to be a draught.

Be sure and let your pussies have an abundance of hay in their beds during the winter months. Boxes are warmer than hampers, and the top should be covered over so that the cat may crawl in from the front over a ledge of a few inches of wood. Then when inside the bed she is protected from any ground draught.

The straw or hay provided for our cats should be changed at least once a week, and oftener in summer. A little Mothalene sprinkled at the bottom of the box or hamper keeps down troublesome insects.

During the summer do not put too much hay in your cats' beds; in fact, I prefer a sheet of newspaper laid at the bottom of the box or hamper. Hay is heating, and encourages fleas.

Some cats have a most troublesome and irritating habit of rubbing their heads against the walls or wire netting of their houses. A sheet of glass about the height of the animal will prevent the destruction of their coat and rufi from the continued friction.

If you use wire netting in your catteries be very careful that the ends are neatly finished off and that no sharp bit of wire is left sticking out. I have known cats receive severe injuries to their eyes from scratches, and often their coats suffer from being caught on the rough ends of the netting.

It is always best to keep separate and distinct saucers and plates for our pussies' use. I would recommend the blue and white enamelled ware, which is unbreakable. I find, also, that it is often very convenient to heat the milk in one of these plates instead of troubling to boil it in a pan. If a saucer of milk is placed on a closed stove for a few minutes it soon becomes hot, and no injury is done to this enamelled ware. The basins are also very handy, but for Long-haired cats the plates are better, as pussy's ruff is less likely to become soiled with the food.

I find that my cats prefer a circular basket as a bed to a square one; they seem able to curl round more comfortably. This is specially the case with a mother puss and her litter of kits.

Have you remarked how fond cats are of each having their own plates and saucers from which to feed ? I have lately invested in some nice deep white saucers. They were a "job line" at twopence-halfpenny the dozen!

If you are building cat-houses, remember that a concrete floor is much better than a wooden one. It may seem cold in winter, but a piece of movable linoleum or cork "lino" will add to the appearance and comfort of the cattery.

During very hot weather our stud cats who inhabit houses suffer a good deal when the sun strikes down upon them. I cover the front of my cattery with an old rug and then make free use of the garden hose, letting it play upon the top and saturating the thick cover. This has a wonderfully cooling effect, which lasts some time. During the process my cat retires into his sleeping apartment.

It is difficult to procure suitable earth tins for our cats. I tried several, but they were either too shallow or too deep, so decided on ordering some of the required size made in galvanised iron, at Whiteley's. Large earthenware flowerpot saucers, well glazed, are also very suitable.