Few people take any care in raising pet kittens, others adhere to the old-fashioned method of a saucer of bread and milk and a few table scraps.

It will always be noticed what fine specimens butchers' cats are, also cats around a fish market; the former are raised on raw meat scraps and the latter on raw fish. Raw fish I do not recommend as a regular diet, as it does not always suit cats and is too rough a diet for young kittens, also the bones are apt to choke them, lodging in their throats and causing death.

Doubtless many a kitten has been raised on a bread and milk diet, but it has also caused the death of many more; kittens raised on a milk diet are inferior specimens, and even if big and fat they have no strength and will usually succumb to the first serious illness.

I often think if a little care were given to raising the pet kitten, what fine specimens the short-haired cats would become, and in process of years cats would be far larger in size than they are now, many of them becoming winners at our shows. If you have a tiny motherless kitten which you take enough interest in to raise by hand, which I know many people have done, feed at first sweet condensed milk, mixed with half water and lime-water; at four weeks a little scraped raw beef can be given, then as it grows and thrives give a little meat finely chopped, meat gravy and a little vegetable all mixed up together forming a substantial meal. Do not let a kitten overeat itself, as this will do as much harm as underfeeding, and on no account give milk and cereals, as this is a diet for worms which all young animals have more or less, and to feed milk, etc., rapidly increases these pests, and the kitten becomes thinner and thinner.

Kew Iris.

Cyrus the Great.

While young always add a teaspoonful of lime-water to the kitten's meals, and if at the age of two or three months the kitten seems thin and out of condition you may be sure it has worms; then a dose of powdered areca nut will prove beneficial; for a three months' kitten give three to four grains, for a cat eight to ten grains. Allowing one grain to every pound weight of the kitten, one grain of santonine can also be added to the full dose of areca nut; the santonine is very poisonous, so not more than a grain should be added to each dose; mix the dose in a little very sweet milk and give in the morning before any food has been given.

Never dose a cat which is not eating well at the time.

Raw bones or cooked should form a great point in a cat's diet, as they do so much good to the teeth; fish occasionally is also good, canned salmon can be given occasionally, but there is very little nourishment in it, and if used as a constant diet your cats will contract all sorts of skin trouble and illness caused by a low state of the health. Too much milk and cereal diet in hot weather causes an irritable skin, which is often put down to puss having fleas; but a cat constantly fed raw meat never gets in this condition.

I have had to recommend a meat diet to several of my friends for their short-haired cats, and they have used it with the greatest success to cure this skin irritation, but of course it takes some weeks, or even months, to cure, as the state of the blood has to be altered.

Fleas cause the death of many neglected kittens in summer, and it is nothing short of wickedness on the part of their owners, to allow any cat or kitten to go about until worried to death with these pests; for they may be quickly eradicated or kept under; to do this the following treatment is both quick and effective and if done only twice in the summer, or once in summer and again in the autumn, puss would have one less care in the world.

Purchase a one pound tin of pure Pyretherum powder, the cost of which is about fifty cents and will last a year for several cats and kittens.

Take the kitten or cat, place it on a sheet, or duster, on a table, or on your lap, then rub the powder all over the skin, commencing at the head, using it as near the eyes and mouth as possible without getting it in their eyes, also rub well in under the legs and all over the tail and of course all over the body. Then wrap the sheet lightly around the cat, leaving only the head out; hold this for ten minutes or more, then brush out all the superfluous powder and half-dead fleas. Rub the cat with a clean cloth the way of the hair to remove the worst of the powder, leaving as much as possible in the under coat.

I have used this on valuable long-haired kittens and know it to be harmless and much superior in its effects to washing for either dogs or cats.

The great point is that the fleas become so "dummy" that they do not get about, and the duster can either be burnt or shaken out well away from the house.

Great care should be taken to get the right powder; do not accept any which is given to you, as some contain arsenic and are deadly poison, but the pure Pyretherum is quite harmless; it must be fresh to be entirely effective, like most drugs it is apt to lose its strength when kept too long.