Evidence Of Disease

WHENEVER a cat becomes ill from any disease which is more than trivial, whether it be a fever, an inflammation of one of the organs, or an injury which is somewhat serious, it shows that it is ill more decidedly than any other animal. It appears more sick with troubles of the same severity than do other animals. With the commencing illness the cat loses its appetite, and seeks a dark corner, where it wants to remain out of sight. The nose becomes hot, there is inappetence or total loss of appetite, the coat becomes dry and harsh, and the animal lies quiet, sleeping most of the time, unless there is any degree of pain, when it gives evidence of it by constant crying. At the first symptoms of digestive troubles, and even in fevers and other troubles, if the cat can reach a grass-plot it immediately eats a quantity of grass, which it swallows and retains until the stomach is irritated, producing vomiting, and acting as a laxative to the intestines. This can be considered a natural febrifuge, just as one would give a child or a person a little nitre or a small dose of Rochelle salts at the commencement of an illness.

At this time it is well to give cats a small dose of Glauber's salts or of castor-oil, exactly as one would do for a child, or to place a half-teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda or flowers of sulphur in a saucer of milk, and put it with the cat in a quiet, darkened room.

The diseases of cats, like those of other animals, are divided into diseases of the respiratory system, which include colds, catarrh, bronchial troubles and other diseases of the lungs; diseases of the digestive system, including those of the stomach, the intestines, and the liver; constitutional diseases, such as fevers, infectious distemper, glanders, and eczema; parasitic diseases, such as fleas, mange, and worms; nervous troubles; and local diseases of the eyes, teeth, and claws.