“Cats,” said a bird-lover whose name I know but will not mention, “are the sly and malicious enemies of birds. The cat is the only animal that is not taxed; it ought to be taxed to death.” Putting aside the question of what the rats would do to us if the cats were not here… Continue reading Cats and Birds

A kitten is a charming thing, but whether the kitten you take into your home turns into a charming cat depends largely on you. A kitten is a baby, and the better its care, its food, and its training, the more likely it is to turn into the healthy, happy, well-mannered animal you want your… Continue reading When You Buy A Kitten

Mickey, the English cat who, as related in the chapter on Cats as Traveling Companions, traveled widely with his beloved mas ter and mistress, Mr. and Mrs. Osborne Leonard, is said to have continued to travel after he died. It was the firm belief of Mrs. Leonard that he came back many times in the… Continue reading Witch Cats and Cat Ghosts

Minnie, the cat who knew Caruso, owed her rise in life partly to luck and partly to character. Luck led her, a forlorn kitten, to the door of the Artists’ and Writers’ Club in West Fortieth Street on a cold November night in 192o just when John Bleeck, the manager, was taking a look at… Continue reading Feline Characters in New York City

I suppose that when chappie the Globe-trotter opened his eyes, behind the counter in a little stationery shop in New York, his mother had no idea that he was to become a great traveler. She was a humble creature who had never been a block away from home, and Chappie was the least of her… Continue reading Cats as Traveling Companions

Cats do not like the water. Dogs do. Cats are supposed to love a snug, warm berth. Dogs are agog for adventure. Yet there is seldom a ship that has not its cat, and the annals of the sea are full of stories of them, while the only sea dogs so far as I know… Continue reading Cats Who Go Down To The Sea In Ships

I do not know whether cats are really interested in the business of writing, or only pretend to be, but the effect is the same. And they are so tactful about it, so restful and soothing. My dog bears me company when I write, but he insists on napping under my feet, where I step… Continue reading Literary Cats

Though cats, like many human beings, do not understand financial systems, there was one feline government employee who took a paw in the making up of the national budget with excellent results to himself. That was Rufus of England, familiarly known as Treasury Bill, who wangled a pay raise of two cents a day in… Continue reading Employed Cats and Their Pay

Humanity has used cats in many ways to express and to personify forces of good and evil that it did not understand. The Egyptian worship of cats had its germ in the feeling that they were one manifestation of the divine, and the Celtic tribes of early Europe believed that the demoniac powers which, they… Continue reading The Japanese Kimono Cat

I had often heard of rabbit-cats, but had never met one until, quite recently, I was introduced to Swamp Angel, formerly of the Great Swamp near Chatham, New Jersey, but at the time of our meeting living in a New York apartment, and not liking it very much. One is always seeing newspaper stories about… Continue reading The Myth of the Rabbit-Cat