Hereditary Affection of a Cat for a Dog

Abstract

I HAVE reared a fine mastiff. He is now three-and a-half years old. When quite a puppy he and a kitten evinced a strong liking for each other. The kitten, when able to leave her mother, fixed her residence in the dog's kennel, and never seemed happy when away from her large friend. She ate her breakfast out of the dog's bowl, and slept in his kennel with his paws around her. She used to catch mice and young rats, and carry them to him, and seemed quite pleased when he accepted friendship's offering. One morning I observed the cat preparing a bed with straw in the corner of the kennel—an ordinary wooden one, 4 feet by 21/2 feet. As she was going to have kittens, I thought she intended making the kennel her nursery, and “Cato” (the dog) her head nurse. Such proved to be the case. She brought forth five kittens, and there they lay for some time. The mother frequently went away for hours, leaving the dog to look after her family, I many times stooped down to examine them, and “Cato” stood by my side quite proud of his charge. The poor cat came to an untimely end eighteen months ago, but the only surviving kitten of the five named above is as fond of the dog as her mother was. She brings mice, young rats, and rabbits, and lays them down before “Cato,” and looks beseechingly till he takes them. She constantly plays with him and gets on her hind legs to look fondly into his face, while he puts his paws round her as he used to do to her mother.