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Historical Article
A Plea for Pussy and Her Possibilities As a Pet
Good Housekeeping
May 25, 1889
(p. 16)
Photo by Estar Hyo Gyung Choi.
Guest modeling by our neighbor's cat.
I like cats. This is not a bid for matrimony, for I am already provided for in that respect. Nevertheless I am not insensible to the flattery that comes to me in the terms of the old saw, and I feel a glow of inward satisfaction when friends, noting my fondness for the feline family, remark (though it may be the many hundredth time that I have heard it) that a man who likes cats always makes a good husband. Generally speaking I do not take much stock in old sayings and prejudices, but I am profoundly convinced that there must be some truth in this one. As I remarked at the beginning I like cats.
Cats like me, too. I am often able to "make friends" with a pussy which has persistently refused to be conciliated by others. Cats instinctively recognize a friend, and unless they have been regularly abused they can usually be easily "coaxed" by one who is friendly to their race and is not disposed to tease them. They resent teasing, and persons who are otherwise kind to them and even pet them will miss their full confidence if they indulge in a propensity to tease their pets. It may be fun to them, but it is annoying to the cat, and pussy soon learns from which members of the family to expect it and governs herself accordingly.
I do not dislike dogs, and often stop to give one a pat, a kind word or a bone. For friendly companionship a dog has many claims for preference; but I have had so much serious and annoying damage caused to my garden by big dogs running over it that I cannot regard with entire calmness the presence of a dog on my premises. When they come, therefore, I induce them to go away as soon as possible. I had a dog once myself and made a pet of him, as I do of every domestic animal that comes under my care, even pigs. I trained my dog, however, to go through the garden by following the paths, and he was as intelligently careful in so doing as any person. Most dogs are not so trained, and I would almost as lief have a cow turned loose in my garden as a big dog, especially if he is only a year old or less.
My special plea for cats is that they are quite as intelligent and discriminating as dogs and capable of as fine training. "How can you keep a cat when you have birds?" friends often ask. My cat has been taught that the birds are not for him, and I am almost confident he would not venture to take one of my birds if I offered it to him from my hand. My birds are safer with the cat than they would be with a child in the house. I have taught cats to discriminate in the same way in favor of chickens, goslings, rabbits, and other eatable pets, so that though they went freely among them they never offered them harm. A singular thing in this case was that the old cat seemed to teach her kittens the same lessons, so that there was no need to repeat them. On one occasion a very young kitten began to chase a chicken, when the old cat flew to the rescue, grasped kitty by the neck, brought her into the house and administered a shaking. The kitten ever after fled when a chicken approached.
Cats can be taught almost any trick that a dog can learn, and their intelligence in many matters is greater than that of dogs. The proverbial treachery of cats is a libel. Where it is found it may usually be traced to abuse or misuse, which the cat suffers more generally than any other animal. A cat easily learns to "speak" or stand or roll over for its food, or to indicate its special wants in various ways, to open and close doors, or to go through almost any performances, within its physical ability, which the fancy of its teacher may suggest. But it must be taught with kindness. A dog may be controlled by fear, but a cat never. If you want to make the best of a cat you must be invariably kind, never harsh, and must never frighten or tease her. Otherwise she will profit little by even your most patient and careful teaching. Neither can you do anything with a cat that is subjected to the "pulling and hauling" of children. It is a gross abuse of a cat, especially of a young kitten, to permit children to use it as a plaything.
With kindness and a proper study of the moods, preferences, temperament and prejudices of your cat, you can do almost anything you please with her. It is well-known that cats dread a hight [sic], or being dropped or tossed in the air. But I once had a cat which would permit me to toss her as high as I pleased, catching her as she fell, she remaining perfectly passive. She relied implicitly upon my catching her. Had I played a trick and let her fall to the ground, she would never have trusted me again. Give Pussy a higher place in your respect and consideration and treat her accordingly and you will no doubt be surprised at the qualities she will develop.
If you liked this article you might also enjoy these:
Our American Birds (1889)
Purrings (Poem—1888)
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Victorian animal pictures
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In a seaport town in the late 19th-century Pacific Northwest, a group of friends find themselves drawn together —by chance, by love, and by the marvelous changes their world is undergoing. In the process, they learn that the family we choose can be just as important as the ones we're born into. Join their adventures in
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