IT has been my experience in the past year or two that the demand for neuter cats, or, in other words, household pet pussies, is on the increase; and I am inclined to believe that if some fanciers made a speciality of these cats they might do a thriving trade. As it is, owners of male kittens do not care to undertake the trouble and responsibility of having them gelded, or doctored, as this process is sometimes called, and novices in purchasing are always very anxious that the operation should have taken place before they become possessed of their pets. A selling class for neuters at our large shows would not be at all a bad idea, but the age should be limited to eight months, or at most ten months, as it is only natural that purchasers should desire pussies before they reach the prime of life, so that they may grow up as pets in the home. For reasons that are easily understood, it is necessary, if you wish to have a house pet of unimpeachable manners, to have your male cat doctored when he arrives at years of discretion.

Miss Kirkpatrick's "Chili." (Photo: E. Landor, Ealing.)

For my own part I consider between five and eight months the best time for a cat to be gelded, but I have often known successful operations taking place much later. It is, however, most important that the torn should not previously have shown any desire to mate. In all cases a cat should be kept on low plain diet for two or three days before being neutered, and it is more humane to pay the extra fee for the use of an anaesthetic.

I have been told on good authority that if a female cat is to be made neuter she ought to be allowed to have one litter before the operation is performed. Neuter cats are essentially for the "one cat" person. They undoubtedly make a grand show when exhibited, but those who are possessed of these pet pussies are generally very disinclined to let them run the risks and discomforts of a show pen. I have advocated having neuters shown only in the ring, on the lead. If this course were adopted, I think owners would not mind exhibiting their precious cats, as they could be sent or taken home after their turn round. Certainly neuters are the only cats that ought to be led into the ring, and in this way their fine proportions and generally heavy coats can be seen and judged to the best advantage. It is too often a practice with fanciers to have the worst of the litter kept for a pet and made neuter, and therefore we see many blues with light green eyes, and cats with the blemish of a white spot, in the classes set apart for gelded cats; and if a beautiful, almost perfect, neuter is exhibited, fanciers are apt to protest at what they consider is "a grave mistake." From the lips of some noted and over-wrought breeders of Persian cats I have heard the exclamation, "I shall go in for neuters only!" This has been called forth, perhaps, by a succession of failing litters or by a rampageous stud cat that has fought with the neighbour's torn or has wandered off on amorous thoughts intent, perhaps never to return, or on returning to bring disease to the cattery.

Certainly, for a thoroughly comfortable domestic pet there is nothing like a neuter cat. They are more affectionate, and with children more docile, not less keen in catching rats and mice, and they are proverbially very clean in their habits. One great advantage that neuters have over the other long-haired breeds is that they retain their lovely coats nearly all the year round. In spite, however, of the many points in favour of neuter cats, they are nevertheless rather looked down upon in the fancy. Certainly, at our shows no cats are more attractive to visitors than the big burly neuters, and I would fain see a better classification for these really fine animals.

"King Cy." Silver Neuter belonging to Miss Avery Jones. (Photo: F. Bromhead, Clifton.)

Miss Chamberlayne's "Belvedere Tiger." (Photo: J. Atkins, Upper Norwood.)

A specialist society was started in 1901 by an admirer of these cats, but either through lack of energy or want of enthusiasm the work was not carried on, and the club died a natural death. It remains for some other fancier with a love for pet pussies to start a society, for as it is the neuters fare badly at our shows, the classes provided never numbering more than two, and the special prizes being few and far between. Formerly neuters were judged by weight, and I remember some specimens exhibited at the Palace that really looked like pigs fatted up for market. It was in 1886 that the classification for neuters at the Crystal Palace show ran thus : " Gelded cats, not judged by weight, but for beauty of form, markings, etc." Happily, therefore, this state of things has been abolished, and though neuters should be big, massive cats, yet they need not, and should not, be lumps of inert fat and fur. It is true that a big show cat appeals to the non-exhibitor, and visitors to our shows are always greatly impressed with huge animals over filling their all too small pens. The heaviest and biggest neuter I have ever seen was possessed by Mrs. Reay Green. This enormous silver turned the scale at 20 lb. I believe the record weight at the Crystal Palace was 25 lb.

It is a libel to say that neuter cats are lazy and uninteresting. I have always possessed a neuter, either a blue or a brown tabby, and these beloved pets have ably fulfilled their duties as mice-catchers of the establishment. My " Bonnie Boy," who but recently joined the noble army of neuters, is as keen as a knife, and will sit for hours watching a likely hole, and never a mouse escapes his clever clutches. He kills them instantly, and then amuses himself for hours dancing about and throwing his dead prey with wild delight into the air. Then, again, he is, I am sorry to say, just as destructive with the poor London sparrows, and many a time I have had to chastise my pet for stalking the game in our little back garden.