Harper's Household Handbook: A guide to easy ways of doing woman's work

by Martha McCulloch-Williams

A dog running free at exercise needs no clothes. On leash, with his keeper merely walking or sauntering, a warm blanket, or, better, a sweater, is essential in cold weather. Keep dogs outdoors as much as possible in hot weather, but do not let them run too much. Provide shade, especially for guard dogs. Teach all dogs, and especially guard dogs, to refuse food from strangers. This is impossible with a hungry dog. Full feeding guards against foraging at large, the thing which gives poisoners the best opportunity.

Dogs perspire only through the tongue, hence the panting after exertion. Let them drink all they will, but have the water clean. Milk is food, not drink. Do not imagine it takes the place of water. Water, free and clean, is held the best preventive of rabies. In case rabies is suspected isolate safely, and observe for at least a week. Pseudo-rabies, induced by fear, kills many more people than the real thing. An ailing dog, or one tired, thirsty, or lost, will snap at almost anything in his way. Do not on that account condemn him untried to death. Rest, food, and drink, in confinement, will discover his true condition. If madness is proved, kill, quickly and mercifully, burn or bury, disinfect every space he has touched with bichloride of mercury, burn movable boards, litter, ropes, etc. Grass or earth upon which saliva has dropped had better be drenched with kerosene and set on fire.

Cats: Cats likewise suffer rabies; in case of it use the same measures. Cats of fancy breeds are more decorative than plain tabbys, but also more delicate and much less intelligent, withal lacking in affection, and of no use save to look fine.

White cats, especially those with blue eyes, are more savage, less affectionate, and much harder house-broken than black, gray, or tortoise-shell ones. Often the white fellows are deaf. Each and several, cats run wild for reasonable opportunity, yet they bear housing and confinement admirably. They need raw meat, but not too much; a bit of liver or a fish head every other day suffices. Alternately give bones, with the milk and crumbled bread, which is the mainstay of their diet. Give also at night a saucer of pure milk. Water and catnip, green or dry, should be always accessible. Do not overfeed; cats are dainty gluttons if permitted. Keep them thriving, but not fat—fat and indigestion are the roots of disease.

Rid of fleas as directed for dogs. After drying, confine for some time, first giving a saucer of milk with a teaspoonful of whisky or brandy in it. For skin troubles grease all over with the sulphur and butter, confine so as to keep from getting dirty, and wash well after twenty-four hours in hot suds, rinsing well and drying with soft towels. Repeat at intervals as long as needed. Feed on bread and milk, be lavish of catnip, burn infected bedding, wash and fumigate baskets, or treat with bichloride of mercury (see section Disinfectants).

Belgian Hares and Cavies: Both are vegetable feeders. They will live in small quarters, but do better in bigger ones. Keep the quarters clean and sanitary with whitewash and disinfectants. If very small, have floors of loose boards which can be taken up and scalded. Feed three times a day with grain, roots, and green stuff. Be liberal of the green stuff. With a grass run the beasts will supply most of it themselves. Scatter the food, and give only as much as will be eaten clean. Suckling mothers need extra feeds, five a day instead of three.

Dust weekly with sifted ashes, corn starch in powder, and flowers of sulphur. Use in dry weather, putting on at night. Have hutches big enough to prevent crowding. Beware letting your pets overrun the space at command.

Birds: Mocking-birds, cardinals, bullfinches and orioles, all of which it is wicked to keep in cages, need very roomy cages, perches with the bark on, much clean sandy earth on the floors, clean grain, green stuff, ripe fruit, and insects, besides the egg-and-potato mixture which is their mainstay. Tie heads of wheat, oats, or millet to the bars, hang lettuce and peppergrass there, also chickweed in season. Put ripe berries on clean twigs and suspend; force bits of apple and peach between wires close to the perches. Have a swing, a roomy bath, with the usual feed and water cups. Change the water daily, twice in summer. Put one drop of carbolic acid in the bath for insect prevention. Boil eggs twenty minutes, crush the yolk while hot with a freshly boiled Irish potato, season with the least grain of salt and a very little red pepper, and put into the cup. Keep the cage very clean, scald it every three months. Hang it outside in pleasant weather, but never so the sun at midday will strike full on the birds.

Give flies, crickets, earth worms, grasshoppers, but not hairy caterpillars, spiders, nor wasps. Mockers sing almost the night through in spring. To silence them cover the cage with something thick, set where it is very dark, then uncover.

Canaries: A long body and thick smooth plumage are marks of a good canary. Males only sing. Coat color varies. German canaries show many shades of yellow besides mottled tints. Yellow-red Norwich birds owe their giddy coats to red pepper in the food. Unless it is given liberally at moulting-time their fine feathers come back dull and pale. Birds are in full song at a year old. Younger, they have rarely been well taught. The range of life is seven to twenty years; the last is possible only with exceptional birds and still more exceptional care.