Evening star., 1945-08-24
This and That
Bu Charles Z. TrdceDeu.
CHEVY CHASE, Md.

Dear Sir:
mo doubt you will receive many sug-
gestions for curing the cat with eczema,
whose owners letter was printed in
your column the other evening. But I
feel impelled to add mine to the others.
since 1t afforded immeasurable relief
to my little dachshund and may quite
possibly benefit the cat also. 1t has
the advantage of being extremely simple
and inexpensive. being the old-fash-
ioned remedy of carbolated vaseline.
Several years ago my dog developed
an ugly skin disease and began to lose
her hair. Veterinarians and violet-ray
treatments internal medicine and ex-
ternal lotions were of no avail. She
lost fully half her hair and her skin
became stiff and harsh, with cracks
and sores. It itched day and night,
and the poor dog was positively hollow
eyed from loss of sleep.
Finally, with the sole thought of
relieving her misery, creased her all
over one night with generous coating
OF carbolated vaseline, rubbing it in
well. 1t seemed to help the itching at
once, and after a week or so of nightly
greasings her skin was soft and smooth,
the sores healed and faint traces of
hair began to appear. After that I
skipped night between treatments,
and as more hair appeared I reduced
it to one treatment in three days. In
about two months time her coat had
completely grown out.
THE disease seems to be incurable.
as 1t reappears from time to time, par
ticularly in hot weather, but with
faithful application of the vaseline it
can always be checked and temporarily
cured. OF course, it Is messy pro-
ceeding, and the victim is persona non
grata while sporting well-oiled hide,
but an old sheet or a couple of beat-up
towels will serve to protect its bedding
(and favorite armchairD while the
treatments are going on, and if the
owner is genuinely fond of the pet the
results are well worth the trouble.
81 hope you will be kind enough to
forward this to the person who asked
for assistance, and please accept my
thanks and admiration for your inter-
esting column.
Sincerely yours, H. v. r."
y II
Another correspondent writes: IT
think he will find the afliction of his
cat Il hate the critters) is due to eat
ing too much meat, usually mice, birds,
etc. Remedy-allow no meat
I'm the country at milking time the
cat was given all the warm milk it
would drink. see no reason why warm
pasteurized milk would not do as we'll"
A correspondent from Arlington, Va,
writes:
"I had beautiful Persian kitten
several years ago that had this trouble.
We tried lot of things, but it con-
tinued to spread. Finally I shaved off
every hair close and bathed him twice
day in germicidal soap and removed
every crust. thought he was all right,
and at that time visited my sister,
who lived in the country and had COW.
"She offered him buttermilk and he
drank it like most cats do sweet milk.
On the third day found no crust.
From then on the cat was not bothered,
and grew new coat Of beautiful hair.
Until this day I can't say If the
soap and baths helped or the acid in
the buttermilk counteracts some de-
f1ciency in his diet.
Anyway the owner of the sick cat
may try both. As to having her cat
put to Sleep have heard that until
want to fight every time people tell
me that"
Treatments Of cats and dogs is DIFF
ferent, on account Of the varying dis
positions. Dogs commonly understand
better that one is trying to help them.
and do not lick of what is put on.
There might be some danger in put
ting carbolated vaseline on a cat, be-
cause these animals usually lick of
what is put on them, and at once. At
tempts to place jacket on the animal
after greasing are usually not successful.
The jacket will go on-but it won't
stay on. Applications from the outside
must always reckon with the cats pro-
pensity to wash itself.
The question Of too much meat is
not one which has worried either hu-
mans or animals during the past few
years. Mostly it has been the other way
around!
As for buttermilk, no doubt 1t might
prove helpful In some cases. The trou-
bic Is that very few cats Win drink It,
which y their los from every stand
point.