Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 December 1895 — Can Cats Swim? [ARTICLE]

Can Cats Swim?

Though it seems somewhat difficult to understand how the sportsmen of the Nile train their cats not only to hunt game, but to retrieve it from the water, the hunting scenes depicted on the walls of Thebes afford proof of the Egyptian cat’s service in this respect. In one of these representations puss is depicted in the act of seizing a bird that has been brought down by the marksman in the boat, while in another scene the cats are shown in the boat ready for their work. Thus it appears, from these ancient illustrations of field and other sports, that the Egyptians are able to train their domestic cats to act in the same way as our modern retriever dogs do. It is generally supposed that nothing will induce a cat to enter water, but this is clearly a fallacy. The tiger, for instance, is an excellent swimmer, as many have found to their cost; and so the cat, another member of the tiger family, can swim equally as well if it has any occasion to exert its powers, either in search of prey or to effect its escape from some enemy. As cats are exceedingly fond of fish they will often drag them out of their native element. The)' have been known to help themselves out of aquaria that have been left uncovered, and on moonlight nights they may be seen watching for the unwary occupants of a fish pond, especially during the spawning season.