# Any Other Animals Give Themselves "Cat Baths"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-animals-give-themselves-cat-baths/269324 "2004-10-15T04:36:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-animals-give-themselves-cat-baths/269324/1 "2004-10-15T04:36:11Z")
I know that insects clean themselves in a manner like cat’s do (i.e. use bodily fluids to cleanse themselves) and that animals such as elephants will roll around in rivers to clean their skin, but how many large animals, use their tongue and nothing else besides saliva to clean themselves? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-animals-give-themselves-cat-baths/269324/2 "2004-10-15T05:21:07Z")
I dunno, but… _insects_ do? They lick themselves? I never thought of bugs as having “wet” tongues - or is it some other sort of fluid? Tell me more about these tonguin’ bugs! ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-animals-give-themselves-cat-baths/269324/3 "2004-10-15T06:01:23Z")
Do humans count? It has to have been done, there’s a lot of fetishes out there. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-animals-give-themselves-cat-baths/269324/4 "2004-10-15T06:05:23Z")
[slight hijack] one of my cats licks not only himself but our other cat and any humans who happen to be around. He licks my kid on the hair. (This results in a kind of weird hairstyle–very Calvin-on-school-picture-day. Kid loves it. Me, I’m not wild about the idea of him going around with cat spit on his head.) [/SH] Dogs lick themselves. But they seem more into scratching. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-animals-give-themselves-cat-baths/269324/5 "2004-10-15T19:20:19Z")
Domesticated ferrets give themselves cat-style tongue baths (though far less frequently than cats, at least as far as I have observed), so it’s reasonable to assume that polecats as well as wild black-footed ferrets and other weasels/stoats/martens/etc. do, too. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-animals-give-themselves-cat-baths/269324/6 "2004-10-15T19:50:58Z")
Just as a point of interest, most geckos have no eyelids and periodically lick their eyes clean. (Technically they’re licking the spectacle, a transparent scale that covers the eyeball. It still reminds me of the joke about the guy who “just sits there, licking his eyebrows.”) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-animals-give-themselves-cat-baths/269324/7 "2004-10-15T21:28:46Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I dunno, but… _insects_ do? They lick themselves? I never thought of bugs as having “wet” tongues - or is it some other sort of fluid? Tell me more about these tonguin’ bugs! No idea of what fluid it is, but if you spend enough time watching insects and nature shows as a kid as I did, you learn that insects are _constantly_ cleaning themselves. Apparently, if they don’t, they’re more likely fall victim to predators. ---
**Author:** ![TitoBenito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2acd7d/32.png) [@TitoBenito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TitoBenito)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-animals-give-themselves-cat-baths/269324/8 "2004-10-15T21:52:27Z")
Not sure they are large enough but rats do. In fact, they spend much of their awake time grooming themselves and their buddies. They are actually pretty clean animals. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-animals-give-themselves-cat-baths/269324/9 "2004-10-15T22:02:42Z")
Bunnies do as well. Also, bunnies are unable to regurgitate hairballs in a cat-like manner, so they have to have their diet supplemented with a “lube” type product to prevent them from getting bunged up. I’m not sure how they achieve this in the wild as I’ve never seen tubes of Petromalt lying by the nearest bunny warren, but perhaps it’s increased fiber or something that keeps things moving ok. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-animals-give-themselves-cat-baths/269324/10 "2004-10-15T22:28:11Z")
> [@Cicada2003](#): > > [slight hijack] one of my cats licks not only himself but our other cat and any humans who happen to be around. He licks my kid on the hair. (This results in a kind of weird hairstyle–very Calvin-on-school-picture-day. Kid loves it. Me, I’m not wild about the idea of him going around with cat spit on his head.) [/SH] > > Dogs lick themselves. But they seem more into scratching. So I take it if you get licked by a dog, you immediately “pull a Lucy”? ---
**Author:** ![Ten\_21\_14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ten\_21\_14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ten_21_14)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-animals-give-themselves-cat-baths/269324/11 "2004-10-16T01:42:00Z")
My dog does this. Of course, the dog lives in a house with 3 cats, so it’s no wonder where she learned it from. Drives me bonkers, as she’ll wait until I’m almost asleep to begin her (very loud) tongue bath at the foot of the bed. ---
**Author:** ![whistlepig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/73ab20/32.png) [@whistlepig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whistlepig)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-animals-give-themselves-cat-baths/269324/12 "2004-10-16T01:47:11Z")
Some malamutes will clean themselves like a cat. I never had to wash mine, even after a muddy hike.