Do you actually give your cat baths? What kind of shampoo do you use? Does it act on fleas?
My old cat was a feral ,that came in from the park. Nobody would give him a bath without becoming human coleslaw. But my newer cat seems pretty docile. Do you use a shower or buckets of water?
Cats are self-cleaning, thats why their tongues look so funky. Their fur is naturally lubricated with oils which their tongue helps distribute. Bathing a cat removes that oil, which can result in skin problems.
I’ve had times that my cat has come inside absolutely filthy from scrounging around under the house or whatever. I have a cat mitt thing (like a glove made out of towelling) that I use to pet her and it gets the detritus off.
But I would never bathe a cat unless directed to do so by my vet.
I had to bathe Lenny a couple of times. Once because he had been really sick and there was all sort of… um… really awful stuff in his fur all over the back end of him. The other time because he got stuff spilled on him that would have made him sick.
Both times we used pet shampoo, a laundry sink with no more than 3 to 4 inches of water in the bottom at any one time, and a margarine container to help pour water over his fur. The water was tepid.
No fighting, no hissing, no real struggles. The first time, he did pee in the bathwater (either from fear or because he still wasn’t feeling so good), so we had to start over.
For healthy pets, you shouldn’t need to bathe a cat.
we had to bathe all our cats a couple of years ago when we had a flea infestation. We’ve also bathed our eldest, Midnight, because her tail was paralyzed and occasionally that lead to problems. one time we had to bathe her for another reason, when stuff fell on her that we didn’t want her licking off.
We’ve never used special gear to wash our cats (who aren’t declawed). In fact, Pepper mill once washed Midnight while naked herself – I think that took great courage or no judgment, I’m not sure which. But we haven’t been gutted by our cats.
I don’t know what the problem is with this.
I gave my cat a bath the other day, and let me tell you he loved it. He sat there, he enjoyed it, and it was fun for me.
The fur would stick to my tongue, but other than that…
[/Steve Martin]
Is there a cat flea shampoo or do you use regular pet shampoo with a dogs face on the bottle?
this line added because vBulletin has issues with posts that are nothin’ but quote
Take a bath towel, soak it in warm water. Squeeze out so that it’s only well damp.
Chase down the cat.
Throw the towel over the cat, being sure to cover it’s head.
Grab the cat and rub clean with the towel, making sure to get around it’s head.
Works like a charm. My cat hisses and tries to get away, but doesn’t go nuts. Then when she finally does get let go, she’s not dripping wet either.
Only problem is that now, the minute I grab a towel and hold it under the faucet, she runs for it.
Best way; hire a chimp to do it. (Link is to a 21-second YouTube video of a chimpanzee washing a cat.)
(Original source unknown)
- Thoroughly clean the toilet.
- Add the required amount of shampoo to the toilet water and have both lids lifted.
- Obtain the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.
- In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close both lids (you may need to stand on the lid so that he cannot escape). CAUTION: Do not get any part of your body too close to the edge, as his paws will be reaching out for anything they can find. The cat will self-agitate and make ample suds. Never mind the noises that come from your toilet, the cat is actually enjoying this.
- Flush the toilet three or four times. This provides a “power wash and rinse” which I found to be quite effective.
- Have someone open the door to the outside and ensure that there are no people between the toilet and the outside door.
- Stand behind the toilet as far as you can and quickly lift both lids.
- The now-clean cat will rocket out of the toilet and run outside where he will dry himself.
Sincerely,
The Dog
My wife and I have given a few cat baths. We use the laundry sink, and attach a short hose to the faucet, with a shutoff and garden shower nozzle on the end. I get a pair of work gloves and hold the cat, she rinses it with warm water, lathers it up, and rinses it off. A long heavy sweatshirt or other arm protection can be useful if the cat is jumpy.
For fleas, you can either use a flea shampoo, or a regular pet/baby shampoo, leaving it on for 5-10 minutes. That will get the fleas to detach so you can rinse them down the drain. Won’t kill the eggs, though, so you still need to follow up with flea treatment.
I have an older long hair that sometimes needs help getting cleaned up.
I use a wash cloth and nice warm water, keeping the cloth a little more than damp. I wipe him down and gently scrub him with it. He will usually purrs the whole time, it simulates a great big cat tongue.
I have used flea shampoo for cats, used a laundry sink with couple inches of warm water, wash cloth, something to scoop and pour with and a big towel. If your are gentle and firm they will suffer through it reasonably. If they get exited you can wrap them in a towel and get them cleaned off enough before they get away or disembowel you.
Unless it says “Safe for cats and dogs” DO NOT use a dog shampoo on a cat!!! However, you can buy flea shampoo (for cats!) at the pet food store.
We used to give our cat flea baths. We bathed him in the kitchen sink - one person held him with heavy gloves, the ohter did the washing. It was more like a cat shwer because we didn’t leave any water standing in the sink.
I’ve had to bathe cats for ringworm treatment. For smaller cats, a kitchen sink can work just as well as a bathtub and doesn’t strain your back. We would just fill the sink with 2 inches of warm water and use the hose attached to the faucet. One person always had a hold of the cat, the other person lathered, rinsed, prepared. For ringworm treatment, the shampoo had to be left on for 10 minutes, so that was a real pain in the ass trying to soothe/contain the cat during the incubation period without the cat attempting to escape and lick all the shampoo off.
We would then towel dry and use a hair dryer (set on low) to dry the cats. None were very happy about being bathed, some were better behaved than others. Never been bitten or badly scratched. The kittens seemed to fight worse than some of the adults.
It’s much safer for you and less stressful for the cat to use something like Revolution™ for any flea problem.
I do bathe our two girls. They tolerate it with much howling, but no struggle. Our boy is a different story. He is our “dog.” He weighs more than both girls combined. He’s aggressive, with a short temper. I bathed him once when he weighed a pound. I used a whole box of band-aides afterward.
You can always use a bath sack. My parents had a cat named Missy whom was very large (to the tune of almost 30lbs) At that weight, she started to have problems fully cleaning herself. They said the bath sack worked well once. Unfortunately, after that she would flee in terror at the mere sight of the sack, so use sparingly.
I had to bathe my elderly cat years ago when she was having problems keeping herself clean. Here’s what the lady at the pet grooming store recommended:
- Use a shampoo formulated for cats.
- Warm, not hot, water.
- Get a little kitty leash that is short enough to keep her hitched to the faucet (so she can’t jump out of the sink) and long enough that she won’t strangle herself if she sits or lies down.
- Put an washcloth or towel on the sink floor - gives the cat something to sink her claws into. I guess having no traction is upsetting and better they get it from a towel than your flesh.
- Fill a pitcher with warm water and use that to get the cat wet. I think that I started from the feet and worked my way up, as opposed to freaking the cat out by starting with her head.
- Apply shampoo, lather up, rinse.
- Dry thoroughly.
Try and keep the cat as calm as possible during this process - speak soothingly or whatever. Granted my cat was 18 and not very spry at this point but she didn’t struggle one bit.
Looking back I think that I would also recommend a thorough brushing first, with both an undercoat brush (“Furminator”) and a regular brush - get as much loose hair and debris out as you can first so that you aren’t wasting your washing time rinsing extra clumps of fur out.
Do this on a nice day with the sun streaming through the window so your cat can give you an evil glare and slink off looking like a drowned rat to lie in the sunny spot getting herself back into a proper fluffy state.
O, please no! This has to be cat torture.
My old cat was pretty cool with getting a bath, just had to keep one hand on him so he didn’t jump out of the tub. My current cat, Crow has been bathed twice but cried and howled so pitifully that I was afraid the neighbors would call the police. I wore an old pair of denim shorts and a T shirt and got right in the tub with him. Trim the cats claws before the bath.
I have never in my life bathed a cat, and don’t plan to unless something really drastic happens to a cat of mine. I must check to see whether my aunt the dog groomer would bathe a cat; I know she gets the occasional cat in to get shaved (brush your longhaired cats, people!!!) but none I’ve seen was washed first.