My kitten likes to suck on a big teddy bear for comfort, and I’ve noticed a sort of crispiness building up on the bear’s fur from all the dried kitten spit. How can I wash it without ruining the bear? The fur is (was) long and soft, and I was hoping not to get it too matted by washing it. The bear also has a beanbag butt, so I don’t know if the washer/dryer is even an option.
Do I give him a sponge bath? What would I use? How would I dry him properly?
My godson’s teddy bear made it fine through the washer and dryer, and that got his drool out of it fine. Mr. Bigfoot is as soft as ever, but he has no beanbag components, so I don’t know the results of that would be. I’d recommend hand washing with soap and cold water to be safe.
It’s not bothering kitty. Why should it bother you?
Let the cat have its own stuffed animal. You can always get a replacement. It can’t transfer its attentions so easily, which is why it is nursing on a teddy bear in the first place.
My wife had a cat that did this from time to time. She did it all of her life, on the same bear.
I nominate this for most intriguing GQ thread title of 2007.
I saw the thread title and got a weird mental image but I immediately knew what you meant. Our dog does the same thing with it’s stuffed chew toys, sometimes acting like it is nursing because it will knead the toy while doing it. This isn’t a problem unless it gets a hold of one of my daughters’ stuffed animals.
I put the toy into a pillow case and wash it on the gentle/delicate cycle and tumble dry it in the bag as well. If the toy breaks open it will be (relatively) contained. The toys always come clean.
I have just spent five minutes laughing my ass off, trying to explain to my hubby and a co-worker across the hall from my office why the mental pic I have of someone scrubbing a large brown bear in a tub full of soapsuds is so funny.
A quick scan of thread titles misread this one as “Getting kitten off a spit,” which is just ludicrous. You don’t roast kitten, you have to grill it.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who keeps reading it this way. My poor kitten alternates being on a spit and a spear.
Perhaps I’m the only one that had the image of a very ashamed-looking bear slumping against a tree while a cat with a cigarette, an eye-patch and a bad French accent paces back and forth in front of the bear, pausing occasionally to spit at him and snarl, “You disgust me!”
Yes. Yes, you are.
Note that if you do clean all that off the bear, it will probably disturb your kitten – the familiar smell is part of what makes the teddy bear attractive.
P.S. When I say the title, I thought sure it would be in reference to this photo:
Yeah, but that thread would be titled “Getting Bear Shit Off a Kitten.”
So, a bear and a rabbit are in the woods. The bear turns to the rabbit and asks he has a problem with spit sticking to his fur…
This reminded me of a similar problem Steve Martin had with his cat:
“so I’ve gotta get a little pair… of cat handcuffs, so… Well, I found out that when I’m away, he goes to the mailbox, picks up the checks, take them down to the bank and cashes them. The way I caught him, I went out to his little house, where he sleeps at night, and there was like $3,000 worth of cat toys out there. And you can’t return them, because they have spit all over them…”
My cat has a doll that she sucks on. She jams it in her mouth by the doll’s neck and has been for over a decade, so it is all crusty with cat drool. Its head fell (was ripped?) off and I had to sew it back on. When I did so, I washed it too, because it had been dropped in a bowl of water, partially decapitated, for some unearthly reason, so it was all wet. Warning: that damn doll stank to high heaven until it dried. No, I wouldn’t put it in the dryer, lest that smell be atomized throughout my house. If I were heartless, I would throw it away, but I can’t because she loves that disgusting thing. Your kitten probably hasn’t schmutzed the bear up to quite the extent that my cat has her doll, so it might not reek, but thought you’d want a head’s up on that just in case.
My mom’s newest cats suckle the afghan on her sofa.
She looks like this.
( Fine. I’m going to hell. ) 
I need to ask her if she ever washes that thing. She’s a bit of a neat freak. The house smells of mothballs and has my entire life. Dunno if she washes it or not, but the cats, especially one of them, has some serious nursing rituals going on.
I’ll second that nomination. I read it word for word and couldn’t wait to see what it was about.
Don’t wash the bear. Leave the cat to be happy with his/her nursing, for god’s sake.
Personally, I figured that the title referred to some quaint rural expression I’d never heard… “That’s as hard as getting kitten spit off a bear”, or something of the sort.
I can say that, if you have any skill with a sewing machine, it’s not too hard to make a small hole in one of the seams, empty out the foam pellets to wash it, and refill and resew the seam afterwards. Or refill it with fiberfill instead of pellets, so you can just wash it intact in the future: That’s what Mom did with all of our stuffed toys, as a kid.
Yep, you’re the only one. The cat clearly sounds like Antonio Banderas.
Child bride, eh?
You say this like it’s a bad thing. I know plenty of women who wouldn’t mind having Antonio curl up on their lap for a good petting.
You could get a seam ripper and needle & thread kit; open a seam in the bear; remove the stuffing; wash the bear; reinsert the stuffing; resew the seam.
Or Google for “teddy bear stuffing yourcity” for the name of a local kid’s make-your-own teddy bear store where you can restuff the bear.
