SQRL: No, bad rodent, no nuts for you! 
Seriously, it’s not safe. I am hoping this is just a joke. It is, right? 
Sqrl, I think you’re taking this “gay men know how to accessorize” thing a wee bit too far. 
Still, I’d think Manic Panic would be fine, but I question bleaching the poor thing.
Little tip on bathing a cat - heat the water way too hot. Their body temperature is much higher than ours, so what we think of as way too hot for us is just about right for a cat. That’s why they hate water - almost all water is frightfully cold to them, like us jumping into an ice pond or something.
Esprix, fellow cat owner
My friends sister dyed their cat sourpuss on several occasions (as well as shaving her boyfriends name in the poor creature at least once) using regular Schilling food coloring (you can get it at the grocery store). Cheap and non-toxic.
The secret as I recall is to bathe the cat throughly first with Johnsons baby shampoo to remove skin oils which would prevent the dye permeating the hair shafts (don’t use any conditioning shampoos because they have something that prevents it as well).
For burgundy I’d use red mixed with a hint of green.
Oh, and use rubber gloves otherwise your cuticles will be discolored for days.
Also, I think the fact it was a white cat helped.
SqrlCub, PLEASE don’t bleach your cat!!! The hydrogen peroxide you use to disinfect cuts isn’t strong enough to turn the gray parts white, and if you use the stuff you would use on a person’s hair (regular bleach-strength hair peroxide) you are risking subjecting your kitty to the extreme pain that results from burning skin. Picture him covered with little bleeding blisters. I can tell you from first-hand experience, the pain was enough to almost make me pass out, and at least I knew what was causing it. Please don’t do this to an unsuspecting animal.
No, not every person gets blisters from having his/her hair bleached. But there is no way to tell if it’s going to happen until your head starts to get warm, then hot, then you can HEAR the skin sizzling up into little blisters. Still can’t picture how it feels? Imagine holding a hairdryer on high right next to your scalp. Now leave it there for a minute. Keep all 1875 watts blowing. Now think about how it would feel not just in that one spot but all over your body. That’s the pain your entire kitty might feel if he gets bleach burns.
If you are so hot to dye him (which I don’t recommend either, but at least it won’t be animal cruelty), use some food coloring - NOT Miss Clairol! Please! I’m getting sick just thinking about this.
I’m just curious here, why is it such a big deal to not use hair dye? If it is such dangerous stuff why do they let people put it on their heads?
adam yax, hair dye is a strong chemical. It is okay to put on adults’ heads but you shouldn’t use it on an animal (or a child, for that matter) because their skin is a lot more delicate and sensitive. That’s also why even adults are told to do a patch test first.
Also, there is a residue of hair dye left for at least a few washings after the actual dye job. Ever notice that “hair dye” smell that wafts through the air the day after someone dyes their hair? Or how there is sometimes a faint tint to the shower water for a couple of days after the dye job is done?
And, a cat might not sit still and quiet during the dye process like a person would, and might get some in his eye. Then you could have a nicely dyed blind kitty. Sounds like loads of fun to me.
[ol]
[li]This thread is actually suited for GQ and not MPSIMS, Euty having to bump this thread is going to be a first.[/li][li]I started laughing my balls off when I read this thread title.[/li][li]If you really want to do this, research it thoroughly and consult more than one professional vet. I’m sure in every big city there will be pet boutiques that specialize in this type of thing, I imagine you should let them do it. A cats coat is very delicate, as is their skin. Be very careful.[/li][li]Don’t use peroxide on the poor kitty no matter what. I can’t think of any circumstance which would make this safe.[/li][/ol]
First of all, what everybody else said. If you are just dying to dye your poor cat, check with various groomers in your area and see if there is a safe way to do it.
Something I’ve not seen mentioned and that you should know - hydrogen peroxide is an emetic. If your cat licks any of it off (and he will), he will begin vomiting uncontrollably. I don’t know if he can absorb enough through his skin to make him sick or not.
I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but unless you can find a groomer that knows of a sure-fire safe way to do this, you are going to end up with a bald, extremely sick/injured, possibly dead cat.
Please don’t try to do this, for the sake of your cat. I agree that a burgundy cat would be neat, but it’s not worth risking your cat’s life or causing him to suffer. Cats are sensitive to things that humans are not (for example, aspirin and Tylenol can kill them) and there is no way to know what ingredient might be a deadly poison in even tiny amounts.
Sqrl, love. Burgundy and Smoke Grey would go fabulously together. A couple of my favorite colors. Whip up some red and blue koolaid, until you get a nice burgundy and dye the cat’s white hair. This way, no harm, no foul, and you are appropriately acessorized.
jazzmine is ALWAYS here for you
trisha
I talked to some groomers in the area last night and they said that it would be pretty safe to dye his hair with food coloring or koolaid. They said certain forms of hydrogen peroxide were ok. He had a minor scratch and the vet said put hydrogen peroxide on it to wash it.
He doesn’t like baths but he hates the car worse so, because he gets bathed once a month (or every two weeks) I will see about dying him then. I think I will go the koolaid route because the colour would be better. I will probably use tropical punch and grape to get him that perfect colour.
To the person who said I would end up with a bald cat: He is practically bald already. He is a Cornish Rex and has extremely short, wavy hair. I will be careful so he doesn’t lose anymore hair and use koolaid as one of the groomers suggested.
HUGS!
Sqrl
Why do you bathe your cat? All the cats I know do that themselves. All freakin’ day.
My cat, according to many breeders and vetrinary sources (I did research before buying a pure bread cat), needs to be bathed to wash off his oils or he will be very smelly. This is because his hair is so short. If you get a Devin Rex, a Cornish Rex, or a Sphinx cat, you will have to bathe them regularly or they will start stinking quite nastily.
HUGS!
Sqrl
Sqrl, if you find it difficult to bathe your Rex maybe get another cat. My folks have a Cornish Rex and a tabby shorthair, both male and neutered, that are really friendly with each other if you know what I mean. When they aren’t curled up together in the kitty basket they’re bathing one another and sometimes my dad’s lab gets into the act to clean the Rex’s earwax. RT (rat tail) is non-smelly and has very soft, silky fur, a big change from then the folks got him.
Sigh
C’mon, Sqrl. Time to change the meds. Maybe a nice burgundy pill this time. Would you like that? Sure you would. Follow the doctor, now.
Call the pet store & ask them if they have a product to do the job…alternatives, Food colour, or Clairol no ammonia hair colour, or halloween temp hair colour at the store…seems like someone didn’t go to the store & look yet. Also, most are probably tested on animals already.
sigh handy, ‘tested on animals’ doesn’t mean ‘tested to be safe for cats’. Animals are not only different from people, they are different from each other! And cats are VERY different. Plus they are at increased risk of poisoning because they groom themselves constantly and will ingest anything that is put on their skin and hair.
I don’t know about a large amount of kool-aid, but the food coloring should be perfectly safe. However, my objection here is to the bleaching out of the colored hair.
Sqrl, Cornish Rex have rather delicate hair (and not much of it). Using something harsh enough to bleach out the colored hair might damage it and cause it to break off and/or fall out. Letting a strong chemical sit on that delicate skin for long enough to bleach the hair could cause skin damage.
And, as I said, hydrogen peroxide is an emetic - we give it at the vet clinic to make poisoned animals throw up. It only takes a little bit to cause an immediate eruption.
Really, SqrlCub, I’ve just lost most of my respect for you - how can you put your desire to turn your cat a peculiar color over its safety and well-being? The cat is dependent on YOU, the supposedly intelligent half of the relationship, to give him proper care and protect him from harm - instead you are going to risk injuring or poisoning him on a lark.
Shame on you.
I wouldn’t do it. Poor cat, what if you don’t like the way the dye job turns out? I bet the cat won’t think it is fun.
Doing wacky experiments with my own hair is one thing, but I would not do it to my beloved, trusting cat.
Bo
Poor cat.
What’s next Sql? Kitty body piercings and henna tattoos?
Geeeeezee.
To everyone, I haven’t decided if I really want to dye him yet. I still think it would make him look neat.
For everyone, the vet that I called and told that my cat ate a whole lot of koolaid powder (I lied and wanted the free advice.) said that it was nothing to worry about since it doesn’t have any type of psychoactives or chemicals in it that are dangerous to cats. For the record, I told him he ate the powder from concentrate (no sugar added) and ate two packets of it when I caught him. That will also be significantly less than what will actually go on him if I dye him. Oh, the vet also said that flea shampoo even after you wash it off is significantly more harmful than koolaid because most people don’t wash it all the way out even at the groomers. He said if the label said anything like “gets rid of fleas for up to XX days or months” then those chemicals stay on the cat for at least that long.
I had already said that I wouldn’t bleach him out with peroxide after what you guys said and the small amount of research that I conducted on the side, I discovered that though it would probably be ok if I was careful, I wouldn’t do that because I would not want to make a mistake.
Oh, if I do it I will probably expirement first with food colouring and then later if it looks right go onto koolaid. I also won’t do it until he needs a bath again. That will probably be within the coming month. While he is there, I will just put the dabs of food colouring on him and see if it colours him. If it doesn’t I will let him be until his next bath. If at that time I want to go through the trouble of dying him I will use a small amount of koolaid on a white spot that he has (it is about an inch in diameter) and see if it colours him any. If it does, I will wait yet again for his next bath at the end of the summer to colour him assuming I am still up to dying him and that he didn’t have any ill effects which according to the vet and groomers I shouldn’t have.
For those of you who took one small step and applied it to more extreme steps, that is faulty reasoning. I never said I would pierce my cat (I have seen dogs with pierced ears) nor will I give him tattoos of any kind. Also, I have never put my desires over my cats well being. I asked if it was safe. I talked to three groomers and the vet (well I asked the vet if my cat eating koolaid was safe) and they all said that there should not be anything to worry about at all. Also, as I said before, if I do it, I won’t put him through the extra stress of giving him an extra bath. He will get it, if I decide that I still want to do it, at the same time he gets his regular bath.
HUGS!
Sqrl
I had a change of heart. I will actually have the groomer dye my cat with whatever they have there if and when I decide to take him to the groomer. I won’t do it myself. I typically bathe my cat myself but I suppose I can let the groomer do it for a change and get them to dye him. I won’t actually do it for quite a while though (at least 3 months). And if at that time I still want to have it done, I will talk to my vet again and follow his recommendations.
FTR, I have to reitterate that the vet said he was safe for eating a large quantity of koolaid powder (he really didn’t eat it) and should not have a problem.
HUGS!
Sqrl