Cat's getting a Christmas bath!
- Thread starter Imdanny
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davi_el_mejor
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Good luck, I hope you have thick gloves 
that_someone_special
Ideal_Rock
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My cat needs one too- he just shredded a bag of catnip on our bed, rolled in it, mooshed it everywhere. He is lucky I don't have time.
MichelleCarmen
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bean|1293225745|2805586 said:
Cute! My cat is getting some 'nip from Santa and the Elves and I made the mistake of letting him sniff the box and he went nuts. I ended up having to give him a bit and now the box is hidden and we won't be able to put it under the tree until the morning because otherwise it's going to end up everywhere.
Imdanny
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Well, it went fine. I always use the technique my mother taught me when she worked at the vet. I hold her at the scruff of the neck. I'm not saying I've never be scratched (hahaha!) but not this time. She didn't like it but I had a very good reason. Her "Daddy I" is coming home tonight and hasn't seen her in 5 months. I generally giver her a bath about once a month. She's an indoor only cat. People say, "How can you do that" Well, cats pick up dust, etc. after a while. It's just a fact of life. She wet and not all too happy.
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No no no! It is NOT humility. Honestly, I've never seen a cat who could muster THAT. It is, rather, a roiling soupcon of major disgust, and smaller amounts of contempt and chagrin and "what the hell is WRONG WITH YOU???", with just a dash of pure hatred, that becomes pure melodramatic misery when you whip out the blow-dryer.
For a long time I had a former showcat that I got after she was retired from the show circuit, and they truly are the best for this sort of thing. They have been handled SO much that you can throw them into the sink anytime. They loathe it of course, but it never occurs to them to truly fight back. Nothing better than a brainwashed cat!
For a long time I had a former showcat that I got after she was retired from the show circuit, and they truly are the best for this sort of thing. They have been handled SO much that you can throw them into the sink anytime. They loathe it of course, but it never occurs to them to truly fight back. Nothing better than a brainwashed cat!
Imdanny
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This is how my mother [who worked for a vet] taught me to bathe a cat. If it sounds harsh, it's not meant to be. The point is to be in control of the situation for the cat's safety and for your own.
If you're right handed, hold the cat by the scruff of the neck, with your left hand, as gently as you can, but so that you can increase the pressure, such that at no time can the cat's mouth, or front or rear claws touch any part of your skin.
Have the water running at the right temperature before you begin (at the vet, they did use a sink), have the shampoo ready, and have a towel ready.
Be firm, but calm, and reassuring. Don't rush but go through the necessary steps of getting the cat wet, putting shampoo on the cat, and rinsing it off.
Then put the cat in the towel and wipe her or him off.
The cat will be unhappy at this point. It helps to sit with her or him and brush her or him (a human hair brush can work fine if you can't or don't want to buy one for brushing cats).
I use Petguard pet shampoo. It's mild and my cat never has had any kind of parasites (as I said in another thread, she's an indoor cat and never goes out and I don't wear shoes in the house).
I don't know why I felt like writing all of this down, but I think it's in response to being told so many times that you can't give a cat a bath, or that you don't give cats baths, or that there's no reason to give cats a bath.
I feel differently and the above works for me.
If you're right handed, hold the cat by the scruff of the neck, with your left hand, as gently as you can, but so that you can increase the pressure, such that at no time can the cat's mouth, or front or rear claws touch any part of your skin.
Have the water running at the right temperature before you begin (at the vet, they did use a sink), have the shampoo ready, and have a towel ready.
Be firm, but calm, and reassuring. Don't rush but go through the necessary steps of getting the cat wet, putting shampoo on the cat, and rinsing it off.
Then put the cat in the towel and wipe her or him off.
The cat will be unhappy at this point. It helps to sit with her or him and brush her or him (a human hair brush can work fine if you can't or don't want to buy one for brushing cats).
I use Petguard pet shampoo. It's mild and my cat never has had any kind of parasites (as I said in another thread, she's an indoor cat and never goes out and I don't wear shoes in the house).
I don't know why I felt like writing all of this down, but I think it's in response to being told so many times that you can't give a cat a bath, or that you don't give cats baths, or that there's no reason to give cats a bath.
I feel differently and the above works for me.
MichelleCarmen
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Imdanny|1293325625|2806007 said:
LOL!
LGK
Ideal_Rock
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Good deal that kitty sat through it patiently. That's amazing that you manage to bathe her once a month- I just... don't, lol.
I have only had to bathe one of mine twice; Rat was the lucky bathee.
He'd been sick, vet had him verrrrrry well hydrated and he peed in his carrier on the ride home (and started flicking it at me, with frightenly good aim, while I was on the freeway- not awesome.)
So I had to bathe him when I got him home. He just looked at me in a vaguely long suffering way, tried to jump out of the tub once and then gave up and let me cathandle him as I wished. I thought it would be WWIII, since he's usually totally high strung and, pound for pound, the most willful thing in the entire universe.
Then I turned him loose still wet, which proved to be a major strategic mistake. He ran right to the litterbox, to pee again, and turned into a mini Kitty Litter Roca. Gah! He went right back in the tub for bath #2.
Good times. I'll have to remember the scruffing trick sometime- though my sister tried that on him to cut a mat off, and quickly discovered why I can't de-mattify him without bleeding profusely.
I have only had to bathe one of mine twice; Rat was the lucky bathee.
He'd been sick, vet had him verrrrrry well hydrated and he peed in his carrier on the ride home (and started flicking it at me, with frightenly good aim, while I was on the freeway- not awesome.)
So I had to bathe him when I got him home. He just looked at me in a vaguely long suffering way, tried to jump out of the tub once and then gave up and let me cathandle him as I wished. I thought it would be WWIII, since he's usually totally high strung and, pound for pound, the most willful thing in the entire universe.
Then I turned him loose still wet, which proved to be a major strategic mistake. He ran right to the litterbox, to pee again, and turned into a mini Kitty Litter Roca. Gah! He went right back in the tub for bath #2.
Good times. I'll have to remember the scruffing trick sometime- though my sister tried that on him to cut a mat off, and quickly discovered why I can't de-mattify him without bleeding profusely.
zoebartlett
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I can't imagine trying to give our cats a bath. They're indoor only cats, so I guess I didn't think they needed it for some reason. Maybe I should try it sometime. I'll wear thick gloves.
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