Bathing Kitty Challenge

[Shamrock]

I decided to bath my Himalayan yesterday. I try to keep this to a minimum, but he does require regular baths as his coat is far too much for him to handle himself.

Usually I can manage him ok, but he went ballistic on me. Cats are amazingly strong, arent they?
Anyway, I have two open puncture wounds in my arm.. from his claws.. He was a flying blur.. but I think it was his back feet that dug into me - hard. :

I am just looking at these. I know that cat bites are VERY risky.. have been there, done that. I dont believe the claws pose any real issue, but should just heal up. I have been scratched many,many times over the years.. but these are deep punctures, and look quite awful.
( He is the good one to bathe, lol. My silver persian.. wont even do her any more.. take her to the groomer.)

For those of you who do find it necessary to bathe your cat... do you have tips that I may be over-looking?
I do him in the kitchen sink. I put a rubber mat on the bottom for him to grip onto.. and use a spray attachment to introduce the water, rather than immerse him.The "sound" of the hose seemed to have the reverse effect.

[nymph]

I used to have 3 cats, 2 of them were long haired, including one very hairy Norwegian forest cat. I rarely bathed them as they'd go nuts at the first sight of water. I did however brush them regularly, and sometimes when dirt got stuck in their hair, I simply just cut it.

They all HATE bathing! It was an absolute nightmare: it had to take TWO people to bath one cat at a time.

[levimh]

I have a long-haired cat and she's very..."attitudey". One day she came in the house with this disgusting odor on her. She's a very cuddley cat - when she's not cranky or being attitudey, so it's hard not to pet or ever touch her when you see her. So, I finally gave in and decided to give her a bath if I ever wanted to touch her again. I filled the tub up with a small layer of water. When I got the cat in the bathroom, she flipped out on me, but I finally got a hold of her. I held her two front legs with my left hand and watched her back legs with my other hand....as for her mouth..she knows not to bite me . When I lowered her in the tub like this, she moved a bit, but I held onto her and then with my left hand slowly put some water on her. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be...not that I've done it ever again. She didn't like me for about a day, but that's just her.

[Prin]

I don't know about bathing kitties, but I do know about being punctured.. I didn't get any infections from the claws.

[Blaze01]

Blaze is a silly cat when I am taking a bath he will sit on the edge and dip his paws and he puts his tail almost all the way in the water! Giving him a bath isnt all that bad after he is totally wet he will kinda just sit there in the warm water...this is why spraying him with a water bottle never worked

[glasslass]

I used to bath Puss-Puss every year with Flea-Flea Bar Soap at the beginning of summer to keep her flea free. She was my first cat and I didn't know that cats freak out. She never fought me. And after she dried, she became incredibly cuddly and affectionate like she liked being clean and fluffy.

[CyberKitten]

I have bathed YY twice.Siamese have thin coats so she does not need that much cleaning - and she loves to be groomed. She was not a real happy camper about the bath but she never scractched me. A few yowls were heard however, lol

Sounds like you did everything right in terms of the rubber mat and the placing her in the water. I don;t use a hose- YY gets freaked by the sound -she doesn't like the vaccum so I figured that would not go over well either. I also wear gloves just in case.

[Dog Dancer]

I have a shampoo solution that I mix up myself and put into a spray bottle to spray my dogs with (my girlfriend who breeds Shelties gave me the recipe). You spray them fairly damp then towel them off with a real good rub. It works amazingly well and is really quite cheap to make. I'm not at home right now so don't have the exact quantities as I haven't had to mix any for a while. It takes water, liquid glycerine and blue shampoo (all available at the local drug store, the blue shampoo is like you use for grey hair). It's about 1/2 cup of the liquid glycerine soap and shampoo and a 4 litre jug of water. Makes a lot so you could probably adjust it. But it may be a solution to actually dunking the cat. I'd use it if I still had my cats around - they hated bath time too but tolerated it. (One did tear down the curtains rod and all one time.) Anyhow, I don't think you can go wrong with the above measurements. No rinsing necessary it's very mild as it is well diluted and doesn't really suds up at all, but they do smell and look clean.

[Safyre]

I was warned that cats hated water, so I got mine used to water since day one of having them. They love to sit on the edge of the shower, or climb into the back of the tub where the spray doesn't hit.
I usually give them baths in the laundry tub, only because it is deep and there is a good place to tie a leash to.
My suggestion would be, right now, he probably knows, when he goes in that sink, he's gonna get wet. so take that fear away. put him in there, and just give him attention, don't make it a bath every time.
Thats what i did with my cats and they are kewl now...

[Shamrock]

I should have perhaps mentioned that this cat is almost five, not a kitten.. I'm afraid the die is pretty well cast with his aversion to water and the sink.

Luckily, I dont have to do him too often... three or four times a year..
Basil is a very gentle cat, but he is timid, easily scared.
The scratching of my arm was just in his panic to get away. He'd had enough.

Dog Dancer, the spray-on shampoo would be much prefereable to immersing him in the water. I really like the idea of it, but wonder how all the soap is removed? With the long fur, it seems that a towel dry wouldnt remove it entirely.
As cats groom themselves so intensely... wouldnt some shampoo be ingested?
Although, maybe just a water solution for a wipe down would be an option for next time.
Or I may just take him to the groomers next time. If had a helper.. I could do it easy.. but its not really a solo job.. thats the problem.

Here's a pic of him from today. he feels and smells really nice.

[glasslass]

Now THAT's a fluffy-clean kitty!

[twinmommy]

oooh now that's one pritty kitty!! lol

[CyberKitten]

This is (a not very good) picture of YY since I am holding her and trying to take her picture while pointing the camera at the mirror - I came out as a blur, lol

[twinmommy]

we joke aroung about the "outbreak suit" (haz-mat garb) needed to bather ole Sam.

I wish I was kidding....

[Shamrock]

Oh, thanks, Twinmommy, for the kind compliment on my cat! Basil is the sweetest natured and most affectionate of my three cats, a big marshmallow really,... but unfortunately he has a permanent p.o'd look about him. Its very difficult to get a pic of him where he isnt looking mad.

C.K.. sweet pic of YY!

This is my other persian, the petite but feisty Miranda. Five years and five pounds of total cattitude.
She is partly grown out from her last lion cut, so her fur is fairly short right now. I get her done twice a year, to give her a "grooming holiday". Takes about six months to grow back in.

[Dog Dancer]

Hi Shamrock, sorry been unplugged for a few days. I didn't think about the cats licking all the time with the spray soap. It's a very mild mix with really low suds, but still could be an issue I guess. Maybe just call and ask a vet about it. You could always down size the soap stuff a bit more just to get the fresh scent. The moisture and the towelling takes most of the dirt away I find. Cheaper than a groomer that's for sure. Ask a vet if it would hurt them - the call should be free! Good luck. My two cats (sadly gone both at the age of 18 a couple years ago) used to get bathed a few times a year and tolerated it would be the best I could say! One was a persian cross so we had the long hair too.

[CyberKitten]

The best "shampoo" to use with a cat is either a vet approves stuff, Dawn detergent or Johnson's No Tears Baby Shampoo. Many who show cats swear by Dawn. I use it to bath the sphynxes.