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Tip
87 - Cat bath - Bathing cats - Should I bathe my cat
There
are some dissenting views on this issue but in general there
is usually no reason to bathe your cat especially a shorthaired
indoor cat. Cats spend a large percentage of their days grooming
themselves and they are experts at it. Using their
barbed tongues they lick dirt and debris off their fur in order
to keep it clean and odor free. Cats with long hair may require
the occasional bath if their fur gets too oily. Their fur can
get too oily based on climate conditions and the individual skin
of the cat. There are also occasional times when your cat's fur
may get excessively dirty due to some mishap that
the cat has gotten itself into. In some of these cases it may be
necessary to give your cat a bath.
You
should know right off the bat that almost all cats hate baths,
so be prepared. Here
are some tips to make the experience easier:
-
Cat
baths are smoother when 2 people are bathing the cat. One
holds the cat while the other bathes the cat. Bathing the
cat should be done
in the bathroom where you can close the door to prevent
escapes. Noise (like rushing bath water) is always an issue
for the
cat so anything to keep the noise level down will help.
-
Preparation is everything - Run the bath water BEFORE you put
the cat
in the bath and make sure the water is not too hot and not
too cold. The height of the water should reach the cat's underbelly.
-
A
rubber bathmat placed in the tub will give the cat something
to grip when it gets nervous and is a good idea.
-
Use
a cat shampoo recommended by your vet, groomer or other qualified pet
professional.
-
Do
NOT wet the cat's head. Instead use a moist washcloth
or towelette if the cat's face and head are dirty. GENTLY
wet the cat
from neck to bum using a cup or small pail with the
bath water itself and start shampooing at the neck and move
toward the bum. Then wash the legs.
-
Meowing and yowling at this point are normal unless your cat is
mute,
in a coma, or practically dead. Just continue rubbing in the suds gently. Don't use too much shampoo.
-
The
rinsing is the most important part as shampoo
left on a cat's skin will make your cat scratch itself thereby
irritating its skin.
Start draining the bath water. While it is draining,
start rinsing the cat's fur with the remaining bath water
using cup or small
pail.
This
gets the
'big suds' off. Use or buy a cheap shower attachment
for this next part. With warm water from the shower attachment,
rinse and rub the
fur well from neck to bum. Once you think it's
clean do it again quickly making sure there is no shampoo
residue.
-
While in the tub put a towel all around kitty and start gently
rubbing
all around its body. It must be a gentle rub or pat down because
especially in a longhaired
cat, you don't want the rubbing to create new knots. Remove
kitty from the tub and use another towel to further absorb water
from the fur.
-
If
you have a hair dryer that does NOT make
too much noise you can try rubbing the fur while blow drying.
Make sure that if your cat
is NOT completely dry that you put it in a WARM
room so that it does not catch a chill and get sick. This
CAN happen easily.
