Cat Dander

Help please! My husband and I have just sound out that he's highly allergic to cat dander. Giving up our "silent child" is not an option. We have read several articles about eliminating cat dander and the most called for is bathing our cat once a week - this is supposed to reduce cat dander up to 79%. Now the problem. Our cat is 7 years old (we got her as a stray at 4 years old). She has not had a bath. She's an indoor cat as well. I'm afraid that bathing her will really be traumatic for her. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to bath her and not have it scare her half to death. She trusts us so much.... I hate to lose that trust. Of course, I could make my hubby live in the shop... LOL Anyway, all suggestions are welcome...

Hi and welcome to TCS!!!
This link http://allergies.about.com/library/w...htm?once=true& will take you to an article on being allergic to cats and some additional links. I hope it provides you with some help.

If you have to bathe your kitty there are several things you can do to lessen the trauma both to her and you. First bathe her in the bathtub or shower, but in a deep bucket. Clip her claws before you start, hide treats in the bathroom for afterward. Have some towels cycling in the dryer so you can wrap her up warmly afterward. Don't use really hot water, use warm and put only enough water in the bucket to get half of her wet at a time. One of my cats (a feral) when he gets bathed, I lift him out of the bucket after he is wet. I have previously spread a towel on the bottom of the shower floor and I soap him up there and then pick him up and put him back in the bucket to rinse him off. He is better with this system, because he doesn't stay wet, the water (the noise scares him) doesn't need to stay on and he has secure footing while it is happening.


Good luck with those allergies.

I was at PetSmart yesterday and saw these moistened wipes that can be used to give kitty a bath rather than using water. They come in packages of multiple wipes - I'm not sure if this would help cut down on dander, but maybe it's worth looking into.

Hope this helps.