Drying after a bath?

For those of you who bathe your long haired cats, how do you dry them afterwards? My shorthairs I've only bathed a few times, and they seem to air dry okay on their own. I've come to realize that my very fluffy Griffin really needs regular bathing though, and I think it would take ages for all his fur to air dry. He is, however, terrified of my blow drier. Are there any driers made specifically for pets? How do you use them? TIA!

I know people that stick the wet cat in their carrier and put a heater close by to dry them when they are afraid of hair dryers.

Hi, My cat will not tolerate forced air on her, "the hair Dryer",
I have a scar to prove it.
I put several towels in the dryer on high for 10 minutes ahead of time.
I dry with those warm towels. I keep heat up in house, either
cut off A/C for a while or turn in up a little if winter,and comb out
her immediately. You can also use paper towels.
Brenda

I've only bathed my kittens once so far, although they are due for another bath this week! Yippee?! But when I did, I tried the warm towels from the dryer method mentioned by Ms. Blackie. I just kept them tumbling in the heat until I finished bathing each kitten, then I took one towel out and wrapped the kitten gently in the towel, massaging and rubbing him gently until he was mostly dry. Two of my kittens loved this, but one (the one with the most hair, mind you) just wanted to dry herself! You won't be able to get their fur as dry with the towel as with a blow dryer, but I think it will be much less frightening for your cat, which is just as important!

I use a pet dryer but they actually throw a lot more air at a higher force. Maxx was a little scared the first time but now he just lays there and lets me dry him. The dryer I use is called a Metro Pet Dryer. They don't get hot enough to burn and yet they dry faster and with such force it "combs" the hair out while drying.

Peaches doesn't tolerate the dryer quite as well. I have to gently hold her down to do it but eventually get the job done! I use a card table I have, as a grooming table (due to space constraints).

Is it recommended to dry them as fast as possible after bathing? My little one if a long hair as well and she is also afried of the blow dryer so I just dry her with a towel as best as possible and let her do the rest.

Well, in my opinion, and from what I have learned over the years, it is best to dry a long haired cat.

Some of the tips that I've used in the past are:

Start out with a regular hair dryer on low heat and low air setting.
Turn on the dryer first and then go get the cat and bring him/her over.
Be consistant and don't wait months in between grooming/drying sessions.
Talk to the cat while your drying him.
Don't blow directly in the face and for sure not in the ears.

All three of my cats get a bath every month (allergies). I towel dry them, and that seems to work just fine. Enzo is our medium haired cat and he will lay on my lap wrapped in a blanket till he's dry. So unless your kitty will do that, I don't have much else to say!

Get a microfibre towel (I seem to writing this a lot! ). It will take out a whole lot more water than ordinary towels. At the very least your cat would be some 40-50% dryer than what you are used to seeing with an ordinary towel.

Stick the cat in a carrier or cage and switch on the hairdryer or forced air dryer. They'll get used to it...eventually.

LH cats should be dried as soon as possible to prevent the following:

1. Catching a chill
2. Matting
3. Fungus infections (usually happens when you think the coat is dry but actually you've only dried the top coat).

I think that a forced air dryer is a wise investment for anyone who has more than 1 longhair cat!