should I give my kitty baths?

ut0pia

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He is indoor only and my house is pretty clean
Up until now I hadn't noticed him being dirty but recently I notice little pieces of dandruff looking things on his tail .....Is this normal for all kitties? Should I bathe him or is there something else I should do to make his pretty fur look shiny and clean?? I do brush his fur once or twice a week, he is medium haired but with a fluffy tail.
 

sparkie

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My kitty Thor is medium-haired with a big bushy tail too! I brush him every day and give him a treat afterwords and he L
OOOVES it
He has a little dander right before his tail too and I find that brushing daily helps keep that down.

I used to bathe a cat I had named Calypso simply because he was sitting in the tub one day when I turned on the water and didn't know he was in there! He didn't freak out like other cats - he seemed to like it! Since then, I bathed him once a week and wrapped him up in a big fluffy warm towel to dry him afterward (I think that was his favorite part!)

I think it really depends on your cat's temperament. Cats can keep themselves pretty clean. If I wanted to, I think I could easily bathe Thor since he enjoys water and drinks right out of the faucet if I turn it on. Just expose your cat to water gradually and see how he likes it. But it's not something you absolutely HAVE to do
 

sparkie

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I just remembered reading about some kind of leave in conditioner or something you could rub on your cat's fur to keep it soft and shiny (and keep the cat dander down). I don't know what it's called though or where to find something like that. Somebody else might have better info on that!
 

cats4sky

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tee hee....my oldest Sabastian i used to give him routine baths. I would turn the water on and he would back up, then back up some more, and eventually he would just start letting the water get on him, i would only fill the tub up a little and take a glass and dump the water over him, then shampoo him up and dry him in a towel. He never freaked out, he would just put his paw on the edge of the tub like mommy can i get out yet. I havent given him a bath in a long time and boy does he need one. Hes been thru alot of stress the past 2 years with vet treatments, but i think a nice bath is coming soon.

as long as you start them out as a kitty like i did Sabastian i think they will get used to it.
 

faith's_mom

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My kitties get baths atleast once a month; more if they get dusty and dirty...baths are good for the skin and coat, and for people with allergies, it's much better to keep your pets clean and allergin free.
 

kscatlady

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I found these things at Petco called kitty wipes, haven't tried them yet, or heard anything about them. They looked real handy though!
 
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ut0pia

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Thanks! I am going to introduce him to water ...So far he hasn't even been in close contact with water but he loves to dip his paws into flower pot pans and the toilet lol. I hope he likes getting baths. I will wait until he is 6 months old though because I dont' want to scare him when he is too young.
 

persi & alley

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Originally Posted by ut0pia

He is indoor only and my house is pretty clean
Up until now I hadn't noticed him being dirty but recently I notice little pieces of dandruff looking things on his tail .....Is this normal for all kitties? Should I bathe him or is there something else I should do to make his pretty fur look shiny and clean?? I do brush his fur once or twice a week, he is medium haired but with a fluffy tail.
Well, let's get this over with. Persi gets brushed every morning. And he has one heck of a lot of fur. So I am not lazy. And now that we have an enclosed shower it would be very easy for me to fling him in there and see what happened. Yes, this is the vicious cat that I should dispose of. Right this minute he is laying here right by me so I leaned over and took a big sniff of him. He smells perfectly clean to me. Sooo, in April he will celebrate his third birthday. 3 years without a bath. And for the record, I intend to make it 4.
 

lovemykitty3

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With a medium haired cat, you probably should give your cat an occasional bath. I had a longer haired cat that was prone to mats and the groomer suggested a bath every 3 months or so because if the cat's hair gets too oily it tends to clump and mat, even with brushing. If your cat doesn't get too dirty, a bath once or twice a year would probably be a good idea.
 

catsknowme

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http://www.thecatsite.com/Care/38/Ba...-Of-Wills.html
Fortunately, our beloved TCS has a great how-to article on bathing cats!

My vet doesn't recommend it because she says it is too easy to disrupt their natural oils, unless for a Sphynx or a show-cat. If they do need it, she recomments "spot cleaning".
As for those flakes by the base of the tail, I have found that it can be influenced by the food. Joey began to have that problem, but it went away when I started free-feeding JC's MaineCoon mix
I ran out of the MC mix early this month and couldn't get out of town & the local store wound up having trouble getting it (I'd paid up front, otherwise, I would have ordered online). end result - JC's fur got some mats, even tho I feed Innova as the other kibble. I'm so glad his MaineCoon mix arrived! All the cats thrive on it
 

goldenkitty45

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You don't have to wash him. Maybe increase the combing, rather then just a brush. Combing does better. Usually you only wash show cats or those that are really dirty.
 

mews2much

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I have never gave my cats a bath except for Cleo because she is a sphynx and they will get real oily.
My Russian Blue Mix will tyr to get in the sink with the water on though.
All my cats are indoor.
 

kody's mom

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My husband used to give Sugar Ray a shower once every couple of months. He was inside/outside and had white fur. He never really minded, I don't think. Steve would get the water nice and warm and take down the shower head and set it on gentle. Afterward, his hair was as soft as a bunny rabbit! I loved it!!!!
 

forensic

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Hennessy gets a little flakey bit near the tail sometimes... I guess that area's the catch all or hard to reach. I usually just skritch it a little (which he likes) and then he grooms it all neat again.
 

kittyl0ve4

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I give mine baths once and a while. Neither like to be brushed, or have their claws clipped. Giving them baths makes it easier on me to clip their claws bc they seem to struggle less when they are wet. Everytime i clip their claws but dont bathe them, when i wrap them they still find a way to struggle out anyway. I also like to bathe them because they lay where the dog lays and i dont want them smelling like him, he needs a bath bad, its just too cold outside (and we cant get him into the tub).
 

kara_leigh

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Nora has never once had a bath, and she is almost a year old. Gus was 10 when he died and he never once had a bath either, and he had long hair. Never once had a mat either, and I rarely combed him b/c he hated it. He kept him self very clean and he never smelled or was ever dirty at all. He had quite a bit of white on him and it was always perfectly white.

This was taken shortly before he died.
 

persi & alley

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Originally Posted by Trouts mom

Trout has never had a bath. She bathes herself
Quite. And the parts Persi cannot reach to bathe himself such as his head and ears, he goes up and nuzzles Alley who then does a good job of bathing his head and ears for him.
 
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