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Do You Give Your Cat A Bath?

post #1 of 29
6/27/03 at 2:03pm
Thread Starter 
Do you give your cat a bath? I don't bathe mine. I let them do it themselves. I am scared of their claws.
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post #2 of 29
6/27/03 at 3:31pm
We like to give them all a bath at least once in the summer. We also trim thier claws every 2 to 3 weeks. If you start bathing them early, they generally get used to it and there's no problems.
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post #3 of 29
6/27/03 at 4:32pm
I give one of my Ragdolls a bath. She is 11 months old and is about to get her 4th bath. Lita is really good in the water and also loves to be blown dry with the hair dryer.
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post #4 of 29
6/27/03 at 6:29pm
I wash kittens once a week and adults once a month! I have persians and they have too much fur to clean them selves.
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post #5 of 29
6/27/03 at 6:32pm
I would like to bathe Indie. Do you use luekwarm water. Do you use special kitty shampoo?
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post #6 of 29
6/27/03 at 6:36pm
my cats don't like water, and they keep themselves clean so I dont. I do trim there claws when ever they need it.
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post #7 of 29
6/27/03 at 6:46pm
Luke warm water is good for giving cats a bath. Also, you want to make sure and get shampoo from the pet store made just for cats and kittens.
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post #8 of 29
6/27/03 at 6:48pm
We've given a few our ours a bath. We had a basement flood earlier this year and she went down and flopped in the water...ewww..gross...so she had to get a bath. She was MAD!

Sasha (our Ragdoll) got a bath a few weeks back, he wasn't thrilled, but he cooperated.
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post #9 of 29
6/28/03 at 4:03am
Our 4-year-old, shorthaired cat has only been bathed once, when he got into a bag of barbecue charcoal as a kitten. I have washed his feet and tail with a washcloth at times, but only when they've been particularly dirty. I don't clip his nails - he keeps them in very good (sharp) shape on his cat tree and scratching boards, though I check for ragged or split nails regularly.
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post #10 of 29
6/28/03 at 4:31am
I too have persians and like dragonlady i give kittens baths once a week and adults onece a month. Most absolutely love it, they enjoy hte special attention and the blowdrying and grroming they get afterwards, they purr and rub themselves all over me with delight afterwards.
One of my cats, a rescue persian obviously has never been washed before i got him and he absolutely hates baths, will scream, cry claw and bite, so i'll only wash him if he really gets dirty.
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post #11 of 29
6/29/03 at 4:26pm
I bathe Peaches occassionally. She also is a Persian. But she doesn't like blow dryers! Scares the crap out of her! Poor baby. She startles very easily.

I got a tip from a book that helped Peaches be more comfy in the bath. It said to put a rubber mat on the bottom of the sink so she doesn't slide around. It works well!
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post #12 of 29
7/2/03 at 9:22am
I personally don't bathe my cats, but I am a pet groomer and people bring their cats in all of the time to be bathed and shaved. Our area recently did an article in the newspaper about lyon cuts on cats and I have done so many of them recently I am sick of it. I am definatly a cat person but give me a dog to shave or bathe any day. Cat's are so much nastier than dogs and they have those claws!! OUCH!!
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post #13 of 29
7/2/03 at 1:35pm
I would never bathe my cat unless she got into something icky!
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post #14 of 29
7/3/03 at 10:20am
I had the most wonderful experence last night of washing all 7 of my cats. I have 5 kittens, 1 shorthaired adult, and one long haired adult. The kittens were kind of upset, but they cleaned up quickly afterwards. Vagabond (the short haired female) absolutly hates baths ((she was abused as a kitten and thrown into full bath-tubs of cold water)), and it's a fur flying clawfest every time... but I made a promise that every 3 months vagabond will get a bath. Hobo, I had to be careful about. She recently got the stiches out from when she was fixed 2 weeks ago, but so far it seems to me that she's ok with it. There usualy isn't that much of a fuss, but i find that having them all in the bathroom when i start, and slowly let each one out as their washed and dried, seems to work best.

I was also told that Johnson&Johnson baby shampoo woorks just as good as normal shampoo. Does it?

~ Salem
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post #15 of 29
7/3/03 at 11:15am
BK, my 15 month old cat gets groomed every 3 to 4 months, which includes a bath, nails clipped and fur clipped (he is a long hair, coon mix with lots of hair ) The new kittens, Nemo and Scamper are getting bath every two weeks my me. I used to give BK a bath, but he is so strong I can not hold him down, so the groomer does it with help. I bath them because they are inside cats, the outside feral cats, Scrappy Girl and Blackie Boy do not get baths.
Clara
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post #16 of 29
7/3/03 at 12:08pm
You can use the baby shampoo, but I would recomend using something made for cats. The baby shampoo tends to dry thier skin out.
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post #17 of 29
7/3/03 at 1:08pm
I'm allergic to cats
so even with the allergy shots & medicine, it's helpful to bathe the cats once a month. I use warm water (a cat's normal body temp is about 102 degrees) and a very gentle hypoallergenic shampoo designed for cats. It's also a good idea to put a dab of vaseline or puralube eye ointment (you can get it at the pet store) over the cat's eyes so you don't get shampoo in her eyes.
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post #18 of 29
7/4/03 at 4:16am
I actually have pictures of this cuz I thought it was funny.

Being a bengal, he doesn't mind the water TOO much. But he doesn't exactly like it either.


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post #19 of 29
7/4/03 at 11:05am
*chuckling* I would have had my arms clawed to bits by that point LOL

~ Salem
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post #20 of 29
7/4/03 at 12:31pm
I keep trying to give my cat a bath because he keeps getting pine sap all over him, but he freaks out as soon as he sees water. We just water sealed our deck and when it rains water beads up on it and he won't even walk on it, he just cries and cries like it's the atlantic ocean or something... lol.. I think I might try in a few minutes.. I better make out my will first..
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post #21 of 29
7/4/03 at 12:57pm
don't forget to include who your dear darling gets to go to once he's riped you to shreds LOL

~ Salem
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post #22 of 29
7/4/03 at 8:42pm
Our cats actually like being in the water!!!
:jarswim:
they fuss a bit for the first two or three minutes then they settle down and enjoy it
By the end of their baths Zooey is usually playing with the water coming out of the shower head and Bobbie is purring again...
But we don't plunk them in the water though, we just use the shower head, and warm water. And so long as we're both in there with them they're fine....
We do this about once every two weeks... It's easier to bathe them then it is to dry them though!!
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post #23 of 29
7/7/03 at 8:45pm
I just gave one of my Ragdolls (Lita) a bath tonight. She has had 3 baths before from groomers in her 1 year of age. I always got good reports on how she is in the bath water I figured that I would give it a go alone tonight. Lita was very good.....only trying to make a quick exit twice. She allowed me to rinse her under the faucet without too much protest. She looks great. I used the Foster and Smith Shed Control Shampoo for cats and dogs. Great product with a nice coconut scent.
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post #24 of 29
7/8/03 at 12:31am
Yes. I breed Persians and I bath them all the time. My show cats get bathed every week using a lil bit of human shampoo because to much cat shampoo dries out a cats skin. My breeding cats get bathed when they need it or around every 3 months.My neuter cats get bathed at least 5 times a year with cat shampoo.

It's a good idea to bath cats, cats can't get to every part of their body and need you to help, also if your cat has skin mites or fleas etc etc a bath can be a very in-expensive way to remove these.

I start bathing cats when they are around 7 weeks old, by just starting to place them in a shallow bowl of water and then softly drying them, it's good to start early, none of my cats get nasty when I'm bathing them.

Thanks, Sam.
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post #25 of 29
7/9/03 at 4:49am
Oh yes, i bath all my kitties.


Here is Daisy in the kitty tub. (Actually i bought a human baby tub..teehee!) The camera was all fogged up..



i blow dry with low heat after bathing her. Here is a pix before the blow-drying session:



Here is Venus in the tub. i use a soft wash cloth to bath her. It is actually a hello kitty wash cloth. Venus seems not to mind one bit taking a bath!




Here is Isys, after her bath, wrapped in her towel.



Cheers!

[img}
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post #26 of 29
7/18/03 at 9:18pm
I bathe my cat every two weeks or so, if I do not bathe him I rinse him off.
I just like clean cats(lol) I know they wash themselves but, they do get in the litter box. Plus I think its a good idea to get them used to being handled and bathed so if they ever have to be treated at the Vets, they are used to it.
I have a friend who breeds cats and she always bathes hers, she starts when they are quite young. None of her cats mind being brushed or having there nails clipped.
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post #27 of 29
7/20/03 at 5:30am
I bathe my cats once a fortnight in the warmer months. This does sound excessive but I do have my reasons. Firstly, I have two domestic shorthairs, and I used to think, that there couldn't possibly be that much fur with constant grooming but I have been proven wrong. There's mountain loads of it. Secondly, it's about the ONLY time in the week where I know their skin is moisturised and they can cool down without the aid of an airconditioner. And thirdly, although they would probably not admit it, they are a lot more comfortable. In the warmer months, it quite easily reaches 40 degrees Celsius or more, well over the 100 Farenheit mark, and that's just in the shade. I use Ego QV Wash on both cats. Fragrance free and has a moisturising affect as well so I can forgo the conditioner.

In the cooler months, that is around the 20 to 30 degrees Celsius, it's once a month. That's the only 'winter' that happens where I live.
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post #28 of 29
8/2/03 at 8:18am
No I don't bathe my cats, they clean there own self. I might able to bathe two of my cats, Joey and Toby. Toby because he doen't have any claws and Joey because he is soo gentle and I can do anything with him. Sabrina is another story, she has really sharp claws and now way I can give her a bathe. I can' t even brush her teeth or groom her.
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post #29 of 29
8/22/03 at 11:51pm
tekken practically jumps in the shower with me. my bengal loves water. i just make sure its really warm when i give him a bath him and he doesnt mind at all. he is my shower buddy


Jerry Hsien
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