How many times do you bathe your cat?

the mother cat, a domestic short hair, i have never bathed. although i do take wet cloths and clean her paws every now and then. 

her daughter, a 18-week old domestic medium hair cat, i have bathed twice and intend to do very soon again. the fur on this cat starts feeling dirty and smells it too after a while, thanks to her mother who licks her frequently. i simply wear an old sweatshirt (protective gear) and run very warm water out the kitchen sink at a slow gentle pace so that water is as splashless and noiseless as possible and then i use antibacterial handsoap and then wash, lather and rinse. -- no water or cleaning on the head. 

fur looks beautful and clean afterwards.

once every 2 months so far. 

Ummm-Never.  I treasure every piece of skin I have and I would rather be intact rather than tattered and torn.

Mouse has never had a bath and won't get one unless he has some messy mishap and there's no alternative.  His two tabby predecessors had the occasional bath when needed.  Pal had one bath because she managed to get herself coated with some white paint down one side and her fur was too long to just wipe it away with a wet cloth, and her sister had two:  one when she got paint on herself and another when she had been sick with bladder and urine infection and smelled a bit too stongly of urine.  They both liked water as long as it was around their body temperature and would sit calmly in the sink while I poured cups of water over their fur but hated getting dried afterwards.  They had thick fur and wouldn't tolerate a blow drier and I could only dry so far with a warm towel and a radiator so they'd smell like damp rugs for about 2 days afterward!  

keyes said:

 
Ummm-Never.  I treasure every piece of skin I have and I would rather be intact rather than tattered and torn.

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LOL! My fuzzy boy jumped in the tub with my husband to bathe last winter. We waited two months to bathe him because it was so cold and it takes me at least an hour with the blowdryer to get him completely dry. Apparently two months without a bath is too much for him to take!

ChloeJune said:

the mother cat, a domestic short hair, i have never bathed. although i do take wet cloths and clean her paws every now and then. 
her daughter, a 18-week old domestic medium hair cat, i have bathed twice and intend to do very soon again. the fur on this cat starts feeling dirty and smells it too after a while, thanks to her mother who licks her frequently. i simply wear an old sweatshirt (protective gear) and run very warm water out the kitchen sink at a slow gentle pace so that water is as splashless and noiseless as possible and then i use antibacterial handsoap and then wash, lather and rinse. -- no water or cleaning on the head. 
fur looks beautful and clean afterwards.
once every 2 months so far. 

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• chloejune
• Dec 7, 2014

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as far as I.know cats should only be bathed with cat shampoo. You could be drying out her natural oils.
If you intend to carry on bathing her please get her a cat shampoo.

I knew the objections about the soap would come.

I don't fear that soap. At once every 2 month-ish, her oils will not be dried out. The soap is rather gentle and dries clean. Doesn't hurt my eyes and I don't lather her head. 

That said, I literally just gave my cat another wash a few minutes ago and just rewarded her with a little bit of CatSip, cow's milk for cats.

It's always so weird seeing my cat, a soft fluffy torti cat, wet and thin. She's so healthy that even when fully wet she still looks full and plump but not fat. During the wash, there was a little bit of slow-paced struggling but not a single meow. My cats never hiss at me. They love me and know I am top cat in the house. 

as least as possible. i gave them a dawn bath to help alleviate fleas. they actually did much better than me, i felt horrible like i was betraying them. when it was time for the youngest one to get his bath he let out the cutest little cries ever and i just burst into tears. i thought they would never forgive me but they did. I really think next time they and I will do better. I'd like to say ill aim at 1x per year, just to keep them used to it.

On the soap front I confess to the number one sin of using 'human' shampoo for snowleopard the first time I had to bathe her.   It was small hours of the morning and she managed to brush along a newly gloss painted door and the paint wasn't water soluuble.  It was before 24 hour vet care here and I knew I had to stop her from grooming off the paint and also the white spirit I had to remove the paint with!   I'd never thought of bathing my cats before then and had no cat shampoo in the house and no unscented soap so Pantene Pro V it was....    Oh gee, I never realized how strongly perfumed human shampoo is before that.  I swear my fur babe stank of Pantene for at least 3 months!   ​  When I think back on it,  it was pure luck her sister didn't think she was some alien invader and attempt to kill her.      I was really careful to rinse thoroughly which was fine given how she liked being in water, but it isn't something I would reccommend to anyone unless it was a real emergency. She smelled very unnatural for a cat and I found it quite unsettling picking her up for snuggles until the scent finally wore off.  

I don't really bathe mine, but I do have AllerpetC that I have used, plus a dry shampoo. The AllerpetC leaves his fur very nice.

The SPCA may have had to bathe her when she was brought into them, but she is a good groomer and doesn't go outside, so I have no need to even think about it.  And that is a good thing, because I suspect trying to put Ruby in tub of water would result in fur flying, water splashing and blood (mine) spurting.   

My 2 kitties tend to wrestle a lot and end up smelling of each others breath from the constant play biting of each others necks and face.     They both end up with no so nice smelling faces and necks when I kiss them. lol

So I wash them with Vets Best waterless shampoo.  I love the smell and no fear of water for the kitties.

ps Yes, please use kitty shampoo for your furbabies. 

My Regent gets coconut oil in his diet to help moisturize hair/skin, then we use a furminator for grooming. When you part his hair to look at his skin, it's clean white, no dandruff, and no layer of shedding. Sometimes we have to clean around his pooper, and on odd occasions I'll use a damp cloth to wipe debris off his hair. He's never needed an actual bath.

My kittens generally play fight fairly often, we bath then typically every 3 months as the smell of each other's meaty breath when they bite. They Abyssinians so we wash them occasionally as they can get sick if you bathe them regul

I do value my life enough to not attempt bathe my cats, except smallest one, I put water into washing basin and she happily swims in it.

All of my cats have feral origins so they don't hesitate to bite, also forcing them to go trough washing would mean years of work to get them current level of socializing would be lost as they were not socialized as kittens they mostly tolerate me and petting, but they are not truly submitting, so I don't think it would be even possible to wash them.

Only reason to wash them would be if they manage to get their coat dirty by some substance which is not too good for them, but even then they probably would hide before I even get to know about such event and those that are indoor only can't end up to such situation as I have cat proofed their house, so it is very unlikely that I would ever meet situation where I would have to wash them.

All of mine have been washed by vet when they got spayed and neutered, it was easy for them as they were under drugs, but I don't think that cats even know such thing happened to them.