Bathing My Cat

Hi all, i need to bathe my cat but she's feisty and just would not like it at all!!! do you think it would work if i put socks on her to stop her clawing me? any advice gladly recieved.

I have one who is tough to bathe too.

But I get around this by having my husband next to me holding her front arms at the shoulder/underarms which keeps her down in the sink while I wash and also keeps her from clawing.

I bathe my cats regularly. If the cat is not used to it the best thing to do is
1. Trim the claws first.
2. When you put the cat in the sink (a sink is easiest) face the cat away from you, so the cat can't climb you like a tree.
I always bath and dry them without help.

Hello . We use to bath one of our cats in the bath and she loved it she would doggy paddle in the bath but our other one that we still have would scratch and bite you to bits so we did not wash her . And all the cats we have the now we do not wash as it causes to much bother. From Purplelady

Unless your cat got into something nasty, they do not have to be bathed like a dog, who can smell. I've only bathed a few in my life, they are very clean animals normally.

I agree, my cats are bathed maybe once per 3 years or so. They are always clean and fluffy.

If the cat doesn't seem so clean, you can brush regularly which removes anything that shouldn't be there including dead fur.

This also is great for blood circulation, and feels great to them!

A short haired cat probably doesn't need a bath, comb and grooming wipes for any yuckies will probably be enough. I do believe in bathing long haired cats though. The cleaner the coat, the less it will mat. Since I show my cats, they are used to baths-I start them at 4 or 5 weeks, once a week.

I wouldn't usually bathe my cats but she has a white coat and it is very dirty!
More like a grey colour now
.thanks to all for the help!

Yes, hold the cat facing away from you...and I hold them by the scruff while pushing down at the same time.  You can do it with one hand and use the other hand to lather and rinse.  In this position they really can't move very much to scratch or bite.  I'm not going to say its a piece of cake, but most cats can be bathed like this.

when I had to bathe the Rogue (he had escaped the catsitter while I was on vacation, and I came home to him covered in fleas) I took him into the shower with me. It's the easiest to have a shower stall you can actually close. And I found out a shower is better tolerated than actually sitting in water.

He didn't enjoy it ,  but I remained surprisingly unscratched. I did of course make sure the water was warm, take care not to get any into his face and tell him as soothingly as possible that I wasn't going to drown him.