Have you ever seen how a groomer bathes a cat?

I work at an animal hospital that also has groomers. The groomers bathe cats and dogs all the time. Last Thursday was the first time I saw how they bathe cats and it made me sad.

What they do is take the cat and put it in a small cage, they put the cage in the bath basin and then turn on the hose and drench the cat with water while the cat is freaking out in the cage. It seems to me there has to be a better and less stressful way to bathe a cat.

Does anyone know if this is the common way a groomer bathes a cat?

Dunno, but it sounds terrible. Anyone attempting to do that to my Anya would have to be fed up with having a full complement of fingers.

Now i can see why a cat would`nt like THAT kind of getting wet!

i think that is a pretty common way to do it. We have those contraptions at my shelter. It is great for the not-to-friendly stray cat who is covered in dirt or fleas or something, but sad to thing of doing that to my own pet cats.

Sometimes it is necessary, cats don't do well being tied to a leash and held down like you can do with a dog. Most cats are known to not like water where dogs do a lot of times. I don't think there is really any other way unless the cat you are bathing is one you know very well. Too big of a risk of getting bit and scratched, then there is probably law suits to risk from that...I am not saying I think it is a good thing to do to the poor cat, but that is probably why it IS done.

Have these places not heard of using the protective gloves when dealing with not so friendly cats?!.

Thats a cruel way of doing it in my eyes

Did you not say anything?!. I wouldn't have been able to keep my mouth shut at seeing that

At my grandparents' pet grooming/supply store, they used protective gloves and put the cat in a harness, just like they did with the dogs.

They stuck the cat in a carrier with a diffused hair dryer to dry them off, and a lot of cats didn't like that, but they would never have bathed a cat in a cage. How do they scrub them in a cage? Do they just spray on some soap, and then wash it off? It seems like the only real cleaning that would happen is when the cat licks herself dry.

poor cat

Doesn't the poor cat get soap and water in its ears and eyes?

that sounds horrible...and people pay them to do this?!?!? WOW i'm glad that i do my own grooming!

Come to think of it, I may be thinking of DRYING the cat when they do this.

I know a lot of people that DRY their show cats like that but not wash heavens

I've never seen cats done, but I've seen dogs done. The guy doing them never even talked to them or anything. It made me want to start my own grooming business just so I could treat at least MY customers' dogs to a loving, caring bath. Hmph.

Wow! That's horrible to think about. I have always wondered how they do it, 'cos Pushy won't let us even think about bathing him!

Honestly, professional grooming is by its very nature *extremely* stressful on a cat. I work at a vet hospital that also does grooming and let me tell you, the shrieks that come from the grooming area are way worse than the shrieks from the treatment room.

The worst of all is the senior Persians and Himalayans, who can't groom themselves anymore and are often in questionable health. Cats have passed out from the stress. It's not a good thing.

I seriously wish that everyone who considers getting a Persian or Himalayan cat could spend a few hours in a grooming parlor to see what these cats have to go through just so their coats can be maintained. I suspect many would reconsider.