My cat won't clean herself!

[leslie nicole]

I have a kitty that does not clean himself well. Him and my two others get a bi monthly bath in the kitchen sink with the hand sprayer. They have learned to chill out. The kitchen sink frees up my lower body to allow support while I am rustling my little one. Learn your cat. He will tell you what. Hw likes and work with it

 

[GoldyCat]

I have a kitty that does not clean himself well. Him and my two others get a bi monthly bath in the kitchen sink with the hand sprayer. They have learned to chill out. The kitchen sink frees up my lower body to allow support while I am rustling my little one. Learn your cat. He will tell you what. Hw likes and work with it

Welcome to TCS Leslie.
I just wanted to point out that you may not get much response to your advice. This thread was started over 5 years ago and bumped up last year, so it's not likely that any of the previous posters are still following it.

We'd love to have you intorduce yourself and your kitties in the New Cats on the Block forum.

 

[kigomin]

I read somewhere that older cat that won't clean it's behind my suffer from arthritis.

I'm sorry she's feeling poorly. I do not think what she needs is a bath. Not grooming in older cats is usually a symptom that they're sick. I would recommend getting her to a vet, especially given her age. :heart3:

 

[Skritz]

My fur baby was adopted at 3 weeks after his mum tragically was hit by a car... when you get a kitty so young and you bottle feed them i find that (at least in my case) an extremely strong bond is formed...

When he was a behbeh i use to bath him regularly as he tended to get milk all over him (a real messy eater) and now as a 3 year old he is still filthy. He rolls around in sand and gets himself full of oil and really just seems to enjoy being dirty... he bathes himself a little bit but it has minimal effort and in the evenings when he comes to momma for love i get a wet nose and a filthy body pressed up against my face. Its rather unpleasant but i cant refuse him.

He doesnt have any issues being bathed. Well he does... but the trick is to hold him like a baby over my shoulder... he trusts me beyond what words can express... and so long as i hold on to him and say a few soothing shhhhhh's he reluctantly happy to be bathed. I have recently moved out though and i only see him twice a week when i go home for the evening and i worry about my baby more than you can believe. Even if he would allow my mom to bath him i know she wouldnt do it anyway... so i was wondering... can a cat be taught to bath themselves? Is there any trick to encouraging self grooming?

When i got him we did already have another cat who was far older (about 14) and had had kittens when she was younger... but shes a bit of a mean cat who prefers to keep to herself. So apart from a few hisses and whacks she didnt assossiate herself with him at all.... this is still the case to this day.. we do however have another cat now who is a year younger than he is... a rescue kitty we got at 4 weeks (poor soul was being eaten by rats when my dad saved her )... she was grooming herself from the day we got her though and she keeps her coat immaculately clean. She does help Kitty (that my dirty cats name) groom on occasion... surely this should have helped encourage self grooming?

Does anyone know of any techniques to promote grooming in cats aparet from bathing and brushing? Is there nothing i can spray on my cat to encourage himself to lick his coat? I really want to help my baby become as independent as possible ... please help!

 

[Furballsmom]

You could try applying something tasty to his paw and see if he licks that, then to his cheek, with the thought of promoting cleaning that way...