Catbath

[Loki]

Well, this is some achievement I've had. Lately, jasper has been getting really smelly, possibly because he's been playing in a pile of manure. And no one would bath him, and since he always follows me around, I have to put up with the smell of horse crap. So I gave him a bath, and I did it without getting scratched.

Now, Jasper is a hairy cat, as you can see in this photo of the Great Jasputin:
http://www.veggieboards.com/pics/data/501/1157theincrediblejasper.jpg?6561

He's half regular cat and half persian. So he's hairy but isn't fully persian. You've got to take care of him like a regular persian cat though, which means that you have to give him a bath every once in a while, because you wouldn't believe all the stuff that gets caught in his hair. Sticks, stones, slugs, snails and the like have found it into his hair. He's had a few baths before, but we don't regularly bath him. It was my first time bathing the cat. My mum warned me that he'd scratch, but he was great. He tried to jump out of the bath a few times, but I managed to wash him, and he's feeling good now. (Well, he was purring after the bath. He's fighting the dog right now.)

And to anyone else who has a long haired cat, give it a bath frequently!

[Ocean]

I don't know how you did that Loki, my cats would probably scratch me to death if I tried putting them in water. And I'd like to bathe my outdoor cat because he's totally disgusting sometimes but I'm VERY afraid. What's your secret?

[scareyvegan]

heh bathing cats is sometimes tricky

thats good that youre being responsibly and bathing him when he needs it, loki

do you brush him out too?

jasper is such a cutie

:)
Caroline

[stellar26]

I give Felix a bath about every other month. He doesn't have long hair, but he seems to thorougly enjoy it and it gets rid of all of the dirt and a lot of the excess fur that would otherwise end up on the furniture :) .

Here's a photo of Felix from my album. (http://www.veggieboards.com/pics/data/501/1257Felix.jpg?2618)

[Ocean]

I actually cut my cats hair-or rather my mom does it. She uses this dog shaver and they don't seem that scared of it anymore,a nd it cuts down on the hair tremendously.

[MorningStarr]

WOW! My cat likes water except for when I try to bathe her! When I was painting my room she snuck in and stepped in the paint, I took her to the bathroom and tried to wash it off. OUCH!! She was mad at me for a long time. How on earth do you do it????

[skarrlett]

Ok.. you are brave... very brave. Honestly, I think I have the devil cat. Thankfully I don't have to bathe her because I don't know where I'd rent a chainmail suit. ;)

[Muzicfan]

my cats are strictly indoor cats, so they do not get dirty or smelly. One time, I tried to bathe meemers, my oldest cat, when he was younger. The neighbors called the police, cause they thought I was abusing a baby. yes, he sounds like a howling baby when you try to bathe him.

I pretty much stopped, cause of all that. They keep themselves clean, but if needed. I use that dry cat shampoo, you just brush on. My cats though are good at keeping themselves clean. In fact my youngest will clean the spot where I touched her after petting. Now that is vain. :)

[SilverC]

I bathe cats at work quite often. Fun fun fun!! :p

I always trim their nails first. Makes it much less painful. I brush them out as much as I can before too. One of those rubber brushes work great for short hair cats, and a slicker brush for long hair.

I usually scruff the cat; grab the skin on the back of the head/neck and hold them up in the air. I spray them down really quickly, then turn off the water. Then put them down, and lather them up. Then I scruff them again, and rinse them off as quickly as possible. Oh, and I never ever get water on their heads or faces, they tend to freak out more if their heads get wet.

Then I plop them into a cage, and blow dry them. Halfway through the blow dry, I take them out and brush them a bit, just so they don't get that drowned rat look to them. Blow dry them again, and brush brush brush.

I actually prefer bathing the cats, compared to some of the psycho dogs we get in.

[SuicideBlonde]

My big boy will wine and scream. My little girl tryes to rip my arm off. Both of them love the way they feel after the bath. They are inside cats only.

[dakinirawk]

my kitty gets a bath every three days. He's used to it now. Sometimes he gets a little pathetic look in his eyes, or tries to hop out, but he's really quite good. he's a hairless cat (sphynx) so he's gotten bathed since Day one. I think establishing a routine early will give you less grief.

My mom watched a show where Martha Stewart showed how to bathe a cat. I didnt see it, but from what she explained to me it sounded like the key was using buckets and dunking the cat in them. that it was more soothing for them to be submerged in a lukewarm bath, and then into a soapy one and rubbed a bit and then into a rinse bucket. something like that.

perhaps someone saw that and can explain better? I never bothered to try it cuz my Ronin just has to deal with the sink sprayer and a washcloth full of shampoo. haha.
XOXO
beth

[LadyFaile]

i only bathed mine when he was a kitten and that was only because he had fleas. took about 3 baths to get rid of them all though. kittens are easier to bathe than adults i'd say, you just hold them under their belly with one hand and lather with the other and watch out for flailing claws.
my roommate at the time had adult cats in the house who all got fleas as well of course, that was fun. her one cat is such a suck, though he's big and intimidating all he did was stand in the tub with a very perturbed look on his face and now and then he'd casually reach out one paw towards the edge of the tub. course his legs are very strong, if he got a paw on the edge he'd just vault out of the tub and soak us in the process

[Euphoria]

Ella probably has about the same length fur as Jasper (she's a medium-haired cat), but I don't give her baths. I've only ever given her two when she was very little and got sick and had poo all over herself, but she was very good. In fact she loves playing in water.
But I don't give her baths, because her fur is soooo unbelievably soft, I don't want to ruin her coat. Besides she's a very clean cat and never plays outside so I don't see the need to.

[Chook]

My cat Grace is a long haired moggy. She likes to sit on me when I'm in the bath and swoosh her tail through the water. When she gets out, she's always surprised to find her tail is wet and she has to whizz round in circles till she catches it to lick it dry! Totally mad!

However, she does like to be vacuumed ( just the nozzle, not the brush bit). When I'm vacuuming she'll throw herself in front of me til I run the nozzle over her to her satisfaction. It does keep the fur deposition down a bit.

[Chook]

And here's how to bath a cat for those who need a chuckle.

http://www.yuckles.com/catbath.htm