Giving Kitty A Bath

Hi,

I would rather have another root canal but ... Snowy is not grooming
like he used to and his beautiful white coat is clumping and looking
shabby. How do you bathe a cat? ( He jumped into the bathtub when
a kitten which didn't help his natural distaste for water.)

At one time a "dry" hair cleaner was advertised for woman. Is there
such a product that could be used for a cat?

My wife suggests a professional groomer. Is that a better option than
doing it ourselves?

Thanks,
Gary

"Gary Brown" wrote in message
...


My wife suggests a professional groomer. Is that a better option than
doing it ourselves?

Thanks,
Gary

YES

There is still a faint hope that you might avoid that root canal
filling yet.....I had exactly the same problem,but for different
reasons about 10days ago-my cat was diagnosed with ring worm,so It was
a case of do it or die(not litteraly,but as close as it gets to
desperate"o".)I have to be honest,the first thing that I thought when
someone posed the question to me was,"you must be goofing"???
But with 5potential cats to treat,it became a money issue,so I had to
give it a go!

It is all to do with the planning that you prepare before hand that
makes life a whole lot easier.First,cut Snowy's claws down so that they
are less lethal before even thinking about bathing her/him(damge
limitation!),then get yourself a couple of towels ready just in case
Snowy goes off on one, & you need to wrap him/her(?).If you have a
shower that is in a contained cubicle,Brilliant,all the harder for
Snowy to escape,believe me?!!If not,all is not lost...you can just lock
the bathroom door to stop the cat bolting half way around the
house.Prefferably,you need two of you simply because 4hands make
lighter work than two.Hold snowy firmly,by both the front paws(&the
back two if you have the extra hands available to avoid the back rabbit
kicks-If you dont have the spare hands,then the scruff -if you have
to)Have a good quality cat shampoo that you can purachase from any good
quality pet store,open & ready to apply(not too much so less to rinse
out) over Snowy at hand,then gently pour/shower some warm water(hand
warm,not hot at all!!),over Snowy & apply the shampoo sparingly all
over the torso,head,tummy & legs too-make soothing sounds as you do
this and try & comfort your cat as you are doing so-the worst bit for
the cat is when you pour the water over their face,so try & get that
over as fast as you can,ensure that the cats face is rinsed as gently
but fast as possible,&wipe it clear with a towel as soon as you
can(already to hand!),then proceed to rinse the rest of the shampoo off
the cat as fast as is reasonably possible.
As soon as you have rinsed all of the bubbles out,then remove Snowy out
of the water asap,&wrap Snowy up in the towel which is pre warmed as
cats shiver a lot & as you already know,hate water with a
passion,unless you have brought them up to have a regular
bath/shower...No I didn't either...!!The moment you have Snowy wrapped
up,then towel dry the cat as fast as you can,but gently making soothing
sounds to your cat(who will have saucer sized pupils by nowThe
fastest way to dry them is with a low powered hair dryer if Snowy will
allow you to do so-If not,just make circular motions with the towel
until you have dried as much water off the cat,then let the cat loose
into a pre-prepared room where it is warm & Snowy can go and sulk in
peace(& it doesn't matter if there is a slight residue of water left to
shake all over the place too).Once the sulks stop,Snowy will allow you
to cuddle up to him/her(?),&should be almost dry after around 20mins
*if* Snowy wont allow you to dry him/her with a low noise air dryer.
The least traumatic you can make it,the easier it will be for you to
repeat in the future should you need to do it on a fairly semi regular
basis.I felt exactly the same way that you do,but I also found that,
like the root canal filling...The thinking about it,was far worse than
the reality of doing it.I have never done a dry shampoo so I cant
advise you about that(I am sure others might be able to though!),but I
can tell you that wet bathing is not half as bad as you think it might
be.Good luck & let us know how you got on,wont you?
S...

Hi,

I would rather have another root canal but ... Snowy is not grooming
like he used to and his beautiful white coat is clumping and looking
shabby. How do you bathe a cat? ( He jumped into the bathtub when
a kitten which didn't help his natural distaste for water.)

At one time a "dry" hair cleaner was advertised for woman. Is there
such a product that could be used for a cat?

My wife suggests a professional groomer. Is that a better option than
doing it ourselves?

Thanks,
Gary

In article ,
"Gary Brown" wrote:

Hi,

I would rather have another root canal but ... Snowy is not grooming
like he used to and his beautiful white coat is clumping and looking
shabby. How do you bathe a cat? ( He jumped into the bathtub when
a kitten which didn't help his natural distaste for water.)

At one time a "dry" hair cleaner was advertised for woman. Is there
such a product that could be used for a cat?

My wife suggests a professional groomer. Is that a better option than
doing it ourselves?


For me, it would depend on how resistant Snowy is.

For some cleaning purposes, simply wetting your hands or a soft cloth
with warm water and gently wiping the animal down works just fine. We
have a senior, water-wary black cat who _loves_ it when we groom him
this way. He's not as flexible as he once was, so he thinks of it as his
mother grooming him. He practically turns into an oversized kitten. This
method works pretty well for extracting loose hair and cleaning any mess
around his rear.

OTOH, we once owned a B&W cat who LOVED getting a bath in the tub.

For cats, I would avoid professional groomers unless the problem is
severe or the groomer could do the job at your house. It is just my
opinion, but any cat who is so fearful of water that its owner cannot
bathe him is going to be considerably traumatized by being taken
someplace unfamiliar to have it done.

--
Noli me vocare, ego te vocabo.

Te audire no possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure.*