Baths anyone?

Does anybody here give their cats baths, like perhaps once a month, or do you just let them take care of business on their own as far as grooming? Just curious. My kitten is almost 6 months old, always indoors, I've never given her a bath before, but I wondered if it was something I should do or not. I brush her, and she loves that, and I clip her nails, but that's as much grooming as I do for her.

Just looking to see what other kitty parents here do.

 

We had a cat once that was not very good at cleaning herself. She was always a bit on the stinky side. But, she was too old to learn to like baths, so she clawed me half to death every time I tried to help her out. I have had some friends who started bathing their cats when they were quite young and the cats didn't seem to mind too much. I'm just glad my dog doesn't mind a bath. He stinks all the time.

 

Sometimes cats need baths. If you want to be able to give her baths in the future you better get her used to it now. I have a 3 year old cat that needs a bath, but I value my eyes too much to do it.

 

Thankyou for your responses! I suppose a bath will be in our future then!

 

Probably not needed too often..probably only when necessary..
They need their natural oils in their fur. You don't really need special shampoo either. We use just a little bit of baby shampoo.
We have a senior cat, he's all black. He gets kinda lazy with his back end, & gets a touch of oily dandruff once in a great while. (we use a tiny bit of generic conditioner, low on chemicals)
He got a bath two months ago with a dollop of baby shampoo. I comb him with a finetoothed comb and pet store wire brush from time to time.
Keep water away from ears, & eyes..all should be well.

For the record, he absolutely hates it!

 

I thought there was some sort of dry shampoo...that you can rub on your pet...i would look into that...

 

I've never bathed my cat. I do groom him but bathing him would stress him out too much and I don't think it is even physically possible as he would fight me on it. I do brush him and once a week I use these "pet wipes" that you can buy anywhere....walmart, petsmart, etc. Like babywipes, I just wipe his fur down a bit with that and he doesn't seem to mind.

 

I may have to look for pet wipes, I have some tooth wipes..Those help. Our younger adult cat has never needed bathed. He's a very good groomer.

 

our cats kept real clean and they went outside and everything. I'd have to give them a flea dip occasionally and they'd flip out; I don't think they like the water much.

 

I know they hate being sprayed, like flea spray.

 

Our cat named Sissy, short for sister. Used to insist on it once a week.

No shit! She'd jump in the tub and bitch until I bathed her. She wanted a towel, NOT a blow-drier. (Yes, she was spoiled!)

 

We've always bathed our cats several times a year - except for Banshee. I've often joked that her Indian name is "Doesn't Like Water". She absolutely went berserk if she got wet, which made squirt-gun discipline easy when she was young and precocious. Last month, however, we found her dead when we went out to feed her. She was 11 years old, and she'll be missed, wet or dry.

Our male cat, Taz, loves it. Come to think of it, he's past due a bath.

 

i have bathed pisces every now & again. i handreared him from been a week & a half old & he didnt know how to clean himself at first so i had to bath him then, also when you feed a tiny kitten with a bottle you have to do the things that a queen would do. so i had to rub his bum & his belly with wet cotton wool to imitate his mum licking these places to make them go to the loo & digest their food. the water would get all over him & i would have to hold him skin to fur like a new born to keep him warm. he hates having a bath now even tho he is used to water & i dont really like giving him one. i only give him a bath if absolutley neccessary. when i do have to give him a bath i put a towel in the sink or bath so that he has something to get him claws into, he does try to get out but between me & my partner we manage to hold him for long enough. pisces is much easier to bath than some of the family dogs we've had over the years. i seam to get asked to bath all the dogs in the family because i used to work in a dog grooming parlour & its always a time i get soaked.

if you are going to bath your kitten i would start now & make sure you put a big fluffy towel folded under a radiator, no matter how much you towel dry (cats really dont like hair dryers) they always seem wet. they will sit & lick themselves & want to be somewhere really warm to dry off. its really funny looking at a cat wet, you dont realised how skinny there body is untill wet, the fur really puffs them out.

i sugest giving a treat afterwards too & lots of fussing if they will have it, most likely your kitty will be upset with you for a few hours.

 

Wow! That's amazing! And so cute!

 

Oh no...I'm so sorry about your Banshee.

 

All the cats I've ever had have been good about keeping themselves clean. Right now I have two cats, and they like to keep each other clean! One of them, though, (my little polydactyl alien) has been known to jump in the shower or sink even with running water. She doesn't seem to mind water most of the time, as long as she's getting attention.

 

Well, I decided to give my kitty a bath finally after much debate, wanted to see how she would take to it. I was pleasantly surprised that she wasn't very opposed to it, didn't fight me at all! She seemed to like it actually! I gave her a nice brushing and claw clipping afterwards too. She was such a good little kitty!

So maybe I'll do one once a month? Not sure. I know she's good at cleaning things up herself, but she did seem to enjoy the bath. It was so cute, you should have seen it. Awww!

 

hippychickmom, once a month seams a bit excessive to be giving a bath. when i worked in the dog grooming parlour they wouldnt alow any dog to be bathed every month because it strips the coat of natural oils. this makes the skin dry, crack & get infected. and thats dogs were talking about, animals that kinda smell & dont clean themselves.

cats jenerally are pritty good at looking after their coat & would only need bathing about twice a year.

 

Our kitty got a bath every 6 months, she was declawed.


She grew to like the bath and seemed to understand that it would
make her look good. Which of course is a major concern.

 

Thankyou for the tip. I wasn't sure how often I should do it!