how to wash a cat

[gardenmom5]

[Ditto]

Thanks for a hilarious start to my day!

[Kanin]

Ha! I can only imagine. I was just wondering the other day if I'm supposed to bathe my cat. She's 15 and has never had a single bath!

[gardenmom5]

33 minutes ago, Kanin said:

Ha! I can only imagine. I was just wondering the other day if I'm supposed to bathe my cat. She's 15 and has never had a single bath!

it's possible - very carefully.  it helps to keep allergens down.

[Gobblygook]

Ha! My 11 year old daughter said she’ll try it ... I’m a little scared that she might actually do it. 

[gardenmom5]

39 minutes ago, Gobblygook said:

Ha! My 11 year old daughter said she’ll try it ... I’m a little scared that she might actually do it. 

there's video of a girl with ASD with her Main Coon - who will go swimming with her (cat will also ride in a basket for bike rides).  It's one of the things that kept playing in the back of my mind about dudeling and a cat.  She had been non-verbal, now she talks.

I'm allergic to cats, but nothing else was working for him so I broke down and got him one. (Some of less of the allergenic protein than others)  He seems to be calming - even though the cat comes to me for food (he cleans the litter boxes without being told.).  He likes to sit next to people.  sometimes he'll even tolerate his head being scratched.  yesterday - he tried to steal the dog's chew toy (hahahah) *twice*!  dog doesn't live here - just visiting but they've reached the point they mostly ignore each other.  (though cat likes bushy wagging dog tails)

[ktgrok]

3 hours ago, Kanin said:

Ha! I can only imagine. I was just wondering the other day if I'm supposed to bathe my cat. She's 15 and has never had a single bath!

Some cats can be bathed easily. some with difficulty. some cats you do NOT bathe. I had one that simply SHREDDED me when I tried - he'd gotten out and came home covered in mud. I was sort of confident until mid soaping, and then he freaked. But I couldn't LEAVE him covered in soap, so I ended up dunking him over and over by the scruff into a sink of water while he tore me up. He did escape a few more times, but I never bathed him again, lol. He cleaned himself just fine. 

I've bathed plenty of cats before that, working in the kennel at a vet. Which explains my overconfidence, lol. 

[kiwik]

It would never occur to me to wash a cat unless it got coveted in something.

[Matryoshka]

8 hours ago, Kanin said:

Ha! I can only imagine. I was just wondering the other day if I'm supposed to bathe my cat. She's 15 and has never had a single bath!

One does not wash cats; they are self-cleaning. Literally - they spend about 30% of their lives washing themselves. 

I've only ever had one dog and am still unreasonably annoyed that he needs bathing.

[gaillardia]

They do not self-clean if they have diarrhea, long hair, and can't reach the area. Twice we've had to take lovely Ms. Longhairs (looks like a Maine Coon) to the vet for a trim and a bath. They said she behaved perfectly. I didn't get to see what their set-up was but they said she allowed them to bathe her with no problems, and then they dried her. I first tried bathing her when she was only about 4 months old so I can relate to the shredded arms. She had gotten a bit of boat trailer grease on her spine that I didn't want her to lick off. I don't think she could reach that either.

[klmama]

I don't remember why I had to wash my cat, but there was no way she would have let me immerse her in standing water.  Instead, I wore a very thick sweatshirt and carried her into the shower.  She clung to the shirt as I washed her in my arms.  She was fairly calm, despite the water, since I was holding her.

[gardenmom5]

3 hours ago, Matryoshka said:

One does not wash cats; they are self-cleaning. Literally - they spend about 30% of their lives washing themselves. 

I've only ever had one dog and am still unreasonably annoyed that he needs bathing.

That's why cats are allergenic.  The protein they make that causes allergic reactions is in their saliva, and they spread it all over themselves.  Washing (or at least wiping them down) reduces the allergens they deposit on their fur.  

I'm allergic - I got a cat because nothing else was working to reduce my ASD son's anxiety.  The cat seems to be helping.  (It's only been a bit over two months.)

[popmom]

3 hours ago, gardenmom5 said:

That's why cats are allergenic.  The protein they make that causes allergic reactions is in their saliva, and they spread it all over themselves.  Washing (or at least wiping them down) reduces the allergens they deposit on their fur.  

I'm allergic - I got a cat because nothing else was working to reduce my ASD son's anxiety.  The cat seems to be helping.  (It's only been a bit over two months.)

Really? That is interesting. I always assumed it was dander. My husband is allergic--but only certain cats trigger it. We currently have 4 cats. He only reacts to one of them. So if he pets her, he has to make sure he washes his hands, etc or his eyes will swell up lol. Fortunately she's a hermit cat that prefers to live upstairs, so it's not really an issue. The other 3 cats don't affect him. It's so weird.

Edited December 21, 2020 by popmom

[gardenmom5]

8 hours ago, popmom said:

Really? That is interesting. I always assumed it was dander. My husband is allergic--but only certain cats trigger it. We currently have 4 cats. He only reacts to one of them. So if he pets her, he has to make sure he washes his hands, etc or his eyes will swell up lol. Fortunately she's a hermit cat that prefers to live upstairs, so it's not really an issue. The other 3 cats don't affect him. It's so weird.

Different breeds of cats make more or less of the protein.  (?fel D1?) while some are ugly (e.g: sphynx cat, that has no fur)   Balinese (aka: long haired siamese), make less.  I'd love a siberian forest cat!  (not willing to pay that much)

their diet can also affect how much they make.  no grains.

[Kanin]

23 hours ago, ktgrok said:

I've bathed plenty of cats before that, working in the kennel at a vet. Which explains my overconfidence, lol. 

Yeah.... that's like the vet handing me a bottle of (HUGE!) antibiotic pills and saying, give it to her once a day!

Ummmm..... how exactly?!

We managed after intense difficulty and it was fairly awful each time. I'm lucky I have a cat that doesn't try to shred me. Amazingly she never even tried to bite me. She just tolerated us incompetent humans trying to give her a pill!