Conference misery::feline_v1

    Check out note #410... it's all about bathing cats!
    

    Here's afew tips. Depending on whether Eddie Haskel is a little bit on
    the wild side you could take medicine tape and tape all 4 feet
    individually so that Eddie can not scratch you. You could also buy a
    cat collar so that Eddie can not bite you. Animals act differently
    under certain circumstances. I would wash him in the bath tub and not
    in the kitchen sink incase he tries to get loose. If you do not have
    any cat shampoo at the moment you could use Johnson and Johnson baby
    shampoo (mild). Now as far as drying Eddie, that's going to be a more
    difficult thing. I truly believe that its a learning process. My cat
    at first would go crazy but today she is the best and doesn't mind it
    at all. I use to put Neiko between my legs as I sit on the floor. Its
    kind of hard to explain. I say just do what is comfortable with you and
    Eddie. Just make sure that the heat is never directly on him. That
    dryer surely gets hot. If you can get another person to help you it
    will be so much easier. Good Luck...
    
    
    mm
    
    

remember the following message and engineer the whole experience for the cat
around the cat's natural fears and wants:

	Cats do not fear bathing, they fear drowning.  
	Cats are very susceptable to changes in temperatures - too hot or
	too cold is very easy to achieve for a cat...and real unpleasant.
	Cats have delicate skin - you must get all the shampoo rinsed off.

	You need to make sure the cat always feels secure while being bathed.
	If you don't have a non-skid mat for the kitchen sink, place an old
	towel or wash cloth on the bottom of a sink and fill a few inches
	with warm water.  This is your "getting the cat wet" area.  The water
	should be warm, not hot to the touch.

	GROOM THE CAT THOROUGHLY, REMOVING ALL KNOTS, ETC. FROM THE COAT.

	Have several dry towels sitting next to the sink.  Have a good,
	cat-approved shampoo mixed half with warm water.  I buy a low-sudsing
	and easy rinsing shampoo as it shortens the process immensely.
	Have the sink tap running warm water at a low rate, but alread running
	water.  Protect the cat's ears with little cotton balls.

	Place the cat in the getting wet area, and use a small cup to get
	the cat nice and wet.  Move the cat to the side and shampoo, starting
	at the neck and work down the back, etc.  Be sure to rub shampoo into
	everything but the face.  Immediately rinse the cat with warm water,
	and be sure to get the cat completely free of soap.  Wrap in a dry
	towel and gently squeeze water off the cat.  Place cat in another
	dry towel and gently rub the cat dry.  YOu may even need a third
	towel.  Once the cat is dry, I suggest you place him in a small
	bathroom with a space heater to warm up the room.  If you have a
	hair dryer that can be turned on to low temp/low speed (less noise),
	AND A HELPER TO HOLD THE CAT GENTLY, BUT FIRMLY, you can dry him as
	much as he will allow, brushing out the hair with a wide toothed
	comb.  Hair will fly everywhere, but it is clean hair.  Talk to him
	during the process...when you detect that he is responding to being
	warmed up, you have a convert.

	A clean cat is a happy cat....you should see my bunch when I bathe
	them...they prance around like royalty.

	for the next week, I must comb all with a flea comb - daily - or I
	pick up regurgitated fur balls from everything.  I prefer to comb
	well.  After that, weekly flea-combing is sufficient...except for
	Dilly and she is my Birman - she gets groomed 3 times a week.

    Thanks for all the hints. I read through note 410 - there's some very
    funny episodes there! I'll probably try it this weekend, during one of
    his "calm" periods (few and far between at this age!).
    
    ng

    To get a list of notes which address the topic of bathing, type the
    following at the notes> show key/full bathing
    
    This will list all the notes that are linked to the keyword "bathing".
    
    Jo (your friendly moderator) :^D

    I've found that my cats prefer what I would call "tepid" water to
    really warm water.
    

    
    I just bathed my cat and I look like someone sliced my back with
    a knife.  Chomondly loves to go in the bathtub when there is no
    water in it, but once it is filled, he won't go near it.  
    
    This is how I did it:
    
    I fill the bath about 2 or 3 inches.  I have a wet, already soapy
    washcloth read to use.  I put the kitty in and I hold him down with
    one hand while I use the other hand to get him wet and soapy.  By this
    time he has already started clawing his way out of the tub and runs
    into a corner of the bathroom.  I then pick him up and hold him
    under warm running water.  He won't say in a bath long enough to
    get the soap off so I have to hold him under running water. 
    
    At this point he looks like a very deformed cat.  I then wrap him
    in a towel and then rub him with a second one.  Heis hair then 
    puffs up and he spends the next hour licking himself.
    
    

Aud,

You tried to give your cat a bath all by yourself?  You're brave!
It takes both my hubby and I to get Tasha into the tub at home.  And this is
from a cat who LOVES to jump in the shower with me in the morning, sit on
the drain until the tub fills and she can chase the soap bubbles.  

I don't know.  I guess she's saying, "But mom, I already took my bath today!"

re .8 (Lisa,on giving the cat a bath alone)

A week or two ago, I got a mail message from Bill (my husband) that said
something like "I gave Hemi a bath (sort of) this morning".  Now, I was under
the impression that Bill was going to wake up, take a shower, and go to work.
Well, Hemi is the water cat; she loves to check out the tub before we take
showers (when we're running the water from the lower faucet til it gets warm),
and always jumps in after we're done to play in the puddles.  Bill was getting
ready to take a shower (appropriately attired, so to speak :-)) and just slowly
started getting Hemi wetter and wetter, soaped her a little, rinsed her off,
dried her some, and that was that.  Not a scratch (thankfully! :-)).  Hemi is
5 1/2 months old, and hadn't been bathed before (at least not by us!), for a
little context, and is definitely a Rambo-kitty most of the time...I can't
wait to try it again, or try it with the other kittens...

Jill

    Taja HATES to be bathed and fortunately, I don't bathe him very often. 
    My husband is no help at all except to stand there uttering sympathetic
    words to the poor cat, who is doing a wonderful mexican jumping bean
    imitation in the sink.
    
    Here's what I do to simply things.  First, I never bathe the cats when
    Dana is around :^).  Second, I take a large tupperware tumbler and fill
    it with a small amount of shampoo and some warm water.  I use the
    kitchen sink with a rubber mat on the bottom.  I take Taj, and holding
    him tightly by the scruff of the neck, put him in the dry sink.  Then,
    I move the faucet to the side and turn on the water and when it's warm
    enough, use the spray attachment to throughly wet him.  Scruffing him
    has a paralyzing affect; if I losen my grip just a smidgen he will try
    to jump out.  Once wet, I pour the cup of water/shampoo mixture all
    over his body and quickly massage it in with my free hand, then rinse
    well and towel dry.  This whole procedure takes less than five minutes,
    and because Taja's coat is short he's that much easier to bathe.
    
    I find that the less of a production I make the easier it is.  Also, by
    talking to him and telling him what a good boy he's being, it calms him
    down during the bath.
    
    The younger a cat starts being bathed, the better.  Kelsey has been
    having baths since 4 months old, and with each subsequent bath he
    became much more amenable to having it done.  Now he just sits there
    and puts up with it!
    

    My cats clean themselves, and I never have to bathe them. I had to
    *try* & give Tabitha a flea dip once, but ended up scrapping that idea
    & taking her to the vets for it!!
    
    I had never heard of bathing a cat til I saw it in this file! I guess
    if they're show cats, they'd need to be groomed, or if they go outside,
    I guess a light colored cat would get grungie looking. I have never
    noticed any dirt or foul odors coming from my cat, or her coat. As a
    matter of fact, her coat is clean shiny & healthy.
    
    Are there reasons for bathing a cat other than the ones above? Can
    bathing a cat too often harm it in any way. I think this is so
    interesting, as I've had lots of kitties over the years & have NEVER
    ONCE bathed one!
    
    Bonnie

    Eddie Haskel had his first bath this week end. I held him by the
    "armpits" with one hand and lathered and rinsed with the other hand. He
    was pretty pitiful; no scratching or biting, just whimpering and
    crying. I used Zodiac fiea shampoo, which suggested leaving the animal
    lathered for 4 to 5 minutes. Yeah, right!!! Lather and rinse as fast as
    I could was all I did. Then a quick rinse with vinegar and water. That
    was enough for the first time. I just towel dried him.... I did try a
    hair dryer, but after I retrieved him from the ceiling, I didn't think
    that was such a good idea!
    
    So next week I'll find out if it gets easier, or if he recognizes the
    process and decides to fight it.
    
    Thanks to all for the helpful hints. Now I have a fluffy clean kitten
    to hug!
    
    ng

    Bonnie,
    
    It really depends on the cat (and maybe the compulsion of the owner!!). 
    I bathe Herbie (Himalayan) and Kelsey (Ragdoll) once a month
    religiously.  Both are longhaired cats, and I find it helps keep their
    coats clean and free of matts to be bathed and groomed regularly. 
    Also, and this might sound silly, because they are purebreds, I like
    them to look nice.
    
    Taja almost never needs a bath.. he's a compulsive groomer (touch him
    and he'll start licking the spot you touched!!).  He doesn't get dirty,
    he gets smelly from licking himself.  So, I'll either bathe him, or
    spray him down with a nice smelling waterless shampoo I purchased at a
    cat show.  It works well.
    
    I NEVER bathe TK and Nikki.  They get wiped down with wet cloths and
    combed regularly but never bathed.  Since they are primarily outdoor
    cats, it sort of defeats the purpose when they'll only go outside and
    roll around in the dirt!!
    

    Snoopy's pretty easy to wash, in spite of a reputation for a nasty
    temper.  She basically cowers and growls at me (no, I don't beat her,
    I'm very gentle) and lets me do what I want so long as it takes less
    than about four minutes.  Then there may be blood--this second stage is
    accompanied by a quick rinse, no matter how far along in her bath we
    got.  Needless to say, I've learned to make it snappy.  I use the
    kitchen sink or bathtub, running water as close to my body temperature
    as I can get it (I figure her body temperature is as close to mine as
    the water would be.)  She's not bright enough to be suspicious when I
    put her in an empty sink; if I put her (or try to put her) in a full
    sink things become difficult before we begin.
    
    I always keep a towel there to wrap her up in after we're done.  I wish
    she would hold still for a hair dryer, but she's just as happy to sit
    on my warm clothes (warm because I've just taken them off so I can
    shower and get rid of the wet cat hair)--she generally turns her nose
    up at the towel I've just used on her or any other I put out.

    I grew up with dogs and my parents used to believe in the yearly
    bath.  I carried that over to my cats.  Usually this happens in
    late spring on a hot day.  It helps them get rid of their winter
    coat and cuts down on furballs.
    
    The show cats get bathed for the shows - no more frequently than
    once a month tho as it can dry out their scalps.  I'm very matter-
    of-fact about the whole thing and they accept it with varying degrees
    of gracefulness.
      Nancy
    

    I sometimes bathe my show cats twice a week to help stimulate hair
    growth and keep them in coat.  I haven't had a problem with the scalp
    drying out.  I use conditioning shampoos and I am very careful to rinse
    them out completely.
    
    Jo