What I know - Should you give a cat a bath?

I was on a forum the other day where a cat owner posted a photo of her arm. She had recently been on the receiving end of the paws of fury and her skin showed the battle wounds of having business with an angry cat. Her post contained the details of that battle - a bath.

The community was up in arms (pun only slightly intended). Apparently, some people do not understand that there actually times when it is not only necessary to give a cat a bath, sometimes it is absolutely vital and confuse caring for a cat with torturing a cat..

There are a few things to keep in mind when you find yourself in a place where you need to give a cat or kitten a bath. You need to remember that cats have a higher body temperature than we do, so having water that is warm to the touch is important. If you can, keep the room warm as well, this will also help the kitty stay nice and warm.  Kittens more so as they have a very hard time maintaining their body temperature. You want to use as little soap as possible to make bath time a bit easier; the more soap you use, the longer it is going to take to rinse out.

You will understand the importance of knowing that sometimes bathing a cat is a good thing, when you find yourself with an adult cat that, oh say, investigated a bucket of heating oil (that stinks to high heaven) by sticking her feet in it and then shows up in your bed in the middle of the night to tell you of her adventures.

I find it helps if you have a milk crate or a very sturdy laundry basket that you can put into the tub upside down to give the cat some place out of the water to stand while you soap up the important parts.  I will fill the tub up with several inches of warm water, put the crate in the tub, get a large cup that holds 16+ oz of water and then get the cat. I place the cat on the crate with its face pointing away from the exit.. either into the wall or into the corner. Once I'm in position, I will take the cat off the crate and put it into the water. The cat will want to escape, but keep redirecting it towards the wall, do not let it turn around or it will see the exit and fight to leave.

When I bathe adult cats, that first initial contact with water is generally the only time the cat is submerged in water. This is the fastest way to get most of the fur wet. When I am comfortable that the area I need to clean is soaked, I let the cat back up on the crate and get the soap. Using as little soap as possible, I lather the area to help loosen the dirt (or oil, or whatever).  I then use the cup to scoop up the tub water and gently pour it on the cat to rinse away the soap and debris.  This can take some time and chances the cat has long since given up on dealing with your shenanigans and really wants to leave. Just keep redirecting the cat over and over toward the wall. If your cat is a bit like a Gremlin when it gets wet, you might want to think about investing in a muzzle, which covers the cat's eyes so it can not see to escape and keeps the mouth closed. This will not protect you from flailing claws, but hopefully, you trimmed those before you started.

Once you are satisfied that the bath is successful, Getting your cat into a nice big absorbent towel will help minimize the distribution of water around your house. Wrapping the cat up will hopefully provide a little security to your cat that the bath is over. Your cat might be so over your shenanigans that it wants nothing to do with you and wants to run off and lick itself to restore some semblance of normalcy in scent and demeanor.  If your adult cat is in good health, allowing it to run and hide is generally okay and will not result in the cat becoming too chilled. Checking on it in a few minutes, offering treats as a bribe will help reassure you that all is fine.

Young kittens and cats that aren't in the best of health need to monitored to ensure they do not become too cold.

I've found that kittens do not want to be snuggled up into a towel, so I will pat them dry, then let them down for a few minutes. They will start to groom themselves to "fix" what I've just done. When they become distracted from grooming - which inevitably happens - I will scoop them back up into a towel and work on drying them and warming them up until they struggle to get down. I'll do this over and over until they are distracted by food and start to eat.

So, yes, you should give a cat a bath if you have a reason to do so. You should keep the kitty as warm as possible while doing it and monitor them until they are completely or at least mostly dry.

Rupert vs the sink

I have been threatening to give this boy a bath since he showed up here, and last night was the night. My husband didn't understand why I was so insistent that Rupert need a bath because I hadn't let him get too close. Today he spent some time with him and he got a first-hand sniff of what that boy needed one and he agreed.

Not really sure what his issue is. I believe it is mostly urine and a complete lack of grooming. So far all this boy has done is eat, sleep and a little snuggling. He hasn't played with toys, he has licked his paw a couple of times, but he just doesn't seem to have it in him to do a full groom. That's okay, you save your energy for rebuilding your muscles, We'll take care of the smell.

He did really well. He didn't want to be there and that was pretty obvious, but there was no bloodshed - either mine or his - so I'm going to call it a success.

My husband is getting a little better at taking photos.. or at least keeping me out of them as much as possible ☺  I did soap him up a little on his belly where it was the worst; I tried to get the gunk off his toes too. I was feeling bad that the bath was taking 'so long' (it wasn't, I'm just concerned about him) so I didn't get everything off that I wanted, but at least now he isn't as offensive. After the bath, but before the drying I held him in my hand and he just laid there. The bath must have exhausted him.

I felt so bad. I wanted to just wave a magic wand and make him all better.

I used very little soap, that's 99% him. We went back down to the kitten room and snuggled him while he was drying.

I was getting very concerned about him Wednesday night. When I went to feed him on Thursday morning and he hadn't eaten any of his food, but had consumed most of the water and peed five times throughout the night, I wrote to the shelter to let them know. They were concerned enough to ask me to bring him back in to be observed closer to where the vet is in case they felt another visit was in order. When I checked on him on Thursday afternoon I was surprised to see my husband home (he got home a little early from work) and in the kitten room. Rupert was happy he was there but was confused as to why he was not getting all the love and attention he's used to when people show up. He went back and forth between the food bowls having a bite or two and then to my husband to ask for attention. I was so tickled to see him eating that I had hoped that things were getting better.

When I got home he weighed more than he did when I went to work, so I texted the foster coordinator to report and see if she still wanted him back. She said if I was comfortable keeping him then so was she.  So, he is still with me, thankfully.

Then this happened.

He is still nibbling his food, having just a bite or two and wandering off, but he will go back several times. He's still drinking a little too much water in my opinion and he is peeing far more often than any cat I've seen in a while, but I'm hoping with the more regular consumption of food that abates.

He's such a cheeky little boy.  His whiskers are still ridiculous. I hated, hated, trimming his 'bangs' but I'm glad I did it for his sake. Hopefully, by the time they grow back he'll be eating on a more consistent basis. I also trimmed his claws. He is so underweight that his feet really lack that muscular feeling and have more the consistency of Muffin's arthritic feet. Nothing a good number of calories won't fix I'm sure.

I am not willing to say we are out of the woods. I'm not even sure I'm ready to say we see a light at the end of the tunnel, but I'm crossing my fingers that we are 'on the path out of the woods' and it gives me hope.

Schuster's Bath

Well the time had come for Schewie's final bath.  I had been putting it off because I wasn't sure he was keeping up with the mess he was making.  For the past week or so I have just been wiping him down with a wet cloth, which took most of the new debris off, but some of the deep down caked on stuff just remained.  I don't think bathing a cat every day is a good idea.  I don't even think every other day is a good idea.  Cats are self cleaning for a reason and I don't like to mess with that too much if I don't have to.  (Not that I'm opposed to bathing cats or even kittens I just think too much can be an issue.

So late last week when I thought he had a handle on things I stopped helping him out to see.  Sure enough he didn't get any dirtier.  Sadly he wasn't able to tackle that deep down crud (I want to call it dirt, but I know full well it is food) and a bath was necessary.  I didn't take any pre-bath photos because I didn't want him to get any ideas about what was about to happen.

Not that he is bad with baths.. I scooped him up and brought him upstairs just wrapped in a towel and he was fine.  He was fine when I ran the water.  He said "ew ew ew ew ew" when I put him in the water, not wanting to put his front paws in, but not once did he fight it or even complain.  He took every opportunity to walk away - so I made sure he didn't have one.

When the bath was done I wrapped him up and brought him back down stairs to dry him off proper.  Well that is the part he would like to avoid the most and he squirmed and squirmed, so when he was towel dried I let him go.  You can see that I didn't get him completely clean.  I fear is bib is stained and will stay that color until his fur sheds and grows new ones.

stained bib

Henry helps groom him dry

Will a little sun and Dorian help?

Um, that doesn't look like Dorian is helping..

WRESTLEMANIA!!

Schu escapes to the warm windowsill

Look folks, he can actually groom himself!!

oh that was exhausting

Why yes, I am a handsome boy!

But I am a little sleepy, I think I'll stretch out

But look, clean toesies for Toesday!

Maybe I go play now

Maybe later, the sun feels so nice!

"Daddy's" Missadventure

I was awoken this morning to the sounds of my husband seeming to be upset. He called out "oh no" a couple of times. It sounded like he had forgotten to set his alarm and was distressed about oversleeping. Just an FYI, my hubby is not an overly emotional man. It's not that he doesn't show it, he himself has admitted that he often doesn't feel as deeply as he thinks he should. I then heard, honey you have to get up. I remember thinking, no I don't, I don't have to work for a while, but I sat up anyway. He was holding Tweedle and he said that she had gotten into some heating oil... At this, I was immediately awake. We recently ran out of oil and was without heat for two days. I saw Twee's little white paw was wet and red and heard her smacking her lips as if something very bad tasting was in there. I prompted my husband to get the dish-washing detergent and told him to turn up the heat in the bathroom with the bath tub. Washing Tweedle is NO easy feat. She has a VERY strong will, and does not scruff at all. She was totally not happy about it. I set the hubby off to search the internet for the "what to do". It was 5 am, so the local vet wasn't open. I filled the tub with warm water and set Twee on an upturned laundry basket. I calmly talked to her and told her that she needed to work with me. I got to the point where she was wet and soapy when she decided she had had enough. She started bucking and trying to climb the walls. Again, I tried to calm her, but she turned her head and put her mouth around my arm and bit down enough to leave an impression. I put her on the basket again and again tried to sooth her with my words, telling her that I just needed to rinse her and we'd be done. She was fine with her back end being in the water, but when I tried to get her front paws down, she again decided that she wasn't having any of that. I got a cup and started rinsing her while she stood on the basket. That worked. I washed her with dish soap and cat soap. fun fun. Afterward, I couldn't tell if she still smelled or if the smell was just in the house. I knew she ingested some, and couldn't find anything on the web, so I called the emergency clinic. They said to wash her with dish soap - which I did and just to keep an eye on her and watch for vomiting or other signs of distress. So we fed her and she ate. She seems grumpy and is holding that paw up when sitting down. So I'll be calling the vet in a little bit to see if there is anything they want to do for her.

Hubby initially was asking Twee why she would want to put her paw in oil. I kept my tone of voice light and explained that is what she does. Talking to Twee in that cute kitty voice, I did my best not to blame anyone for the incident. Hubby should have known better than to leave something like that out. The other cats wouldn't bother it, but Twee is known for her lack of judgement. She's a cute little thing, but not the brightest. I asked Hubby what he did with the oil after things had calmed down, and he said he put it outside. (just placed the bucket outside, not dumped it outside) so I joked that we'd now get wild animals covered with oil. Hopefully, he takes care of that this evening and puts it where it belongs.,

bath time

I was cuddling with Emmy, and I could smell old stale urine. I was afraid she had peed under the bed, as I had smelled it in there before.. but then I got closer and realized SHE smelled bad. I had been saying for months she needed a bath.. so today she got one.. and she was NOT happy about it. She's in the living room licking herself dry. Eli and Jack are quite stunned by the turn of events, and almost seem afraid to get near her, lest they get wet too.

The kittens seem to be coming around. Nutrical is a good thing. I fed them science diet kitten the other day, and they completely turned their nose up at it. Why is it that the "experts" in cats (Science Diet & Iams) can't make an edible kitten food?!?!?

Day of Beauty

Friday was yet another teeth cleaning / combing day day. It went relatively easy. Ollie didn't even try to bite me, and I was able to comb him a little. I didn't get into it too much, didn't want to traumatize him. I was very surprised. Friday night we went to the local cat show. It was fun seeing all the different breeds of cats. One cage had a sliding door. Either the owner had left it open, or someone opened it, cause when we came around the corner I saw a kitten looking out the open door. I looked around for an owner, and there was no one to be found. I stood there and watched him for a minute, and he made a move to get out. So I walked up to the cage.. he backed into it, so I reached out and slid the door shut. I felt a little odd doing it, knowing I shouldn't be touching the cage.. but I figured they would rather me touch the cage than have to track down their kitty in the building. We walked around a bit more. I kept looking for an owner to that cage but no one ever showed up.. it was rather weird. We went shopping at some of the merchants at the show. I was shocked at how they price gouge. The pair of socks I bought for $2.00 they were selling for $8. A pair of flannel pj's were 50$. a simple dress was 90. Some plates I saw at the local Christmas tree shop for a dollar a piece were being sold for 8-9$. It was insane. I saw a bunch of cute cat toys though. Even a stretchy collar with a large pink satin bow on it. I almost bought it, but it was 9$ and the bow was kinda big for muffin. We did get two pole toys.. one with a sparkly ball attached to some fishing line, and another with large feathers on the end. Those were a big hit. We also bought a small cat nip bag with feathers on the end, but some how that got lost between the show, the trip to the restaurant eggspectations (VERY good btw), and home. Hubby ran out to get another this morning.. Eli loved it.

This afternoon, the hubby decided to give me a massage. I store all my stress in my lower back, and it gets quite painful sometimes. He broke out the massage oil, which of course totally interested the kittens. Muffin wouldn't stop licking me. So to prevent her from ingesting the oils, he picked her up with his oily hands and threw her on the floor (several times.. she is obsessive). Which of course coated her in oil. Which of course lead to a a bath for muffin. I was very worried as she does NOT like water. well unless she's licking it out of my water bottle. I got a big bucket and filled it completely with water. Grabbed her by the scuff of her neck and under her behind and dropped her in. and she balked big time. When I put her on the bath tub floor for washing, she hasn't even gotten her back wet. I haven't had a cat that acted that badly to getting a bath, and that includes Tigger, my first cat who was almost feral when we got him (and who shredded me when I'd clip his claws) We were very fortunate though, I still have all my fingers.. and surprisingly she didn't try to bite or scratch me.. just was desperate to get out of there. I dunked her back in the tub after I scrubbed her with some soap. It wasn't all that helpful, so I used a bowl to pour some water over her. eventually I put her back in the tub and talked to her till she stopped bucking. She was still very unhappy, but at least we got all the soap off.

She is obnoxiously cute when she's wet.....