I just bathed one of my cats....

[Moosenose]

neither of us are happy. He's wet, I'm bleeding. :(

[roguevalley]

1. cats rock.

next time, get a siberian tiger. I hear they are the
only cat that likes water. :0)

RV, just trying to be helpful.

[Moosenose]

10. yeah, but....

whem my kitties bite me, it doesn't require stitches.... ;-)

[flamingyouth]

2. Calendula gel

It's great for cat scratches! Believe me, I have five cats, and two get bathed rather frequently.

Someone asked me once if I had been crawling around blackberry bushes. Um, no, just bathed the cat over the weekend...

If you really need to bathe the cat on a semi-regular basis, you might want to think about investing in a nice groomer once in a while. We know a wonderful woman who works out of her home, and all of the cats & dogs just love her. She is amazingly scratch-free whenever I see her. She just has that calming influence that my husband & I seem to lack! It's $27 and we take him in about three or four times a year.

Good luck to you! Take care of those scratches.

[SOteric]

3. Why did you feel the need to do this?

I've had cats for ages. Unless one of them has seriously gotten into something vile, it's not necessary to bathe them in a tub with water. Your pet supplies store sells a kind of 'wet wipe' that gets the job done. And they do tend to keep themselves fairly clean.

[nuxvomica]

6. My 12-year-old cat has never had a bath

And he's fresh as a daisy and healthy as a horse. I don't understand why folks feel the need to wash a cat under normal circumstances.

[SOteric]

7. Me neither

:shrug:

I understand kitties do get into things and mine have definitely earned a wipe down now & again. But the trauma of a full on bath hardly seems a necessary thing to me for most ordinary circumstances.

[Moosenose]

9. the problem was fleas....

we had used a "back of the neck" flea treatment. It works fine for 2 of our three, but doesn't seem to dent the flea count on the one that got bathed today. Plus, the one that got bathed today tends to break out with a rash when we used the neck stuff on him. There's another kind of back-of-the-neck flea medication that's supposed to work well, but it causes neurological problems with him. (whenever you touch him there, he immediately starts chewing himself, leaving bald spots, so that's out) We used a flea and tick shampoo that we know doesn't bother his skin, it just involves him getting wet and sitting for 10 minutes with the shampoo on. He doesn't care for it, but it's the only way to get him flea-free.

We've tried the orally administered anti-flea medication. He gets sick and throws it back up.

[SOteric]

13. I see

Yeah, mine don't suffer much from fleas anymore, but there was a time when they did.

I won't use those 'back of the neck' type medicines, either. My vet says he's seen cats and small dogs actually die from one particular popular brand, and he can't in good conscience recommend them.

My little dudes get thorough brushing and combing, at least once and sometimes twice a day. I also wash their bedding with a zealous frequency, and keep a flea collar under nestled in the bedding itself.

Like I said, they haven't had any flea problems in quite a while.

[Fatima]

14. Try introducing a little garlic into the diet.

Pet stores sell the powdered garlic, you add a small amount to the food and it helps make the animal a little less "appetizing" to the fleas. My cats do well on the neck stuff, and with an occasional wipe with a damp washcloth stay very clean.

My horse is on garlic. The big biting flies still bother him, but not as much as in the past, and so far the mosquitoes are leaving him alone.

[laura888]

4. I've been meaning to wash my cats

2 grey, short-hairs that haven't had a bath since last vet's visit.

Do you use a special shampoo?

[number9]

5. mine walked through his own poop

so had to get a bath. since then, he's been keeping an eye on me. I wouldn't bathe him again if he rolled around in skunk poop.

[Moosenose]

11. Heh..."shitfoot"...

been there, done that. Not fun. :)

[ulysses]

8. I'm trying to imagine

bathing Mr. Kitty.

(Blood, gore, generalized violence.)

Nope, can't see it.

[Shakeydave]

12. Yeah, and the hair.......................

in the mouth is a bitch too!