Cats do not generally need bathing because their mothers teach them how to clean themselves when they are kittens. Furthermore, cats have a valid reputation for not being fond of water too much. However, there may be times when you feel the need for bathing your cat.
For instance, your cat might get old or sick, have been in a bad scrap or be infested with fleas. When these times crop up, you will be grateful for some tips for bathing your cat, because they can become quite nasty about it, inflicting serious scratches that could get infected.
This first thing to do is get everything you need beforehand, because you will probably need to hold your cat down. So, you will want the shampoo, a flannel and a towel close by.
If you know that your cat is going to become a problem, bathe it in a bowl either in the garden shed or in the bathroom, where flying water will not cause much of a difficulty.
Otherwise, you could wash your cat in a bowl on the lawn, but an enclosed space might help your cat feel less threatened and it will be easier to capture it in an confined space if it escapes your grasp.
If your cat really, really loathes bathing and you have trouble holding it, place it in a pillow case with just its head poking out. You can use a cat collar to hold the pillow case in position.
If you use a pillow case, wash your cat through the pillow case as you would a delicate, costly woollen sweater. Use an old collar, because otherwise you might wash out the insecticide that is impregnated in it.
If your cat’s hair is knottted or clotted with blood, you can better remove the clots and cut away the hair with the cat on your lap before you start bathing it.
Whilst preparing the bowl, put a non-slip mat or towel in the bottom and merely half fill it with luke warm water. The shampoo ought to be mild. In fact, you ought to bathe your cat as you would a child who does not like getting soap in its eyes.
Lower your cat gently but fairly quickly into the water and talk to it reassuringly all the time. It will probably hate what you are doing to it, although some breeds are fairly happy to be in water. Yours probably will hot be though and it will become more than a little frightened, so carry on talking to it.
Work quickly and do what you can. It is better to get most of the work done the first time round and have to come for another go later than to really stress your cat out with a long session and who knows, it might become used to it after recurring sessions, if they do not last too long.
When you are finished, wrap the cat in a towel and be nice to it. If it is in a pillow case, wrap the towel about the pillow case and take it off under the towel. When your cat is pretty dry, you can let it go if it wants, because it will dry itself off anyway.
Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on several subjects, but is now concerned with feline distemper vaccination. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Distemper Vaccines