do indoor cats need baths?

Question

somem people that i have asked say that indoor cats dontn need baths. some say the opposite. what would you say?

Answer 1

Cats clean themselves you don't need to bathe them.

Answer 2

Unless he manages to get into something really messy then no there is no need for an indoor cat to have a bath, at least a shorthair.. they are able to clean themselves and usually spend a lot of time doing so. A longhair cat might occasionally need a bath but make sure before bathing it to carefully comb out the hair, do not leave any tangles/ mats or they will tighten up much worse with the water.

Answer 3

There is no need to give your indoor cat a bath unless it has gotten into something that would be toxic for it to lick off itself (ex: paint, grease, chemicals, etc). Cats spend more than 50% of thier day bathing themselves, so there's no reason for you to do it too.
Now, if your cat got fleas, then you may want to bathe it in flea shampoo, then apply something like Advantage, Frontline, or Revolution once a month.

If you still decide you want to go ahead and bathe your cat for whatever reason, I strongly suggest you trim its nails short beforehand for your own saftey, and make sure you use a shampoo especially for cats (not dogs, not humans). Do not do it when the weather is cool outside, I'd say less than 65-70 degrees, and make sure you keep your windows shut and towel dry him/her as well as you can afterwards, otherwise he'll get too cold and could get sick.
Hopefully you'll take my advice. Your cat won't start to stink if you don't bathe it. And, if he DOES start to stink, take him to the vet, because its probably a health problem more than a hygene problem.

Answer 4

Generally not. Cats tend to be very clean. If for any reason they come in contact with something that they shouldn't, then you may have to give it a bath. If you do, be careful and be very gentle. Just put the cat in a little bit of water. I would do this in a room where you can close a door, just in case. I had two cats, one would take a bath without a problem. The other fought like hell.

Answer 5

Hi Hilary...generally indoor cats do not need a bath because they are efficient at grooming/licking themselves daily. Washing the cat too often removes natural skin oils and may dry out the coat as well. The exceptions are if a cat is very ill or accidentally got into some messy goo then we humans needs to intervene on their behalf. I always found that using unscented baby wipes are enough to clean the unfortunate mishaps.

Please remember there are many people on Yahoo Answers who like to dispense advice which could be either good or bad. Some like to play pranks which would be unfortunate for your kitty's well being. Use the Internet search engines to verify your questions: Do cats need a bath?http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=bathing+cats&btnG=Search and you'll discover many good answers.

Here's one good website about cats and bathing:
http://www.thecatsite.com/Care/38/Bathing-Your-Cat-A-Battle-Of-Wills.html

Answer 6

Indoor cats don't really NEED baths unless they get into something....or something gets spilled on them. But some people choose to bathe their indoor cats (I've bathed my male before)...for a while, I was pretty sensitive to his dander, and bathing him was the only thing that helped. But I've gotten used to it, so we haven't really been giving him baths anymore.

There are waterless cat shampoo foams and wipes for those who want to refresh their cat's fur and skin without the whole water world experience:)

Answer 7

Yes well thats what I think. If you want to try check into Petco. Im sure they do cat gromming if you dont know how and if you dont want to its fine. Usually at yearly vet checkups they give the cats a bath, brush there teeth ect

Answer 8

in my opinion cats dont need baths. They clean themselves. Well if your cat has fleas and you dont want to use a spot on then you can get a bag and bathe your cat (in a special bag).

imo just constant brushing will do good since they lick themselves all day

Answer 9

Not usually. They spend hours a day keeping themselves fastidiously clean! However, if you've had a problem with fleas, or your cat has gotten into something that needs to be removed, then there's a different answer.

Seattle had a great site, and here's another that's informative and amusing. :-)

http://www.pawsandclaws.com/bathing_cats.htm

Answer 10

Cats clean themselves, however, if you are alergic to them, you are alergic to the saliva on the hair and dander! Washing occationally like once every two months in luke-warm water in warm weather is a good idea. Then towel dry. It also kills fleas. Use Johnsons baby soap and stay away from the forehead and eyes!

Answer 11

I usually give mine a bath if she has had a run in with fleas, but this is pretty rare, and, she shreds me so that's another reason I don't do it too often LOL!!!!! ;) I would say twice a year wouldn't be too bad, considering that could be a lot of buildup of dirt! LOL~!