easiest way to bath a cat?

Answer 1

The VERY easiest way to not have to call the SWAT team when your cat is in need of a bath is to get bathing wipes. They are available at Walmart or any pet store and believe me, they work! They are premoistened towels that you just rub your cat with. I use them on my 2 girls and ever since I started using them, I have been able to keep all my skin and blood right where it belongs. My girls simply think they are getting rubbed. There are no snarls or fights or fear of water.

Answer 2

There are some dissenting views on this issue but in general there is usually no reason to bathe your cat especially a shorthaired indoor cat. Cats spend a large percentage of their days grooming themselves and they are experts at it. Using their barbed tongues they lick dirt and debris off their fur in order to keep it clean and odor free. Cats with long hair may require the occasional bath if their fur gets too oily. Their fur can get too oily based on climate conditions and the individual skin of the cat. There are also occasional times when your cat's fur may get excessively dirty due to some mishap that the cat has gotten itself into. In some of these cases it may be necessary to give your cat a bath.

You should know right off the bat that almost all cats hate baths, so be prepared. Here are some tips to make the experience easier:

Cat baths are smoother when 2 people are bathing the cat. One holds the cat while the other bathes the cat. Bathing the cat should be done in the bathroom where you can close the door to prevent escapes. Noise (like rushing bath water) is always an issue for the cat so anything to keep the noise level down will help.

Preparation is everything - Run the bath water BEFORE you put the cat
in the bath and make sure the water is not too hot and not too cold. The height of the water should reach the cat's underbelly.

A rubber bathmat placed in the tub will give the cat something to grip when it gets nervous and is a good idea.

Use a cat shampoo recommended by your vet, groomer or other qualified pet professional.

Do NOT wet the cat's head. Instead use a moist washcloth or towelette if the cat's face and head are dirty. GENTLY wet the cat from neck to bum using a cup or small pail with the bath water itself and start shampooing at the neck and move toward the bum. Then wash the legs.

Meowing and yowling at this point are normal unless your cat is mute,
in a coma, or practically dead. Just continue rubbing in the suds gently. Don't use too much shampoo.

The rinsing is the most important part as shampoo left on a cat's skin will make your cat scratch itself thereby irritating its skin. Start draining the bath water. While it is draining, start rinsing the cat's fur with the remaining bath water using cup or small pail. This gets the 'big suds' off. Use or buy a cheap shower attachment for this next part. With warm water from the shower attachment, rinse and rub the fur well from neck to bum. Once you think it's clean do it again quickly making sure there is no shampoo residue.

While in the tub put a towel all around kitty and start gently rubbing
all around its body. It must be a gentle rub or pat down because especially in a longhaired cat, you don't want the rubbing to create new knots. Remove kitty from the tub and use another towel to further absorb water from the fur.

If you have a hair dryer that does NOT make too much noise you can try rubbing the fur while blow drying. Make sure that if your cat is NOT completely dry that you put it in a WARM room so that it does not catch a chill and get sick. This CAN happen easily.
Note: It is 100% normal for the cat to start licking its fur immediately after you've finished all your hard work.

There are many other creative techniques for bathing cats. Another one that makes good sense is the shallow buckets technique. Buy 5 cheap shallow buckets. Fill them all so the height reaches the cat's underbelly. Put the cat in the first bucket and start shampooing - The next 4 buckets are rinsing buckets
where using your hands you rinse the suds off kitty as you transfer the lucky feline from bucket to bucket. Make sure all the suds have been removed and dry the cat well.

Other good cat bathing tips from cat owners can be found on our bulletin board from the following links.
http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=16518
http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=14930

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www.pets.ca

Answer 3

Very carefully. First, clip his claws (just clip off the tips of the claws), put a harness on the cat, then run his bath in a plastic tub in the sink. Cats hate the sound of running water so keep her in the other room until her bath is ready. Keep her face dry-they don't like wet faces. Gently lower her into the tub trying not to splash. I've found what helps to keep the cat in the tub instead of climbing all over is to attach the harness to a short leash with a big suction cup on the end. Attach the suction cup to the nearby wall, or facet even. Now you can wash the cat. ****do have all the stuff you are going to need for the bath right there-the towels and the shampoo.

Answer 4

I just gave my cat a bath an hour ago. The best way is to first clip the cats nails to stop them from scratching you. Than fill the bath water about 4 inches high with not too warm water. Than get the cat and close the door in the bathroom (very important). And make sure to hold onto the cat at all times while its in the tub. And just wash it with water first, than the cat shampoo, than wash them with water again. Than dry them. In my experience I recommend wearing a short sleeve shirt because once my cat escaped the bath tub by climbing my shirt sleeve. And let me tell you it hurt. Also try keeping the cat facing the wall. Because it's going to be looking for a way to escape. Good Luck

Answer 5

Though cat owners may want to depend on a cat to clean herself, there may be a time when you will want to give your cat a bath. The following tips will help you and your cat have a more pleasant experience.

Prior to the bath, you will want to groom your cat. Use a grooming glove, fine-toothed comb, or soft brush for shorthaired breeds and a wide toothed comb and a soft slicker brush for longhaired breeds. Brush your cat thoroughly being especially gentle on the skin because it is thin and sensitive. Also, make sure to brush out any mats you may find - they are much harder to remove from wet hair. This is also a good time to check for sores, abscesses, lumps, and other skin problems. Clean your cat's ears and look for any excess wax or debris in the ears. You will also want to clip your cat's nails at this time. If your cat does not enjoy any of these procedures, wait until your cat has calmed down before starting the bath.

Assemble all the materials you will need before you get the cat. Include a soft towel, soft brush, and shampoos and conditioners formulated especially for cats. If the shampoo is very thick, it is sometimes helpful to dilute it with some water before applying it to the cat. Just prior to the bath, place cotton balls in the ears and apply ophthalmic ointment to protect the eyes. Place a towel in the bottom of the sink or tub you are going to use to prevent slipping. Be sure the area where you give the bath is warm, and your cat will have a warm place to dry off.

Remember that cats do not like to be restrained, so the less it feels like you are controlling her, the better. Speak in soft tones and try to appear calm, since your cat will become more nervous if she senses you are apprehensive. Signs that your cat is anxious include flattening of the ears or whiskers, tail thumping, loud vocalizations, and open mouth panting.

Use lukewarm water. Cats generally dislike sprays, so it is often better to pour water over the cat rather than spraying. If you must spray, avoid hard sprays and spraying near your cat's face. You may want to wrap your cat in a thin towel and wet the coat through the towel, and then apply the shampoo. After shampooing, rinse your cat thoroughly. Rinsing is the most important step. The old adage is: 'Once you think you've rinsed your cat thoroughly, rinse her again.'

Dry your cat gently with a towel. 'Blotting' is better than rubbing, especially in longhaired breeds. Longhaired breeds will also benefit from an additional brush out and a blow dryer on no-heat setting (if your cat will tolerate the noise).

If your cat absolutely cannot tolerate being wet, try using a waterless or powder shampoo, pre-moistened bath towelettes for pets, which have recently become available, or give your cat a 'sponge bath' with a damp towel.

Remember, the younger a cat is when you begin to bathe her, the more likely it will be that she will come to enjoy an occasional bath.

Answer 6

With extreme caution.

Here's what we do: draw about six inches of a bubble bath using baby shampoo in the tub. Draw a bucket of clean, very warm water. Set aside. Lay out about ten towels (not the good ones) on the floor next to the tub or laundry sink. Wear a heavy shirt (preferably one of those padded plaid ones or a denim jacket) and haul the cat to the sink; using both hands, immerse slowly. We then wash the cat, using the bubble bath solution, with "petting" motions while talking calmingly to the cat as if he gives a darn that we're talking to him at all. Once he's been sufficiently washed/tortured, including around the face and under the tail, we drain the water. Then using a paper cup, use the clean warm water from the bucket to rinse most of the soapy solution from the cat's fur. Then grab a series of towels and squeegie cat mostly dry; with last towel, wrap him up and dry as well as possible. Then let him go so he can wash himself and sulk behind the sofa. We also leave an old blanket bunched up in his favorite spot; he invariable cozies in there after a bit.

If you are crazy enough to try to blow-dry your cat, it can be done, though fairly ineffectively, by caging your feline beneath an upside down laundry basket.

Heh... good luck.

Answer 7

Step a million: Brush your cat throughout to eliminate any tangles in its coat. Step 2: Run water right into a bath or sink. Run the water until this is a snug luke-heat temperature to touch. turn off the water. Step 3: placed a cotton ball into each and every ear of the cat. that's so water would not by possibility get in there and create an infection. Step 4: place the cat interior the bathtub or sink. it might conflict or combat, yet keep it in there. be beneficial to have a secure grip or it is going to harm itself besides as you. Step 5: rub down cat shampoo commencing up on the neck and paintings back to the tail. enable it sit down for 2 minutes. Step 6: gently spray the shampoo off the cat. carry the hose suited next to the cat's epidermis and carry the fur to make beneficial each and every of the shampoo gets rinsed off. Any shampoo left in the back of will reason a epidermis inflammation. Step 7: Wrap your cat in a towel, take out the cotton balls, and pat him dry. Rubbing will reason tangles, so purely keep patting, using a number of towels to get your cat as dry as conceivable. Then use a gentle brush to gentle your cat's coat. keep him in a heat place until he's thoroughly dry. good success, and be careful!

Answer 8

Check pet catalogs for a contraption that will safely hold the cat while it's being bathed. The cat cannot scratch you and provided you get the job done quickly the cat won't be too upset.

Answer 9

in a tub that you have shower doors and not a curtain. If cats weren't to be bathed they wouldn't make cat shampoo. and my cat isn't sleeping in my beds without a bath.

Answer 10

You can go to your local pet store and pick up a bathing bag. It is a mesh bag that you place over your cat to keep him from scratching, but you can wash them with it on.