# Giving a Cat a Bath?



## mercymoon (Aug 29, 2008)

Fostering a little kitten I think is about 6 weeks old I about hit last night when coming home from a family get-together. An adorable little siamese mix that was starving and is flea infested. I do own a cat but I do not have that much experience with them. Should I bathe it? I head it was bad to give cats baths but they do make cat shampoo Ive seen. Need someone like Roxy's advice on this one.


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## Fluffyspoos (Aug 11, 2009)

No, it's not bad to give a cat a bath, either use a tearless pet shampoo, or a flea shampoo that can be used on cats. Make sure to read the lable on the flea shampoo though, since cats lick themselves more than dogs it needs to be specially formulated for cats or they can poison themselves too.


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## PonkiPoodles (Feb 25, 2009)

Yes, you can give a cat a bath and I've never heard that it was bad for them!?!?! Just like with dogs be careful not to get water in their ears as it could cause infection. And if it's a kitten it shouldn't be too much trouble. I've bathed large cats before and when they don't like it they definitely make sure you know they don't... but a 6 week old should be fine. And as Fluffyspoos mentioned if you're using a flea sjampoo you need to see if you can treat kittens with it.

Here's some more info:
http://www.vetinfo.com/bathing-cats-kittens.html


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## WonderPup (Oct 26, 2008)

We bathed out kitten right after bringing her home, she was five weeks old though I didn't know that until the next day when she went to the vet. I called the clinic that night after discovering she was crawling with fleas and asked about bathing before her appt the next morning. She also had a resp. infection. They said it was ok. 
We used a hypo baby shampoo because it was what we had on hand and it is what we used at the clinic I worked at to do cat bathes (gawd I HATED grooming cats!!) 

Anyway assuming she doesn't have stitches or anything that you shouldn't get wet I would say bathe away. 

It's kind of important (and this is what my vet told me when we first got sake) to dry the kitten pretty well. She had me use my hair dryer on the low setting held far away with the coolest tempature setting possible. Said to do it just like if I were bathing one of my rats (who interstingly enough LOVED to be blow dried - figure that out LoL). The vet said not to allow her to get chilled and the bath should be fine.


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## roxy25 (Dec 18, 2008)

yes you Can bathe them i bathe all of my cats. they have been bathe since they where about 3 weeks old. Use dish soap. This kills fleas if you do not have flea shampoo. I suggest trimming the nails first because you will get scratched if the kitten gets freaked out. If you have shower doors on your tub this is so easy ! but if you don't wash the kitten in the sink. You can use a cup and gently poor the water over the kitten.


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## mercymoon (Aug 29, 2008)

Well I gave her a bath last night, and was so confused! She didn't even try to get away, just sat there and let me wash her, wow! After her bath, I then blow dried her until she was a puff ball and brushed her coat. Now calling her "Samurai"


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## roxy25 (Dec 18, 2008)

mercymoon said:


> Well I gave her a bath last night, and was so confused! She didn't even try to get away, just sat there and let me wash her, wow! After her bath, I then blow dried her until she was a puff ball and brushed her coat. Now calling her "Samurai"


Awesome ! a lot of cats don' mind it when they are kittens now just keep her used to it and you are set ! I have one cat that cries in the tub but when you start lathering him up he loves it starts purring and even tries to lick you to continue. lol


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## mercymoon (Aug 29, 2008)

roxy25 said:


> Awesome ! a lot of cats don' mind it when they are kittens now just keep her used to it and you are set ! I have one cat that cries in the tub but when you start lathering him up he loves it starts purring and even tries to lick you to continue. lol



Aww lol! How often is reccomended to give a cat a bath? I don't know if were going to keep it or not, but it's beginning to grow on me.


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## roxy25 (Dec 18, 2008)

mercymoon said:


> Aww lol! How often is reccomended to give a cat a bath? I don't know if were going to keep it or not, but it's beginning to grow on me.



Well I just give mines a bath like twice a month ? it depends if they smell or are dirty I just give them a bath. my male stud cats get baths more than my females because of the musky spray odor !


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## mercymoon (Aug 29, 2008)

roxy25 said:


> Well I just give mines a bath like twice a month ? it depends if they smell or are dirty I just give them a bath. my male stud cats get baths more than my females because of the musky spray odor !


Yuck! Does fixed males emit that musk? We have a massive neutered black male.


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## roxy25 (Dec 18, 2008)

mercymoon said:


> Yuck! Does fixed males emit that musk? We have a massive neutered black male.


Well honestly I can't give you an answer on this , I do have a neutered male but since he is neutered he does not spray. I do not go and smell his pee in the litter box so I am not sure lol.

I know some breeders have told me they have neutered males that still spray ( but this is because they where neutered after being bred and kept intacted for years) the male I have was neutered at about 1 year and he used to spray but he has stopped. So I would have to ask another breeder to see what they say.


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## mercymoon (Aug 29, 2008)

I was joking around with hubby last night about he had to give "Grig" abath since I gave the kitten one. Grig is not declawed and is one Massive cat! I need to get a picture!


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## WonderPup (Oct 26, 2008)

lol, just can't resist posting pictures from that first bath we gave Sake'. She seemed fine at first as you can see and then decided we were trying to kill her LoL.


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## T o d d (Sep 25, 2007)

WonderPup said:


> lol, just can't resist posting pictures from that first bath we gave Sake'. She seemed fine at first as you can see and then decided we were trying to kill her LoL.


Haha those pictures are great!!!

Glad to see you around WonderPup!


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## mercymoon (Aug 29, 2008)

WonderPup said:


> lol, just can't resist posting pictures from that first bath we gave Sake'. She seemed fine at first as you can see and then decided we were trying to kill her LoL.


I am still jealous you have a white cat, there were some white kittens for free in the paper that came out, but I might as well just keep Samurai the siamese I rescued, after all people need to learn to fix their cats and we wouldn't have so many strays. :heh:


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## WonderPup (Oct 26, 2008)

LOL, I didn't want a white cat to be honest. She was kind of dumped on us. I was going to get kitten from a stray my dad had who had a litter in his shed. 

Sake' is solid white with lovely ice blue eyes. When I first brought her into the clinic the other groomer I worked with insisted all white cats with blue eyes were deaf and mine would be no exception and would be a pain to live with. Sake' is definitly not hearing impared in any way lol. Just mention the word hungry, even under your breath, and she comes running from just about anywhere. She also knows her name, kitty kitty, and "get off me!!!!" lol. 

A pic of her perdy eyes


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## Harley_chik (Nov 7, 2008)

You guys are awful! My little guy has reached maturity and decided he no longer craves my attention. I already have a bad case of kitten fever and now you post those unbearably adorable pics! 

I've wanted a Siamese forever, but the cats I have just kind of show up and I've haven't gone out and gotten a cat in a long time. Saki is adorable and has the prettiest blue eyes. To be honest with you though, I'd pull all my hair out if I a had a solid white cat. Having one with some white hair and another with light orange hair is bad enough!


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## WonderPup (Oct 26, 2008)

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who has kitten fever, I am absolutely NOT allowed any more animals. I have been trying to convince hubby that we should foster a kitten or two because I don't really want another cat in the house but I desperatly want a kitten running around. By the time the novelty wore off it would be time for said kitten to go to his new forever home. Plus it would be a great volenteer thing lol. So far he's firmly in the NO camp. I guess he's afraid I'll fall in love with a kitten and want to keep it. Maybe he's smarter than I give him credit for? rofl


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## Harley_chik (Nov 7, 2008)

WonderPup said:


> I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who has kitten fever, I am absolutely NOT allowed any more animals. I have been trying to convince hubby that we should foster a kitten or two because I don't really want another cat in the house but I desperatly want a kitten running around. By the time the novelty wore off it would be time for said kitten to go to his new forever home. Plus it would be a great volenteer thing lol. So far he's firmly in the NO camp. I guess he's afraid I'll fall in love with a kitten and want to keep it. Maybe he's smarter than I give him credit for? rofl


LOL, both of my male cats were stray kittens that just showed up at my house. Originally they were just going to stay in the house (where it was safe) until I could find their owners or take them to the humane society. Of course both showed up on Friday afternoon and by the time Monday came around, it was over. I would've been especially, devestated if someone showed up looking for Booger. (the one in my avatar)


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## mercymoon (Aug 29, 2008)

We don't have a solid white cat, but we do have a solid black cat, his name is "Grig" and he is massive. When we adopted him he literally hid in our house for about 2 months and was very unsocial, my hubby told me he was going to catch him and give him away or do something with him, because not only did he have nothing to do with us he had bad behavior at the time. One night when he came out hubby caught him but then Cash got under his feet and he dropped him and Grig ran off and hid. Because of that Grig had a change of heart, he knew if he didn't change his ways he would be leaving us. The next day I went into the kitchen and Grig literally ran up to me demanding attention, I couldn't believe it! Now he is a changed cat and is actually quite annoying because he demands to be petted.


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