Gimme a Bath!
Dina Williams
Hi everybody:
I know this issue has been addressed before and I'm sorry to bring it up
again but I need some advice on bathing cats.
My husband recently saw an allergist, who ran all kinds of tests, and it
turns out he's allergic to everything including my 5 cats. The allergist
told him to bathe the cats...I laughed for a very long time when he gave me
this news.
There's no way to effectively bathe cats, is there??? And will it really
alleviate his allergies? I don't believe that it will as he's allergic to
just about everything and the cats are a small part of the total picture.
Plus I've always been under the impression that there's no way to bathe a
cat to make it "allergy-free."
Please email me your suggestions. I'm particularly interested in "dry"
shampoos that don't require the use of water, if any exist. I used to have
one for flea control, but allergy control is a different matter.
Sorry to be so clueless but I've managed to control my own cat allergies
without bathing the fur-balls and I assumed my husband would too. However
out of consideration for a wonderful guy I thought I'd ask.
Purrs and thank yous!
Dina
Dina Williams "It's a dead body, Patsy."
wil...@rpi.edu "Yeah but is it art, Eddie?"
http://www.math.rpi.edu/~willid2 "No sweetie it's my father."
-- The Immortal AbFab
Kay Lancaster
In article <willid2.1...@usenet.rpi.edu>, Dina Williams wrote:
>
>
>There's no way to effectively bathe cats, is there??? And will it really
>alleviate his allergies? I don't believe that it will as he's allergic to
>just about everything and the cats are a small part of the total picture.
>Plus I've always been under the impression that there's no way to bathe a
>cat to make it "allergy-free."
Well, it's certainly easy enough to bathe a cat, if you've got the
right equipment. I find it the easiest to do in a glass-enclosed
shower stall with a hand-held shower, but you can also do it easily
in a bathtub with one of the temporary shower nozzles-on-a-hose
stuck on the tub spout.
Although some people are successful in using the kitchen sink, my cats
don't seem to fit in it very well, and it's easier for me to use
the shower or tub.
Round up the shampoo you intend to use (pet shampoo if you do it on
a regular basis, human shampoos tend to be too drying), and a plastic
drinking glass. Dilute the shampoo (maybe a tablespoon per cat?)
in 6-8 oz of warm water, and stir. Perch the glass of shampoo someplace
accessible but "out of range".
Start the shower on baby-bath-warm water, and grab cat (who should have
been in the bathroom with you while you were making preparations).
Scruff the cat by putting your non-dominant (probably left) hand on
the cat's scruff and lifting slightly, till you can feel the
"I've been scruffed" response set in. Don't forget to keep the
back of the cat supported during this maneuver, since adult cats
shouldn't be lifted by the scruff. All you want to do is sort of
stretch the scruff upwards enough that the scruff response sets in.
Place cat in tub and kneel next to it, not letting go of the scruff,
or walk into shower stall with cat, and place it on the floor, not letting
go of the scruff, and shut the shower door. Using your left hand
to control the cat by the scruff, direct the water onto the back of
the cat, and around on the body, wetting the fur. Don't spray the cat's
head or chest area --- that's when the fun usually starts!
Work the diluted shampoo into the cat's fur with your right hand,
while still maintaining a grip with your left on the scruff. The
diluted shampoo works into the fur more easily. Work up a good
lather, and at this point you can usually do the cat's chest, neck,
and top of head.
Now rinse with the shower nozzle, making sure you get all the soap
out of the fur. Again, start at the back and work forward, trying
especially not to splash water in the cat's face. Rinse the rest
of the soap out of the head and face fur by wiping many, many times
with a clean, wet washcloth.
Squeeze the excess water out of the fur while you're still in the
shower stall or the cat is still in the tub. Release him into
the rest of the bathroom, and turn off the shower (which should have
been running the entire time -- about 5 min -- you don't need to
be fussing with on/off and temp while you're trying to bathe the
cat!).
Wrap the cat in dry towels and get as much water out as possible.
Put disgruntled cat in warm room to finish drying himself.
------
Once you've washed a cat successfully, the next time isn't so bad.
The main thing seems to be to go in with an attitude that "I *AM*
going to bathe you, and you *ARE* going to put up with it!".
Using this method, I can even bathe the Flying Zucchini Brothers,
a pair of very strong cats who instantly go into shred-o-matic mode
the second you try to pick them up to cuddle them. In fact, I've
never gotten more than one mild scratch when bathing cats by this
method... I usually just strip off my own clothes and bathe the
cats au naturel, more as wet clothes prevention than anything else.
The cat bathing may only need to be done every few weeks or so if
you can keep them thoroughly wiped down with plain water on a wash-
cloth every few days.
Kay Lancaster k...@fern.com
Catherine Anne Foulston
In article <slrn5ics3...@hub.fern.com>,
Kay Lancaster <k...@hub.fern.com> wrote:
>don't seem to fit in it very well, and it's easier for me to use
>the shower or tub.
Me too. Especially since the escapees have much less space to
escape into, and make a mess in with the water and soap. :-)
>Scruff the cat by putting your non-dominant (probably left) hand on
>the cat's scruff and lifting slightly, till you can feel the
I always make sure my nails are trimmed before I do this so I
don't dig them into the cat's scruff. This usually reminds me
to trim the cats' nails first too, for obvious reasons.
For the initial wetting, I dip a sponge into a large bowl of warm
water, and without wringing it at all, apply it to the cat. This
seems to upset mine less than spraying them. It gets them quite
wet but I'm not sure it would be adequate for rinsing.
>method... I usually just strip off my own clothes and bathe the
>cats au naturel, more as wet clothes prevention than anything else.
I can't quite bring myself to do this. Clothes provide a little
protection for the, er, sensitive bits. But I sure don't wear
more than a ratty old t-shirt and maybe shorts, since I know I'll
get wet. (My cats don't deliberately claw me, even given the
extreme provocation of being bathed. :-) It's just that in trying
to escape, they climb up the nearest climbable object -- me.)
>you can keep them thoroughly wiped down with plain water on a wash-
>cloth every few days.
Here again I use the sponge. It doesn't have loose corners like
a washcloth to flap down in the cat's face (and I'm klutzy so it
would happen -- maybe other people don't have this problem).
Cathy, and Mandy: DS Ot H 3 X L W C+++ I+++ T+
and Judy: DS+"SI" Opt+W B 3 X L W+ C+++ I+++ T+++
Daniel and Rebekah
Dina Williams wrote:
>
> Hi everybody:
>
> I know this issue has been addressed before and I'm sorry to bring it up
> again but I need some advice on bathing cats.
>
> My husband recently saw an allergist, who ran all kinds of tests, and it
> turns out he's allergic to everything including my 5 cats. The allergist
> told him to bathe the cats...I laughed for a very long time when he gave me
> this news.
>
> alleviate his allergies? I don't believe that it will as he's allergic to
> just about everything and the cats are a small part of the total picture.
> Plus I've always been under the impression that there's no way to bathe a
> cat to make it "allergy-free."
>
> shampoos that don't require the use of water, if any exist. I used to have
> one for flea control, but allergy control is a different matter.
>
> Sorry to be so clueless but I've managed to control my own cat allergies
> without bathing the fur-balls and I assumed my husband would too. However
> out of consideration for a wonderful guy I thought I'd ask.
>
> Purrs and thank yous!
>
> Dina
> Dina Williams "It's a dead body, Patsy."
> wil...@rpi.edu "Yeah but is it art, Eddie?"
> http://www.math.rpi.edu/~willid2 "No sweetie it's my father."
> -- The Immortal AbFab
>
>
brushing them regularly, vaccuuming the apartment every couple of days
and unfortunately bathing my cats once a month. The best way that I have
found is by putting an old window screen into the bath tub, the cat
hoists himself out of the water and on to the screen so that I can just
wet him with a cup. There are dry shampoos out there but I only used
them once and they didn't seem to work very well. perhaps other people
have had better results. I've had my cats for 2 years and they still
hate water, Moon sulks for 2 days afterwards. Don't even try a hair
dryer, that makes the situation only worse.
Rebekah yu13...@yorku.ca
Russell Price
On Wed, 12 Mar 97 06:19:29 GMT, wil...@rpi.edu (Dina Williams) wrote:
>Hi everybody:
>
>I know this issue has been addressed before and I'm sorry to bring it up
>again but I need some advice on bathing cats.
Simple to do. Here's what I use with mine:
1. Kevlar gloves, armpit-length
2. Chain mail, steel/depleted uranium weave
3. Full-coverage body armor (Kevlar/ballistic rayon preferred)
4. Focusable energy shield generator in the 5000 terawatt range
5. Helmet, steel-reinforced Lexan
6. Goggles, Lexan, with night-vision monocular
7. Protective safety cage, cobalt alloy, rated up to 50,000
foot-pounds of biting force
8. The ability to stay awake for up to 96 continuous hours after the
bath is completed, to help reduce retaliatory strikes
9. A fully paid-up life insurance policy
10. Whip
11. Chair
Russ Price
Stacy Scott
Catherine Anne Foulston wrote:
>
> For the initial wetting, I dip a sponge into a large bowl of warm
> water, and without wringing it at all, apply it to the cat. This
> seems to upset mine less than spraying them. It gets them quite
> wet but I'm not sure it would be adequate for rinsing.
What I do is wrap my hand *over* the spray head, so that the water
flows through my fingers, and keep the water pressure fairly low.
It's not as scary this way, and there's less equipment to juggle --
with a real squirmer (as my late Gilligan was), the less you've got
to worry about, the better.
However, about the original question, what my sister-in-law does
(her husband is allergic to cats) is wipe the cats down with a
product called AllerPet-C. It works for them. I've seen this
offered in numerous places, from pet-supply shops to catalogues.
Stacy Scott
ATVDSOT
In article <332c8457...@news.airmail.net>, a000...@airmail.net
(Russell Price) wrote:
LOL! Amazing. I just get in the bathtub (naked!) with the cat (also
naked), close the glass doors, and put in a few inches of warm water. I
keep petting him while rubbing in handfuls of water. He's pretty cool
about it, though he gets bored when waiting five minutes for the flea
shampoo to soak in. He's even relaxed when I hold him under the tub faucet
to rinse him off (though I have to be very careful with his head). He
howls a bit now and then, but he never gets violent or try to scratch.
- Don
--
"I don't believe you can find any evidence of the FACT that I had changed government policy solely because of a contribution" - President Clinton, 3-7-97
tama...@aol.com
>LOL! Amazing. I just get in the bathtub (naked!) with the cat (also
>naked), close the glass doors, and put in a few inches of warm water. I
>keep petting him while rubbing in handfuls of water. He's pretty cool
>about it, though he gets bored when waiting five minutes for the flea
>shampoo to soak in. He's even relaxed when I hold him under the tub faucet
>to rinse him off (though I have to be very careful with his head). He
>howls a bit now and then, but he never gets violent or try to scratch.
You lucky so and so! I got one cat that just does standard "ooooh, man, I haaaate this! Ah! Eek! Urg! Lemme outta here *runrunrunrunrunrunrunrun* DAMN! That didn't work! Ah! Eek!" stuff.
But I get in the tub with my adorable little darling Silverfish, and it's EN GARDE!!! Ah-huh-huh! I am for you! Take that! Uff! And This! *yowl* And These!! *rake* *bite* *claw*
On those rare occasions when it is necessary, I first clip claws, and then throw the kitty in the tub and get in FULLY DRESSED in jeans, heavy wool socks, long-sleeved denim shirt buttoned way up my neck AND chemistry-style eye guards (I'm not joking! she raked me once right across my eyeball and darn near blinded me on the left side, the little sweetheart)! I don't know *what* her shelter-parents did to her as far as bathing goes, but she absolutely will not stand for it, not in sink, tub, or bucket.
But she *will* flirt with disaster when *I'm* taking a soak, and one day she's going to slip onto my naked body in a hot tub and you'll be reading my obit on this newsgroup...
- Tamarian
Muzzincat
Don:
You are a brave man!! Naked in the shower to give your cat a bath. I
just have to ask, is this cat a stuffed animal? Just kidding...;-)
Mary
Subject: Re: Gimme a Bath!
From: fast...@soho.ios.com (ATVDSOT)
Date: 13 Mar 1997 09:40:28 GMT
Message-ID: <fastslow-130...@ppp-38.ts-1.la.idt.net>
In article <332c8457...@news.airmail.net>, a000...@airmail.net
(Russell Price) wrote:
> On Wed, 12 Mar 97 06:19:29 GMT, wil...@rpi.edu (Dina Williams) wrote:
>
> >Hi everybody:
> >
> >I know this issue has been addressed before and I'm sorry to bring it
up
> >again but I need some advice on bathing cats.
>
> Simple to do. Here's what I use with mine:
>
> 1. Kevlar gloves, armpit-length
> 2. Chain mail, steel/depleted uranium weave
> 3. Full-coverage body armor (Kevlar/ballistic rayon preferred)
> 4. Focusable energy shield generator in the 5000 terawatt range
> 5. Helmet, steel-reinforced Lexan
> 6. Goggles, Lexan, with night-vision monocular
> 7. Protective safety cage, cobalt alloy, rated up to 50,000
> foot-pounds of biting force
> 8. The ability to stay awake for up to 96 continuous hours after the
> bath is completed, to help reduce retaliatory strikes
> 9. A fully paid-up life insurance policy
> 10. Whip
> 11. Chair
LOL! Amazing. I just get in the bathtub (naked!) with the cat (also
naked), close the glass doors, and put in a few inches of warm water. I
keep petting him while rubbing in handfuls of water. He's pretty cool
about it, though he gets bored when waiting five minutes for the flea
shampoo to soak in. He's even relaxed when I hold him under the tub faucet
to rinse him off (though I have to be very careful with his head). He
howls a bit now and then, but he never gets violent or try to scratch.
- Don
Leigh Anne Bost
tama...@aol.com wrote:
> But she *will* flirt with disaster when *I'm* taking a soak, and one day she's going to slip onto my naked body in a hot tub and you'll be reading my obit on this newsgroup...
>
> - Tamarian
ROFLMAO!!! My kitties like to drink the bath water when I am in there
too even though they run and hide when they know it is their turn. I
couldn't believe it when the other person said they got in the bathtub
naked on purpose to bathe their cat! Mine cry so when they get a bath.
Fortunately, if mine fell in (and sometimes they come precariously
close) I don't think I would be maimed and I don't think they'd draw
blood on purpose but they would definitely be ~unhappy~ to say the least
and when my babies are unhappy the whole world knows it!