Bathing a cat is never an easy event. There’s no denying that. Be prepared for kicking, whining, shaking, clawing, and any other trick your pet can think of when it’s time to give your pet a bath.
Bathing your cat is important to do on occasion. You don’t want to bathe your cat until it’s at least three or four months old. Because the bathing process is so traumatic for them, bathing them any earlier can cause long lasting problems. You also don’t want to bathe your cat too frequently.
Understand that cats are naturally clean animals. They spend a lot of time using their tongues to remove dirt and grime from their fur. They’ll clean themselves. But there is some dirt that only a good hearty bath can remove.
Cats don’t like water. That’s a given. So when it’s time to bathe your cat, be prepared for your pet to pitch a fit. You need to be loving and understanding that this is difficult for your pet. Treat it gently, and at no time should you submerge your cat’s head in water. You may also want to put cotton in your cats ears. Wet ears that aren’t thoroughly dried can cause infections. And it’s difficult to thoroughly dry the insides of the ears of a cat that doesn’t want to be bathed to begin with.
The best way to bathe a cat is to get two tubs of water in a room with tiled floors. Fill the tubs with water at a level that will only go up to your cat’s shoulders so your cat can comfortably stand in the water and keep its head above water.
Both tubs should be filled with warm water. One should have soapy water and will be used to get rid of the dirt. The other tub will be used to rinse the soap off your pet. You want to make sure the temperature in the room is warm, too. If it’s too cool, your pet could get sick once its out of the water. Also, if you don’t have access to warm water, don’t bathe your cat. You want to keep it from getting sick.
Once your cat is bathed, you should dry its hair as thoroughly as possible. Then give it a clean, soft, warm place to go lie down, along with a blanket for it to use to cover up. You may even want to give your cat a treat after the bath, thanking it for undergoing such a traumatic experience and letting it know that it did a good job, so next time it will associate a bath with a treat at the end.
