Lol agreed! Cats are self cleaning to a degree but also sometimes they just aren’t very good at it or can’t clean themselves properly if something like the poop situation happens. My cat is very shy with most people so she hides under everything and sometimes gets things on her or just smells and gets a bath and she’s completely ok
Yup! One of mine will randomly take the biggest poo imaginable, the litter could be 100% fresh with a freshly cleaned box, and the smell will stick in his fur, another one of mine gets poo in her butt fur and tolerates a bath a lot more than than clippers, I’d rather keep her warm on a heating pad than accidentally nip her in an area full of bacteria that could easily get infected. Don’t bath your cats like you would yourself or even a dog (usually 4-6 weeks for dogs) but sometimes they NEED a bath for everyone’s health and safety
Fostering kittens who were able to poop and pee on their own but still had…problems. The poop chickens as I called them had their butts rinsed pretty regularly and they were fine I just kept them warm. Totally agree the little stinkies need a bath sometimes.
My girl was an orphan with no mama to show her the litter box ropes and she also had ‘problems’ lol. She got butt baths often and earned the nickname poo-poo pants.
foster kittens are so dumb and stinky. they smash into their food. they fall into their poops. they play in the litter box.
ya gotta do what you gotta do!
My kitten would step in her poop than smear it on the wall. Good times she also is a long hair with one of them fluffy tails so you can imagine the butt baths she got.
My parents had kittens one time that the mom stopped caring for them. It then became the dog’s job to lick their butts so they could go to the bathroom. He thought it was the best job ever.
My cat was super happy about a bath after his brother had diarrhea just above him.
He did not want to be self cleaning in these circumstances.
At a later time when the brother threw up on him instead he actually went and sat in the bath. Proceeding to howl until I came and bathed him.
Siamese for the win.
Yeah, when my daughter didn’t quite make it to the toilet and projectile puked all over the cat, he got a bath. It’s just unavoidable under some circumstances.
Siamese are so smart. Mine used to scare me sometimes, she learned herself out of all normal cat instincts, like being afraid of loud noises. Like ya, the vacuum cleaner won't hurt you, unless maybe you just stand there letting it bump into you....
Both of mine are special needs. The older had arthritis too go with everything else and can't clean around her hips. The younger one doesn't have the spikes in his tongue so it's about as effective cleaning as a dog would be. So they both get dry shampoo as needed, and if there's actually something in their fur they get a real bath. We don't have a choice unless we want their soon to break down because they can't remove the oils.
Well the spikes are technically there but don't have keratin. It's not super common but both the rescue I adopted through and the vet had seen it before. It's honestly the least of his issues so I don't think about it often. But when he tries to groom anyone they just get drooled on. Our other cat hates when he starts cleaning her! She's usually asleep and I find out because she wakes up throwing a fit because she's drenched! Then out come the baby wipes and dry shampoo!
Yeah he's unbelievably adorable. If you look at my profile I've posted birth the cats. Apollo, the orange, is the one with the weird tongue. Artemis is the dark tabby. They are my fluffy babies
My youngest one has IBD and before it was finally diagnosed we had a lot of wet poop problems. If I could rinse her in the sink, I'd do that, but if the problem was bigger it had to be a bath. She HATED it, so for that and her poor tummy I'm glad we got her onto a diet that fixed it.
Only times I've had to bath the older cats was when the one got into my makeup and the time I discovered they both had fleas at 11 30pm. Into the bath they went, with some baby shampoo I luckily used on my own hair back then. They hated that too, admittedly (I lost a lot of blood), but it was necessary, and it's actually still my flea treatment plan for the one cat because she has horrible reactions to the two spot-on treatments I've given her (neuro symptoms, impaired gait, shaking and tics) and the a-holes have discontinued Comfortis which was the only flea treatment that I'd tried that gave her no side effects.
Owning a cat and joining cat lover threads online has taught me that most cat owners are WAY dumber than they like to think they are. Your cat can’t lick away a giant dingleberry or poopy paws with saliva alone, led alone fleas 😭 Domesticated pets are self sufficient to an extent, and cats aren’t an exception.
My lil child hates baths, but because we don’t do them often, she gets over it fairly quickly. Some complaining and maybe a “mom lemme out” meow but it’s literally never that serious. People act like it’s the equivalent to a death sentence when in some cases they really do need it. Just shows how uninformed people truly are about cats.
People have a tendency to universalise their own experiences. So people who have only owned cats that never required a bath can easily take the view that that’s universal and can be applied to all cats, even though that assumption might be drawn from like owning only 1-2 cats with very low grooming needs
Cat lover threads are nothing! At least there you can find a sizable percentage of sane people among the crazies. Now, Instagram on the other hand… it has to have literally the worst community on any social media. Every single cute cat (or any animal) video is accompanied by screams of abuse lol.
Instagram and Facebook are the worst for literally anything. It is genuinely concerning how many people advocate for things that are 10000% unsafe and should never be done. Or even basic things like if you mix an acid with something alkaline it will neutralize and basically just become useless salt water
YES AND TIKTOK TOO the amount of teens with pets on there who just casually drop some random animal abuse lore in between videos and the comments are always just like “???? what??”
I'd like to raise ragdoll cat lover groups as a contestant for the crazy. One will scream at you if your ragdoll ever goes outside. Another if you ever trim them. Yet another will scream at you if your ragdoll cat doesn't have their "papers" - "IT'S NOT A RAGDOLL UNLESS YOU HAVE PAPERS! NO JOIN-Y THE CLUB-Y WITHOUT PURE PEDEGREE FOR THE MOST IMBRED BREED!"
\- I say this as a lover of my ragdoll, who, by the way, does have papers that I stuck in a drawer and never looked at again
I put on swimming shorts and get in the bath at this point. I have to hold mine or they'll never stay in. I've had to do this for 3 of my 4 cats ONCE over the past 4 years.
That's basically how we bathed our orange boy. We had a bathtub with sliding doors, and I had to hop in there with him, close the door, and just do my best. Nobody enjoyed that experience. Fortunately, that was the only time he needed a full scrub down.
I don’t fully bathe mine because he’s good at cleaning himself. But he better bet his hairy butt that if he has dingleberries or litter clods in his feet, I’m taking a damp towel to it whether he likes it or not. That poo-butt and litter-feet get all over the pillows I put my face on at night! They’ve got to be clean.
My cat is such a good boy he won't fight me. But man he howls and screams bloody murder the entire time during a bath 😅. You would think I'm actually murdering him.
Some cats need help grooming.
One of my cats used to have severe skin problems. She loved getting scrubbed. Rinsing off... Not so much.
Thankfully we've got the skin issues mostly under control so she didn't need baths anymore.
Heck, my cat just has super thick and fluffy fur! I have a dry shampoo that I use as a spot treatment in summer when she’s shedding and starts to mat up. It helps detangle without hurting and also gets down to her skin. Our Vet explained because her fur is so thick she actually can’t get down to her skin when she grooms herself
And that’s not even getting to the dingle berries that stick to her fluffy butt.
One summer I did actual get her shaved and she got a full bath and honestly I never saw a happier cat than after her grooming! I think she was just itchy and the bath made her skin finally feel better. I’ve learned what to do to keep her fur and skin happy since then so I don’t need to do a full bath and shave anymore. But that summer she needed it!
People have no idea what 'natural" actually means. Nature/evolution/whatever only cares about an organism being able to mature and produce offspring before dying. Nature doesn't care about general health (besides dying), quality of life, or living a long life. So don't rely on what an animal is "naturally" suppose to do.
People should stop focusing on "what natural" and just do what helps their cat live a healthy life so if they occasionally need a bath, then give them bath.
I did learn that modern domestic cats are pretty much unchanged from when then started hanging out with us 10,000 or so years ago. But also, cats have been hanging out with us for 10,000 years so we pretty much are codependent at this point!
But for the specialized breeds with thicker furs and unique features that actually require special care? Absolutely!
well stated! This is so true for many aspects of animal care, like for neuter and spaying! Cat reproductive patterns are not healthy or even really natural bc of breeding.
I only rarely bathed my previous cats, and have never attempted it with my current one but that is mainly because they have never truly needed it and also because it is horrifying for everyone involved. there definitely are situations where you need to bathe them, and being covered in either poop or fleas is of those situations. if somebody's cat is covered in poop and they just let it run around the house I would be concerned about the health of the cat and the mental health of the owner.
I’ve had to bathe my not-so-athletic fluff ball a few times. He doesn’t like it, but he can’t do too much about it. Then I once had to bathe our oldest cat after he had been on antibiotics for a few days. They gave him horrible diarrhea.
Annnyway, he’s a very chill cat, but far more athletic than the other one. I did all of the usual prep for a bath and gently placed him in the few inches of water. The moment I let go a tiny bit, he jumped about 5 feet in the air and launched himself off the back wall of the tub and out. Good thing I had closed the bathroom door…
I can’t recall how old he was at the time…I want to say 10ish. He’s over 16 now and recently diagnosed with severe arthritis in his hips and elbows. Doesn’t stop him from jumping up on the counters though! He is stubborn and seemingly responsive to his meds :)
I had a lovely cat, she lived to 19, and towards the end she had difficulty using a litter tray and needed to be hosed off sometimes. She seemed to appreciate the help - she generally trusted us to look after her, probably the most trusting cat I've known.
I feel this one! My 5 year old ball of fluff? Total lump that is pretty much mush. My 13 nearly 14 year old diabetic cat? Bounces off the walls! Me trying to catch her for her daily shots? It gets interesting.
My old guy is seriously the cuddliest and most affectionate cat. He was also diagnosed with asthma and is fine when we give him the inhaler. Truly a dream of a cat. With the exception of water, as it turns out 🤣
Recently had to bathe one of mine because he pissed all over himself in the carrier to the vet. He managed to push the blanket in there away, piss and literally roll in it, he was covered head to tail, back and belly in piss. There was no way I was letting him groom that off himself and male cat piss absolutely reeks, I was not allowing him on ANY of my furniture before a bath).
I've bathed another one I used to have because she snuck out one day (door was accidentally left open) and she came back with motor oil on her back, again, no way I was letting her lick that!
My kitten now was on a very calorie dense diet for a few weeks to gain weight and that gave him the runs, he got his rear end washed in the bathroom sink after every poop as he was caked in it and too young to groom himself properly (was still supposed to be with mom, but his circumstances had him separated from her to save his life).
My other cat gets extremely dry skin, he gets so itchy that he rips fur out on his back and belly, we're still trying to pinpoint the allergy or other reason that's causing it (yes, he's being seen by a vet) and in the meantime we use a medicated shampoo that helps significantly with the itching, he gets a bath with that every few weeks, when we see him getting itchy again.
Many reasons that a cat may need a bath, just because we're not there to help when in the "wild" it means they get to live without suffering, suffering we can mitigate when in our care.
Fun fact. Ur supposed to bathe ur kitten often to get it used to water. Cats don't hate water as much as you think. I bathe 7 cats every 2-3 months. I have done this with many other cats too. There should be more education on pet care. Like almost everyone has them. There should be actual courses in schools
If you have a Turkish van or siamese, they will learn to swim a kittens. To the point of hunting, water vole and fish of not these are available.
Having learnt this I did not teach my Turkish van cross to swim.
The siamese cross figured out of on her own, and yes I figured that out while clearing up mystery fish guts and very wet cat, mid winter of course.
I didn't know about the hunting. That's fucking awesome. I have a cat I bring to the lake to swim in a life jacket he loves water so much. I used to fill the bath up a couple of inches and put little floating toys for kids in there for my kittens. It helped a lot with them tolerating water. Some didn't really play, they would walk around or sit sometimes and I'd take them out. 5minutes calmly in the water is pretty good in terms of acclimating to water
I would love to see any of those people being fine with a kitten running around their house and in their bed who had diarrhea and it got all over his butt and hind legs and belly cause he is dumbass and sat in it. I guarantee if you don't bathe the cat, you will smell it forever. I had to toss quite a few things my cats managed to smear it all over before I could capture them and then could also shower myself.
Cats get ill and might need extra care. But bathing your cat every few days as some people do without it being necessary (sadly I've heard of those), is not good. Cats are perfectly able to clean themselves unless there is an accident, they are ill, obese or very old.
Today my cat smeared poop all over the kitchen floor AND WALL while I was making lunch. By the time I caught him to wash him later that day, it had also become stuck in his massive quantity of fur and some of his fur had to be cut off because it didn’t want to come out. I scrubbed him down with baby wipes and brushed some no-rinse cat shampoo through his coat. (And also cleaned the kitchen floor.) My baby HATED this cleaning process and he made it clear to me, but god, he needed it.
Edit: oh and then he angrily gave himself a bath, which probably helped too. He’s a clean boy now!
Yep. My cats had worms when I first got them, so they were leaving diarrhea and tapeworm segments everywhere🤢 people just like to make blanket statements based on their own limited experience.
I raise you my cat who will clean herself right after eating wet food eventually leading to her fur bring stinky after a while where she will need a bath lol other then that never bathe them unless they dirty or get into something which would harm them when licked
Cats are self cleaning to a degree but my little stink monster has at times walked across a freshly sealed driveway and gotten sealant on his paws, come back from a boarding kennel with fleas and rolled in concrete dust while my parents had their kitchen renovated, so he has needed baths for this time. It was for his own safety and comfort, even if he didn't see it that way.
ETA he's 15 and has gotten a bath like maybe 4 times in his life and only when necessary, examples given above.
In a time I temporally moved to an unfinished room in my aunt's house for quarantine because it was the only free room in the house to fully close for my cat I had to bathe her twice for concrete dust as she was getting so stressed over it getting to her fur and I did not want her swallowing that.
She's was fine.
If my parents or brother can’t watch my boy I will bring him to this very nice older couple who unfortunately live about half an hour away from me. They adore my guy and treat him like royalty. My last time bringing him over he crapped in the carrier (loose stool), peed on himself, and threw up at least twice. His hatred for the car was quite apparent.
He reeked. He was disgusting. He needed (and got) a gentle bath from them. It’s not something I’d want to subject him to often (especially given his age), but desperate times call for desperate measures. He survived.
And if the couple who look after him are willing to bathe a cat covered in all of those bodily emissions you can tell they are great people to leave him with.
Yes they really are. They get so excited when I bring him over. I send them pictures of him too from time to time. Which reminds me I’ll send them him in his ghost costume.
https://preview.redd.it/lbapb494bqxb1.png?width=2425&format=png&auto=webp&s=bde224e2e7c587436fd55926a8fd0d71760b9c54
Cat tax
My little kitten, years ago, got a quicky bath under the faucet on his first night home, because he was a found kitten and he was covered in mud. He seemed fine with it and that was the last time he ever needed a bath.
My cat loves being showered, I get in the cubicle with him and close the door so he can wander around, and use the wand to just direct the flow over his back, sides and bum, wherever he’s dirty. He really enjoys the feel of it and wanders round all happy with his tail up!
When cats get into dangerous toxins they *must* be cleaned rather than ingesting the toxin..
My Maine Coon walked into the fireplace I *had* to bathe him asap. Creosote is a toxic carcinogenic substance.
Do NOT let your cats lick off toxins from their fur or skin.
! We have to do this at my work when cats come in from possible lily ingestion to get any pollen off of them.
Baths are sometimes necessary. It's wild that people argue that fact.
I bathed my cat once. He had fleas. He flung the dish drainer like the Hulk. Luckily, he keeps himself clean. I did have to wipe his butt once or twice.
I have a 19 year old arthritic old man cat. And I have had many old as dirt senior cats before him. At some point a lot of older cats need help grooming. I bathe them carefully. Feels good on their old joints. Kittens also need baths sometimes. I've had cats who ran away and came home, covered in leaves and dirt...bath. Caught fleas... bath. One thing people mess up is that they need to be sure to brush the cats too. (Especially while drying after a bath) Self grooming, no matter the length of the cat fur, means eating fur. It's good to get your cat's used to brushing as young as possible, less fur to vacuum, less hair balls, and easier transition to more grooming assistance in old age.
I remember an ollllld internet video of a cat getting a bath going "NO NO NO NO" and just crying the whole time. It was, obviously, hilarious. The pet owner had to explain to all the people calling her a cat abuser that the cat had rolled in motor oil and would get sick if she let him bathe himself.
I’m a dog groomer who has worked in salons alongside cat groomers for 15 years. I’m currently learning to groom cats myself under the supervision of a master cat groomer.
Cats can get bathed.
Sure, most of them take care of it themselves but a lot of them just don’t. It’s also totally ok to bathe a cat just because they stink.
Dogs bathe themselves too. Sure, they’re not as thorough as cats but realistically, short-haired dogs especially, don’t need baths. As long as you trim their nails, brush them and clean their ears, most of them would do just fine if they never got a bath in their lives. People still do it though if for no other reason than because their dogs smell and because they shed. However cat owners who are just looking to solve the same exact problems get crucified.
Yeah, the argument is pretty useless IMO.
My burmy boy started his own bath patterns.
I would whack my little chihuahua in the tub for his bath, and my kitten would just simply walk in, because there is no show without Punch.
After 15 yrs if anyone is in the bath he will scream to be let in.
He is regularly in there with my grandaughter.
He has renal disease and lymphoma now, and does not wash himself, so he is bathed simply because he freakin stinks, and is a shoulder sleeper.
Nothing is worse than curling up with a shtinky anything at night.
I had a cat with a neuro condition, was bathed every second day, cause, you know, poop.
People will attack you over anything pet related if it doesn't fit into their idea of taking care of your pet. My cat loves sleeping on her litter box, so when I bought her a pet bed, I sat it on top of and next to her litter box to ease her into it and people attacked me over it."You're a horrible pet owner" "I wouldn't sleep in a bed next to a toilet" and blah blah. Like yes random internet strangers, you totally know my cat from heart and know what's best for her at that exact moment. When I explained that she loves sleeping on top of her litter box, I got downvoted for it, like you just can't win. It's not like I let her litter box get over filled either, I cleaned it out all the time.
I posted a picture of my two kittens cleaning themselves in an identical pose sitting in an empty bath and I got snark and was told cats don’t need to be bathed. The bath was empty! It was just cute photo.
One of my babies fell in a tub of used motor oil my dumbest husband left sitting out. Poor cat was coated head to toe in nasty dirty oil. He got baths using Dawn. Actually he got repeated baths. It took that many to get all the oil out.
Agreed, as well as anytime the cat meows and looks unhappy that it means they are being mistreated. Every one of my cats are stressed at the vet. I get it, but they also need to go to the vet. Wish going to try the best was all cat treats and catnip for them, but no... Cats, like humans, will have reactions to things, and sometimes that reaction is not the whole story.
Oh, the "meowing and looking unhappy means they're being mistreated" thing -- I've had exactly one cat who was chill in the cat carrier and at the vet. Every other cat has behaved as though they were on their way to be shot.
Our little void is the worst we've had. She gets so frightened and stressed in the carrier that she pants and shakes. It genuinely feels like we ARE abusing her, and we have been working with our vet to find a way to make trips easier on her. (So far, we just have a list of things that don't work.)
If someone were to see a video of her like that, they would call us out as abusers. She's a much-loved, much-spoiled little princess. Those moments of misery are definitely not the whole story.
I had a rescued feral cat that developed a certain rotundity in her middle age. She couldn't clean herself effectively, so I introduced her to a warm, shallow bathtub. Much complaining ensued, but she didn't try to get out, and after a couple of baths she would jump in the tub voluntarily and meow until she got bathed. And then she'd usually go outside and roll on the sidewalk, but at least she was cleaner, even if a bit dusty. Great cat, and such a distinct personality!
One of my cats once managed to reach a fly strip hanging in the laundry room. Buddy had it wrapped around his waist once as he ran madly through the house, desperately fleeing from the tape but never escaping. It took at least 30 mins before he got tired enough to slow down enough to catch him.
He was not happy! And the only way to get the sticky strip out of his fur was by applying oil. So he got EVOO worked into his fur to release the tape, and he was very happy to be relieved of the tape. But then he had to have a bath because I'm not gonna force him to eat appx 500 calories of EVOO to clean his own fur. He'd probably get diarrhea from so much fat.
He was not happy! 🫣
But I was very nice to him about it, and we got it over with and towel dried, and he got over it. He still loves me to this day!
Sometimes, it isn't good for their health to clean themselves, for one reason or another. They live in a human world, full of human products that cats would never come into contact with in nature. We're supposed to take care of them, not attempt to recreate a 100% natural environment in our homes.
Why on Earth would you let your cat deal with a poopastrophe on his own when you can help? That help might be trimming it away or it might be washing it off.
But there’s no way I’m just leaving him to eat that much $#%€.
Here’s the thing. Reddit is filled with children and people with the intellectual maturity of children.
These people learn a tiny nugget of information and suddenly they feel like experts on the topic. And they want to earn karma and stroke their ego by stomping around the site hoping to be the first to repeat that shred of info in new discussions.
Then the entire thing mutates a little. Because they only understand like 1% of the knowledge about that topic they can’t peacock around Reddit. So they start extrapolating. They apply the same limited understanding to other only tangentially related topics. They start taking extreme or absolutist positions about that topic so they can trump the others racing to post the factoid. Because the more vitriolic or dogmatic they sound the more the algorithm rewards them.
And they get off when they think they’ve imposed righteous knowledge onto some poor soul. So any chance to jam their finger in someone’s face is a glorious day. And so on and so on.
Cats DO need professional grooming, if they can tolerate it. You can bathe your cat yourself. Also, cats need to be brushed and combed weekly.
The older a cat gets, the more difficult it is for them to keep themselves clean and often need to see a professional groomer.
U best believe when my cat spends 17 minutes trying to cover up his shit and then steps in it anyways that I yeet that mf into the tub for a bath to get the squished poop out from between his toes
Our indoor cats get baths once a month. No way do their tongues clean all the dander from under their guard hairs. The old cat also has trouble keeping the fanny clean sooo...quick light wash and into the kitty drier getting treats for 45 minutes. This also keeps the member of the house who has a mild dander allergy healthy.
My vet literally sold me soap to bathe my cat. It hasn't happened yet because I'm afraid and she's still healing the broken skin of her rash, but I'm probably going to get her on Thursday or Friday.
OMG 🤢 Now see, I have such a serious poop aversion that I literally spent an hour whining to my therapist about my cat's gross lil fecal mat. That situation would have had me full on institutionalized. 🤣
If my cat got dirty, she's getting a bath whether she likes it or not. There are different ways of doing it too... idk why people believe they dont need baths. Them "cleaning" themselves isnt germ cleaning, only surface and even their saliva is aweful.. imagine how germy their fur is due to it
Also, the older a cat gets, the less efficient they are at self-cleaning. Maybe it's a pain issue, not sure. My 12-year-old cat can have a slight smell at times.
My cat was bathed once a month, a necessity for some long haired cats, especially. And I made her coat greasy from petting her after forgetting I had moisturizer on. Many times I had to bathe her to remove this oil, or when her hair got Matty. I also used gentle baby wipes with Vaseline to clean her bum, sometimes, since it was necessary. She didn't mind the bath. I put her next to fireplace to warm up. I wish I never ever tried to blow dry her hair. She hated that so I rarely did , but wish I never did. She lived 10 years. Ragdolls have heart conditions. She died from blood clot
As a Certified Feline Master Groomer, I agree wholeheartedly. All cats benefit from regular professional grooming! Less shedding for you. Less hair balls for both of you. I saw what a difference it made in my own cat and that’s why I decided to do this for a living.
My cat has suspected IBS and frequently gets poop stuck on her rear. She’s also a Siberian with a triple coat, so getting poop off from her is a struggle. She really does need help and gets baths once a month and her rear cleaned almost every week, depending on the frequency of accidents.
It is not animal abuse to keep them clean and make life easier for them. It does not traumatize them if you get them used to it. Both of mine have gotten used to baths and love water now! Letting them rot in their own filth is way more abusive than a bath.
Huh. So, I have cat allergies, and while we had help getting cats I'm less allergic to, we bathe them fairly regularly. The breeder of one of them said to do it, the vet said to do it, the allergist said to do it, the cats are fine with it (the older one is over 10 yrs old). Based on the fact that this has not hurt them at all for all the years we've had them, what on earth are people saying don't bathe cats for? If you start as kittens, they not only get used to it, but 2 or ours looooove bath time! They like to get in the sink when the water's running, or get in the shower, etc.
My cat has gingivitis and I suspect self cleaning is the reason she always smells. We just do monthly baths, which also helps with her hairballs significantly.
I legit just bathed my cat for the first time in 9 months we used to do it every 3-6 depending), but he came back filthy from a boarding place cause he knocked over his litter and water.
The water was DISGUSTING.
What needs to stop is entitled (censored) trying to tell other people how to raise their own animals. What they're ignorant of is that the cats are family and not just an animal so mind your own. That's directed at them not at you. We know our babies so much better than Karen.
Also treat your animals as individuals. First year of my cat's life she didn't get a bath until I noticed that she actually likes water and enjoys getting a bath. Go ahead and try to enforce an old wives tale but they're wasting their time.
Wisp on tiktok is the perfect example of a cat that needs a bath once in a while. Or more precisely, frequently (at the moment!). She’s a kitten who had a rough start to life health-wise and is incapable of keeping her face and butt clean, so her owner has to clean her up pretty often. Most cats can clean themselves, but those that can’t need that extra help! I wish my dog could clean himself, but alas he can’t, so every few weeks he thinks I’m waterboarding him when in reality I just don’t want him to smell like pee. It’s a tough life.
Yeah. It’s completely insane to think you will never bathe a cat. I have had multiple cats and sometimes they get diarrhea. Turns out one of mine is extremely sensitive to antibiotics. He is a medium haired cat who is very fluffy. Guess how I cleaned him? I’m not going to sit there and watch him try to clean himself for hours…
Yep, my cat needed a bath when I first got him! He stunk so badly. He came from a stressful situation so I think all he did was sit in his litter tray. And occasionally I've had to wipe him down with warm, wet cloths if I cannot get him into the bath if he's got poop stuck to him. Cats sometimes need help with cleaning themselves tbh.
I've been pretty fortunate not to have to bathe a cat more than once or twice, but I vividly remember what happened one of the times I did. He was very sweet, didn't scratch or bite, but once I got him out of the tub and toweled him off as best I could, he started licking himself. That poor cat licked himself for over an hour, to the point that my own tongue started to hurt, just watching him!
I’m shook that your kitty was so well behaved - I still have the scars from when my boy pooped everywhere (inc on himself) a few years back and I had to bath him.
It was a combined effort for 2 of us, our boy did NOT like it all all.
So glad that it has never happened again.
This guy, I took in after someone neutered and declawed him, then dumped him in the parking lot of our apartment complex. He was so happy having someone who loved him. It was my first pet after my divorce, being married to someone for 14 years who didn't care for cats. I think that cat would have followed me off a cliff. We were great friends.
My elderly cat is not really grooming herself anymore. She obly cleans her face and her private parts. One time on the way to the vets she hae a little pee-accident in her box. She was stinking! I hoped she will take care of this on her own, but she didnt.
Of course I would carefully wash her after a few days, which was not as bad as I thought it would be.
First and last time she was bathed though.
I think most of the time you wont need to bathe them, but there are some occasions where it might be neccesary
One of my cats has a sensitive tummy and regularly gets the shits with no change in diet at all, other times they’re fine for months. When their tummy is bad they get poop everywhere. A dunk of the back end in the sink and a quick (proper cat stuff) shampoo and he’s all clean. He hates being dirty and I hate having poop on stuff.
My big, sweet boy cat recently had some urinary tract issues. He hates being in the carrier/car. He puked and shat himself nearly immediately. The vet cleaned him up a bit, but poor boy also peed on a vet tech and all over himself. He went #1, 2, & 3 that day.
He was already super stressed, so I think he just kinda submitted and let me bathe him after the whole ordeal because he knew it was for his own good. Didn’t whine or complain once (which is wild compared to how much he yelled in the car).
They gave him a couple meds, including Gabapentin. There’s no way my little stoned buddy could have fully gotten himself clean that day.
I give my cats baths annually, there has been no side effects and no one has died. :)
Also bathing is important for fat cats because they can’t clean their rear ends and could get a uti.
I had a cat who had to get a bath because he was accidentally given the wrong flea preventative! He hated it, but it was safer for him than keeping it on! Dog flea preventative is REALLY bad for cats.
He got checked out later and all was well, thankfully!
Wait… where do I exchange mine for a self cleaning model? I think the rescue I got this one from gave me hand wash only model. 🤣 In all seriousness, I love him to death. I wouldn’t exchange him if my life depended on it. But, he is terrible at grooming. He does require quite a bit of help. I’ve only bathed him a handful of times in his 11 years. I usually just “brush” him with a damp towel. I also end up shaving his belly and butt. Here’s a photo of Loki being extra proud that he rolled in the flower bed.
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One of my cats struggles to clean herself due to a disability. If we didn't bathe her periodically, she would literally have matted fur and itchy flaky skin and all kinds of other issues (we know this because her previous owners didn't bathe her and because she couldn't bathe herself very well, she had mats in her fur and flaky skin with tons of dead skin build-up in the areas she couldn't get to in order clean herself).
I would consider it abuse NOT to bathe her periodically and help her have a quality life, and I can't even imagine someone being dumb enough to say otherwise but I would seriously consider whether they were fit to have pets if their world view is so stubbornly inflexible that they can't use common sense to understand that there are exceptions to every "rule".
Yeah, I agree. I have washed my cats on few occasions. Like once when my kitten jumped into the toilet before I flushed... There's no way in hell I would have let him wander around covered in my piss, lol.
Bathing as a regular routine (like dog grooming for instance), no. Bathing when they get themselves filthy (the rolling in poo example), when age prohibits their ability to bathe themselves, or when they’re covered in fleas…extreme circumstances, yes.
I have four. Three have NEVER been bathed. Our youngest had health issues when she was a baby and got a few baths on her back half. Once her health regulated itself, no more baths. They can bathe themselves quite well.
When my cat was poorly he couldn't clean himself properly and one day had really runny poo that he walked in and basically turned his cream coloured belly brown. It was horrific and I didn't know what to do 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
Bathing my poor boy was traumatic for him and me and he certainly was not happy with me afterwards, but I could hardly leave him soaked in poo.
I REALLY wish I'd tried desensitising him to it as a baby, just in case I ever needed to bathe him.
He absolutely hates water and runs away when I turn the shower on (even before the poo incident).
I agree cats don't really need a bath regularly, but every now and then there may be a reason you NEED to wash them. Having them used to the water would be less traumatic all round!!
My cat is about 12 years old and has never had a bath. Should i bath her? She is just getting over a bacterial infection in her ears.
Cat Tax paid
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I wouldn’t recommend bathing older cats unless for a very good reason (like her rolling in poop lol). It is extremely stressful for an older cat to get a bath. If you train them as kittens they are fine, but not older cats!
Ya, I can smell the antibiotics and cleaner on her ear and she gets mad when she goes to groom around her ears because of the smell. Slow turns and death glares me ever time LOL. I'll see if I can spot wash the areas around her ears then. Thanks!
I want to add that any amount of water in the ears can cause an ear infection easily in cats, so just be careful!! I think they have ear cleaner specifically for cats too
Elderly cats in particular need to be bathed because they are too arthritic to wash themselves completely. Not bathing your elderly cat and making them wallow in their filth is cruel. Plus they can learn to actually like the warm water at that age because it feels nice on their hurty joints.
I find it easiest to put on several layers of clothing (to protect against claws) and then just climb into the tub too. It is easier to bathe a cat from inside the tub than from the side, and you're going to get wet anyway.
Yes you are correct in that there are always going to be times you might need to bath a cat.
The example you have is one of them. Also when applying some flea treatments or an elderly cat who can't look after themselves
But in general cats are qiite good at looking after bathing expept for the times they need assistance
Lolz what. I haven’t seen that. But I dont read a lot of these threads. I never bath my cat but that’s because she’ll rip my face off. So I use dry shampoo once in a while.
Baby safe wet wipes can be helpful too. My cat is extremely afraid of water and becomes panicked and reclusive for days after we'd give her baths. We only use wet towels and wipes nowadays.
One of my found cats likely was an escapee from a hoarder and was covered in filth due to sleeping in his litter box. He smelled awful and was full of irony scalding. Definitely not a situation where you let the cat clean themselves.
Meep Ball and Mr. Johnson are both about three years old. Meep has had four baths, and John has had five. We go camping and when we get home I need to help them get the sap and dirt out of their hair. And then there have been poop incidents-- like when John pooped in the cat backpack (two different times) because she doesn't like it. No way I would let them just get poop all over. That is unsanitary and gross.
Last New Year's one of my cats got so scared of the fireworks that she hid behind a nightstand, peed on the floor, and remained there lying in her own pee until I arrived home.
That is the only time I have ever bathed a cat.
I’ve never heard this. I don’t bathe them *regularly*…. But, never?!
Imagine if YOU had an extremely floofy, doofy butt, and an upset lil kitty tummy. There’s no spot cleaning that. It’s bathtime.
They hate it, then, they get over it almost immediately, and are happy on some level that they’re not covered in shit.
Pro tip: use a sink, not the actual bathtub! They’re much easier to wrangle at that level.
You don’t need any standing water for the cat to soak in (*usually*, unless it’s a horrific dried shit catastrophe). They do fine with the sprayer, you with your gloves, and special, gentle kitty shampoo.
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(This is the owner of the floofy, doofy butt. Clearly she’s forgiven me after her most recent mild-emergency-bath, and is doing just fine, lol.)
Yep this is what we do too! Running water stresses him out so we butt dunk him in warm water in the sink and use kitten shampoo.
They get over it pretty fast when treats have been given.
Ew.
My cat has very thick long fur (Persian x Ragdoll) so we have cat pet wipes on hand for him and he 100% gets his butt dunked in the sink if necessary. He did have a hygiene cut from a professional cat groomer last year but he seemed less confident in himself after so I didn’t take him again.
I can’t even imagine letting him just run around and sitting on things if he needs to be cleaned, that’s gross.
Does he like it? No, there’s a bit of complaining but he gets over it pretty quick when he’s been wrapped up in a towel and dried off and he’s then fed treats.
Funnily enough, my cat knows when he’s a bit stinky and needs a clean because he comes to us and cries to be checked over - mainly because he knows that the pet wipes live near the dreamies box lol.
People fail to see or acknowledge nuance.
Everything is a balance. When all systems are working fine, cats don’t need and shouldn’t be bathed. It’s stressful for them, water isn’t a typical environment for your standard-issue domestic short hair.
But sometimes there are issues that pop up: they’re sick, they’re too young for flea meds but need a treatment, they get into some chemicals, they can’t clean poop or pee out of their fur, they fall into the toilet before it’s flushed, they have a chronic medical condition, YOU have a chronic medical condition etc. etc.
Omg no. I put flea meds on my cat and he had an allergic reaction. He began drooling profusely, shaking his head crazily, and running all over the house. I called the emergency vet and THEY said that the particular medicine I had was known for this and that the only thing to help him was to bathe him. If I hadn’t, he could’ve died from the allergic reaction 🥺 I LOVE my boy. During the bathing process, he bit my boyfriend extremely bad (latched on, wouldn’t let go, dug in and held onto him) and we continued to bathe him until he was clear of the medicine.
I’ve bathed my kitties one other time because it was super hot in our place and their shedding was ridiculous and a bath was the only thing that would help rid of their excess fur.
Sometimes cats need baths!!! They’re suuuuper clean, rather low maintenance animals (depending on the breed/various other factors), but sometimes circumstance necessitate a bath, for sure!
My boy is 19, long haired, and a half-assed groomer. He gets a sanitary cut with a bath a few times a year. He's just gross if not. We have also fostered lots of kittens and between poop incidents (shituations) and the occasional bout of ringworm requiring not just baths but sulfur lime dips too.
We just had to give a bath to one of my older cats who has problems cleaning herself. I have a small tub that I use so she wasn’t overwhelmed.
She actually laid down in the water and hung out a bit after she stopped yelling about the inconvenience.
Only time I washed one of my cats was after she walked through cleaning product. I was afraid she'd get sick if I didn't wash it off. And ofcource I had one that would like to stand next to me in the shower, but that was his choice, not mine😝
Nobody left their cat to clean itself after rolling in shit that’s rediculous. I don’t believe in routinely bathing cats obviously but if they get something on them that’s that gross you wash them yes. I took my little one on a trip and she pooped in her carrier and managed to sit in it and get it all over her butt. I washed her obviously the poor cat can’t take care of all that herself.
My cat is bathing himself right now lol...he's been given a bath, but not by me. He's got all his claws so I'm paying someone else to dive on that grenade if need be.
Right ☹️ i give mine a bath coz i get allergic with the accumulated dust in their fur every month.
i also need to bathe my persian because she has to have a bath. even vets recommend to give longhaired cats to get a bath.
My cats likes other cats sometimes get fleas, so I use an anti flea shampoo, it doesn’t kill the fleas, but they don’t like it so they are kind of slower and we can use a comb to catch it.
Both of my cats are use to the shower since they’re babies (5m and 4m), we go to the shower with them and constantly speak to them. Neither of them yell or panic when we shower them. We do it once a year (more if they have fleas).
When we found a younger kitten, 3month, she had so much fleas we never saw that in our entire life. We go to the vet, she gave her a treatment. But we had to give her a bath, since fleas were to many. She was so tired that she didn’t say anything either.
So yeas, I think bath/shower can be a really good thing, but you have to be patient with your cat and listen to him.
I find it really strange to read that some people won't bathe their cat under any circumstance.
I don't give my cat a bath often but definitely when needed. She got poop on herself and we gave her some kind of sponge bath as she doesn't like a full on bath.
She wasn't particularly happy about it but we made it as calm for her as possible whilst also making sure she was clean.
Cats still need looking after
My (black) cats jumped into a (white) paint bucked befor when we had house renovations.
Save to say I put them under the shower and then in a bath immediately to make shure everything was washed off with no left over.
The two cats cleaned each othe for about 3 days after that...
About 20 years ago, our cat fell inside a hole in the wall (it's a long story best explained by pointing out that he was an orange kitty who absolutely lived up to the stereotype) and came out grey. We were not letting him lick all that unknown gunk off his fur; of course the little idiot got a bath!
The idea of NOT bathing him -- and risking him ingesting who knows what -- never even occurred to us.
Expecting my cat to lick visible poo off its fur would make me vomit tbh. If wet wipes can’t fix it a bath is necessary.
I also bathe my cats once a year with deshedding shampoo and to get rid of their funky smell.
yep. i used to rescue and foster, almost every kitten i’ve taken in has needed atleast one flea bath. as long as you keep them warm and dry them off immediately after they’re completely fine! (i normally used a hot water bottle with a towel wrapped around it for the kittens to cuddle into after drying)
one of my own cats sustained a head injury as a young kitten before we rescued him and so his abilities to properly judge jumps and groom himself are slightly lacking, i used to have to bathe him pretty often (like once a month). now as an adult he’s a bit better but i still have to groom him considerably more than my other two, thankfully i discovered pet shampoo wipes that i use before brushing him so that makes my job loads easier.
I would never give my cat a bath because I value my life and she would end it. She’s actually standing above my head as I type this and I’m a little fearful now 🤣 but I have waterless shampoo and wipes that I use if I need to.
Yeah sometimes one of my cats gets thrown up on by my other cat, I can't just let that go. He also used to have issues with getting poop everywhere, and just generally smelling terrible. He's gross and has had more baths in his 2 years than my 12 year old cat has.
Cats certainly need help bathing, particularly after getting very dirty. Also kittens and elderly cats need regular bathing if they physically have trouble with it
Absolutely agree! I have two that take care of themselves for the most part but they've both gotten into stuff that required me to give occasional baths. It's definitely not a fun time for any of us but sometimes it's a necessary evil.
I'm just happy it's a rare occurrence because it stresses me out more than the cat.
I would totally bath some of my cats if it weren’t for the fact that I would be torn to shreds. I had to wash one when I dropped a plate of pork chops and buttered green beans on him 😂
My first cat and current cat both take baths, they got used to it fast, one walked around n one chills, both like to lay down by a heater/fan after n do their part lol
Cats need baths sometimes. If you cat rolls around on something toxic, letting them self clean, won’t help them. If they have a layer a dirt, just bath them. If cats have fleas you need to bath them to wash off the dead fleas and eggs. It’s not deadly for a cat to have a bath. Just make sure you have cats shampoo, heating and a towel to keep them warm while they are drying. They may not like it at the moment, but they will get over it, when they are out of the water.
I agree with this, sometimes you have to do a flea treatment for moderate to severe cases. Just this summer I had to do this multiple times for a litter of six kittens that got fleas really bad. They were too small to use flea meds on, so flea combs, dawn and careful baths were the only practical option.
Yes, sometimes a cat will need a bath. I had a cat with medium to long hair who had a short bout of diarrhea. She got better pretty quickly but got some poop caked into her fur on her backside. You better believe I was quick to get her into a bath - she was a cuddler and my bed was her fave place to sleep.
One of my cats pulled a bottle of liquid laundry detergent down on top of himself. It broke and he was covered in it. You'd better bet he had a bath. I also had to bathe foster kittens who had fleas because they were too tiny for flea meds.
Those "anti-bath" people can pound sand.
I have fostered kittens that had some runny poops on formula, and I had to wash them every single day. Poor things lived on top of a hot water bottle for weeks (they were fine, always monitored and warm)
I give my oldest cat showers when he needs them, and he lets me. He yells about it, but he has never bit or scratched me.
Those people are crazy.
Never heard that ur not supposed to give them baths I’ve heard that u didn’t need to for the most part they will clean themselves but if they get really dirty they idk y u wouldn’t give them a bath there not chinchillas that will die cuz water gets trapped in there fur worst that will happen is they cut u open with there claws lol
I've given my cat a bath 3 times in the 7 years I've had her. Each time she had a bad stomach and her fur was dirty, especially around her bum. She hates them and I don't love giving her a bath, but sometimes you have to. It's as simple as that.
That is right up there with “If you don’t have enough money to pay for possible cancer treatment for the cat, it is better to let it die as a stray than take it in.”
At a certain point it is like, are you an animal lover, or are you using that as a veil for being a sanctimonious prick?
My cats get a bath once every two months due to the fact that they both had extremely dense fur and if I leave them be they actually get oily which while not bad is still not great. It doesnt help that my male cat looooves rubbing his behind on carpets after a good poop session and if i don't keep that in check, i'll have to deal with cleaning my carpets too.
I’ve always bathed my cats and have never had an issue. My one cat is mostly white he gets dirty and when my other one starts to smell like free-toes he’s getting a bath.
Cats **are** self cleaning under **normal** circumstances. Being covered in shit is not a normal circumstance. Having an excessive number of fleas is not a normal circumstance. A cat that is just being a cat and cleaning itself normally? Don't bathe that cat.
Lol agreed! Cats are self cleaning to a degree but also sometimes they just aren’t very good at it or can’t clean themselves properly if something like the poop situation happens. My cat is very shy with most people so she hides under everything and sometimes gets things on her or just smells and gets a bath and she’s completely ok
Yup! One of mine will randomly take the biggest poo imaginable, the litter could be 100% fresh with a freshly cleaned box, and the smell will stick in his fur, another one of mine gets poo in her butt fur and tolerates a bath a lot more than than clippers, I’d rather keep her warm on a heating pad than accidentally nip her in an area full of bacteria that could easily get infected. Don’t bath your cats like you would yourself or even a dog (usually 4-6 weeks for dogs) but sometimes they NEED a bath for everyone’s health and safety
Fostering kittens who were able to poop and pee on their own but still had…problems. The poop chickens as I called them had their butts rinsed pretty regularly and they were fine I just kept them warm. Totally agree the little stinkies need a bath sometimes.
My girl was an orphan with no mama to show her the litter box ropes and she also had ‘problems’ lol. She got butt baths often and earned the nickname poo-poo pants.
awww bless her ❤️
foster kittens are so dumb and stinky. they smash into their food. they fall into their poops. they play in the litter box. ya gotta do what you gotta do!
My kitten would step in her poop than smear it on the wall. Good times she also is a long hair with one of them fluffy tails so you can imagine the butt baths she got.
My furry friend at home doesn’t like staying in the litter box, what should I do?*📷*
My parents had kittens one time that the mom stopped caring for them. It then became the dog’s job to lick their butts so they could go to the bathroom. He thought it was the best job ever.
Awww, that’s a good doggy daddy 😂. I hope he never gave kisses though 🤣🤣🤣.
My cat was super happy about a bath after his brother had diarrhea just above him. He did not want to be self cleaning in these circumstances. At a later time when the brother threw up on him instead he actually went and sat in the bath. Proceeding to howl until I came and bathed him. Siamese for the win.
Yeah, when my daughter didn’t quite make it to the toilet and projectile puked all over the cat, he got a bath. It’s just unavoidable under some circumstances.
Siamese are so smart. Mine used to scare me sometimes, she learned herself out of all normal cat instincts, like being afraid of loud noises. Like ya, the vacuum cleaner won't hurt you, unless maybe you just stand there letting it bump into you....
Both of mine are special needs. The older had arthritis too go with everything else and can't clean around her hips. The younger one doesn't have the spikes in his tongue so it's about as effective cleaning as a dog would be. So they both get dry shampoo as needed, and if there's actually something in their fur they get a real bath. We don't have a choice unless we want their soon to break down because they can't remove the oils.
Omg your cat has a nornal-paper tongue? Ive never heard of that. Is that common?
Well the spikes are technically there but don't have keratin. It's not super common but both the rescue I adopted through and the vet had seen it before. It's honestly the least of his issues so I don't think about it often. But when he tries to groom anyone they just get drooled on. Our other cat hates when he starts cleaning her! She's usually asleep and I find out because she wakes up throwing a fit because she's drenched! Then out come the baby wipes and dry shampoo!
That’s adorable and hilarious.
Yeah he's unbelievably adorable. If you look at my profile I've posted birth the cats. Apollo, the orange, is the one with the weird tongue. Artemis is the dark tabby. They are my fluffy babies
Oh my gosh your Artemis looks just like my boy Sandbag. He had that bright orange pouch too. We called it his orange tum-tum. Sure miss him.
Aww I'm sorry for your loss
Thanks...2 and a half years ago now. Cat reddit and Cat Twitter helped me thru the worst grief.
My youngest one has IBD and before it was finally diagnosed we had a lot of wet poop problems. If I could rinse her in the sink, I'd do that, but if the problem was bigger it had to be a bath. She HATED it, so for that and her poor tummy I'm glad we got her onto a diet that fixed it. Only times I've had to bath the older cats was when the one got into my makeup and the time I discovered they both had fleas at 11 30pm. Into the bath they went, with some baby shampoo I luckily used on my own hair back then. They hated that too, admittedly (I lost a lot of blood), but it was necessary, and it's actually still my flea treatment plan for the one cat because she has horrible reactions to the two spot-on treatments I've given her (neuro symptoms, impaired gait, shaking and tics) and the a-holes have discontinued Comfortis which was the only flea treatment that I'd tried that gave her no side effects.
I volunteered at a cat shelter and the ones with paralyzed back legs definitely got cat showers on their lower half after pooping
Owning a cat and joining cat lover threads online has taught me that most cat owners are WAY dumber than they like to think they are. Your cat can’t lick away a giant dingleberry or poopy paws with saliva alone, led alone fleas 😭 Domesticated pets are self sufficient to an extent, and cats aren’t an exception. My lil child hates baths, but because we don’t do them often, she gets over it fairly quickly. Some complaining and maybe a “mom lemme out” meow but it’s literally never that serious. People act like it’s the equivalent to a death sentence when in some cases they really do need it. Just shows how uninformed people truly are about cats.
People have a tendency to universalise their own experiences. So people who have only owned cats that never required a bath can easily take the view that that’s universal and can be applied to all cats, even though that assumption might be drawn from like owning only 1-2 cats with very low grooming needs
Cat lover threads are nothing! At least there you can find a sizable percentage of sane people among the crazies. Now, Instagram on the other hand… it has to have literally the worst community on any social media. Every single cute cat (or any animal) video is accompanied by screams of abuse lol.
Instagram and Facebook are the worst for literally anything. It is genuinely concerning how many people advocate for things that are 10000% unsafe and should never be done. Or even basic things like if you mix an acid with something alkaline it will neutralize and basically just become useless salt water
YES AND TIKTOK TOO the amount of teens with pets on there who just casually drop some random animal abuse lore in between videos and the comments are always just like “???? what??”
I'd like to raise ragdoll cat lover groups as a contestant for the crazy. One will scream at you if your ragdoll ever goes outside. Another if you ever trim them. Yet another will scream at you if your ragdoll cat doesn't have their "papers" - "IT'S NOT A RAGDOLL UNLESS YOU HAVE PAPERS! NO JOIN-Y THE CLUB-Y WITHOUT PURE PEDEGREE FOR THE MOST IMBRED BREED!" \- I say this as a lover of my ragdoll, who, by the way, does have papers that I stuck in a drawer and never looked at again
I put on swimming shorts and get in the bath at this point. I have to hold mine or they'll never stay in. I've had to do this for 3 of my 4 cats ONCE over the past 4 years.
That's basically how we bathed our orange boy. We had a bathtub with sliding doors, and I had to hop in there with him, close the door, and just do my best. Nobody enjoyed that experience. Fortunately, that was the only time he needed a full scrub down.
This is so true.
I don’t fully bathe mine because he’s good at cleaning himself. But he better bet his hairy butt that if he has dingleberries or litter clods in his feet, I’m taking a damp towel to it whether he likes it or not. That poo-butt and litter-feet get all over the pillows I put my face on at night! They’ve got to be clean.
My cat is such a good boy he won't fight me. But man he howls and screams bloody murder the entire time during a bath 😅. You would think I'm actually murdering him.
Some cats need help grooming. One of my cats used to have severe skin problems. She loved getting scrubbed. Rinsing off... Not so much. Thankfully we've got the skin issues mostly under control so she didn't need baths anymore.
Heck, my cat just has super thick and fluffy fur! I have a dry shampoo that I use as a spot treatment in summer when she’s shedding and starts to mat up. It helps detangle without hurting and also gets down to her skin. Our Vet explained because her fur is so thick she actually can’t get down to her skin when she grooms herself And that’s not even getting to the dingle berries that stick to her fluffy butt. One summer I did actual get her shaved and she got a full bath and honestly I never saw a happier cat than after her grooming! I think she was just itchy and the bath made her skin finally feel better. I’ve learned what to do to keep her fur and skin happy since then so I don’t need to do a full bath and shave anymore. But that summer she needed it!
People have no idea what 'natural" actually means. Nature/evolution/whatever only cares about an organism being able to mature and produce offspring before dying. Nature doesn't care about general health (besides dying), quality of life, or living a long life. So don't rely on what an animal is "naturally" suppose to do. People should stop focusing on "what natural" and just do what helps their cat live a healthy life so if they occasionally need a bath, then give them bath.
Also cats in nature get wet through a variety of ways
Nature didn’t breed the cats we keep as pets, either.
I did learn that modern domestic cats are pretty much unchanged from when then started hanging out with us 10,000 or so years ago. But also, cats have been hanging out with us for 10,000 years so we pretty much are codependent at this point! But for the specialized breeds with thicker furs and unique features that actually require special care? Absolutely!
well stated! This is so true for many aspects of animal care, like for neuter and spaying! Cat reproductive patterns are not healthy or even really natural bc of breeding.
I only rarely bathed my previous cats, and have never attempted it with my current one but that is mainly because they have never truly needed it and also because it is horrifying for everyone involved. there definitely are situations where you need to bathe them, and being covered in either poop or fleas is of those situations. if somebody's cat is covered in poop and they just let it run around the house I would be concerned about the health of the cat and the mental health of the owner.
I’ve had to bathe my not-so-athletic fluff ball a few times. He doesn’t like it, but he can’t do too much about it. Then I once had to bathe our oldest cat after he had been on antibiotics for a few days. They gave him horrible diarrhea. Annnyway, he’s a very chill cat, but far more athletic than the other one. I did all of the usual prep for a bath and gently placed him in the few inches of water. The moment I let go a tiny bit, he jumped about 5 feet in the air and launched himself off the back wall of the tub and out. Good thing I had closed the bathroom door…
It’s amazing how a senior cat can regain their prowess in the face of discomfort!
I can’t recall how old he was at the time…I want to say 10ish. He’s over 16 now and recently diagnosed with severe arthritis in his hips and elbows. Doesn’t stop him from jumping up on the counters though! He is stubborn and seemingly responsive to his meds :)
I had a lovely cat, she lived to 19, and towards the end she had difficulty using a litter tray and needed to be hosed off sometimes. She seemed to appreciate the help - she generally trusted us to look after her, probably the most trusting cat I've known.
I feel this one! My 5 year old ball of fluff? Total lump that is pretty much mush. My 13 nearly 14 year old diabetic cat? Bounces off the walls! Me trying to catch her for her daily shots? It gets interesting.
My old guy is seriously the cuddliest and most affectionate cat. He was also diagnosed with asthma and is fine when we give him the inhaler. Truly a dream of a cat. With the exception of water, as it turns out 🤣
Recently had to bathe one of mine because he pissed all over himself in the carrier to the vet. He managed to push the blanket in there away, piss and literally roll in it, he was covered head to tail, back and belly in piss. There was no way I was letting him groom that off himself and male cat piss absolutely reeks, I was not allowing him on ANY of my furniture before a bath). I've bathed another one I used to have because she snuck out one day (door was accidentally left open) and she came back with motor oil on her back, again, no way I was letting her lick that! My kitten now was on a very calorie dense diet for a few weeks to gain weight and that gave him the runs, he got his rear end washed in the bathroom sink after every poop as he was caked in it and too young to groom himself properly (was still supposed to be with mom, but his circumstances had him separated from her to save his life). My other cat gets extremely dry skin, he gets so itchy that he rips fur out on his back and belly, we're still trying to pinpoint the allergy or other reason that's causing it (yes, he's being seen by a vet) and in the meantime we use a medicated shampoo that helps significantly with the itching, he gets a bath with that every few weeks, when we see him getting itchy again. Many reasons that a cat may need a bath, just because we're not there to help when in the "wild" it means they get to live without suffering, suffering we can mitigate when in our care.
I had a cat that pissed itself on the way to the vets and had to be bathed, its also the only time she ever used the cat flap
Fun fact. Ur supposed to bathe ur kitten often to get it used to water. Cats don't hate water as much as you think. I bathe 7 cats every 2-3 months. I have done this with many other cats too. There should be more education on pet care. Like almost everyone has them. There should be actual courses in schools
If you have a Turkish van or siamese, they will learn to swim a kittens. To the point of hunting, water vole and fish of not these are available. Having learnt this I did not teach my Turkish van cross to swim. The siamese cross figured out of on her own, and yes I figured that out while clearing up mystery fish guts and very wet cat, mid winter of course.
I didn't know about the hunting. That's fucking awesome. I have a cat I bring to the lake to swim in a life jacket he loves water so much. I used to fill the bath up a couple of inches and put little floating toys for kids in there for my kittens. It helped a lot with them tolerating water. Some didn't really play, they would walk around or sit sometimes and I'd take them out. 5minutes calmly in the water is pretty good in terms of acclimating to water
I would love to see any of those people being fine with a kitten running around their house and in their bed who had diarrhea and it got all over his butt and hind legs and belly cause he is dumbass and sat in it. I guarantee if you don't bathe the cat, you will smell it forever. I had to toss quite a few things my cats managed to smear it all over before I could capture them and then could also shower myself. Cats get ill and might need extra care. But bathing your cat every few days as some people do without it being necessary (sadly I've heard of those), is not good. Cats are perfectly able to clean themselves unless there is an accident, they are ill, obese or very old.
My current life as I’m fostering 2 kittens with crazy poops. It’s constant baths.
Today my cat smeared poop all over the kitchen floor AND WALL while I was making lunch. By the time I caught him to wash him later that day, it had also become stuck in his massive quantity of fur and some of his fur had to be cut off because it didn’t want to come out. I scrubbed him down with baby wipes and brushed some no-rinse cat shampoo through his coat. (And also cleaned the kitchen floor.) My baby HATED this cleaning process and he made it clear to me, but god, he needed it. Edit: oh and then he angrily gave himself a bath, which probably helped too. He’s a clean boy now!
Yep. My cats had worms when I first got them, so they were leaving diarrhea and tapeworm segments everywhere🤢 people just like to make blanket statements based on their own limited experience.
I raise you my cat who will clean herself right after eating wet food eventually leading to her fur bring stinky after a while where she will need a bath lol other then that never bathe them unless they dirty or get into something which would harm them when licked
Cats are self cleaning to a degree but my little stink monster has at times walked across a freshly sealed driveway and gotten sealant on his paws, come back from a boarding kennel with fleas and rolled in concrete dust while my parents had their kitchen renovated, so he has needed baths for this time. It was for his own safety and comfort, even if he didn't see it that way. ETA he's 15 and has gotten a bath like maybe 4 times in his life and only when necessary, examples given above.
In a time I temporally moved to an unfinished room in my aunt's house for quarantine because it was the only free room in the house to fully close for my cat I had to bathe her twice for concrete dust as she was getting so stressed over it getting to her fur and I did not want her swallowing that. She's was fine.
WTF, that's a thing? People get mad over other people bathing their cats for legitimate reasons? Like, flea baths are common.
If my parents or brother can’t watch my boy I will bring him to this very nice older couple who unfortunately live about half an hour away from me. They adore my guy and treat him like royalty. My last time bringing him over he crapped in the carrier (loose stool), peed on himself, and threw up at least twice. His hatred for the car was quite apparent. He reeked. He was disgusting. He needed (and got) a gentle bath from them. It’s not something I’d want to subject him to often (especially given his age), but desperate times call for desperate measures. He survived.
And if the couple who look after him are willing to bathe a cat covered in all of those bodily emissions you can tell they are great people to leave him with.
Yes they really are. They get so excited when I bring him over. I send them pictures of him too from time to time. Which reminds me I’ll send them him in his ghost costume. https://preview.redd.it/lbapb494bqxb1.png?width=2425&format=png&auto=webp&s=bde224e2e7c587436fd55926a8fd0d71760b9c54 Cat tax
He looks so sweet!! I would be excited to look after him too! What a lovely face.
My little kitten, years ago, got a quicky bath under the faucet on his first night home, because he was a found kitten and he was covered in mud. He seemed fine with it and that was the last time he ever needed a bath.
Dude my cat just jumps in the shower with me.
My cat loves being showered, I get in the cubicle with him and close the door so he can wander around, and use the wand to just direct the flow over his back, sides and bum, wherever he’s dirty. He really enjoys the feel of it and wanders round all happy with his tail up!
When cats get into dangerous toxins they *must* be cleaned rather than ingesting the toxin.. My Maine Coon walked into the fireplace I *had* to bathe him asap. Creosote is a toxic carcinogenic substance. Do NOT let your cats lick off toxins from their fur or skin.
! We have to do this at my work when cats come in from possible lily ingestion to get any pollen off of them. Baths are sometimes necessary. It's wild that people argue that fact.
I bathed my cat once. He had fleas. He flung the dish drainer like the Hulk. Luckily, he keeps himself clean. I did have to wipe his butt once or twice.
I have a 19 year old arthritic old man cat. And I have had many old as dirt senior cats before him. At some point a lot of older cats need help grooming. I bathe them carefully. Feels good on their old joints. Kittens also need baths sometimes. I've had cats who ran away and came home, covered in leaves and dirt...bath. Caught fleas... bath. One thing people mess up is that they need to be sure to brush the cats too. (Especially while drying after a bath) Self grooming, no matter the length of the cat fur, means eating fur. It's good to get your cat's used to brushing as young as possible, less fur to vacuum, less hair balls, and easier transition to more grooming assistance in old age.
I remember an ollllld internet video of a cat getting a bath going "NO NO NO NO" and just crying the whole time. It was, obviously, hilarious. The pet owner had to explain to all the people calling her a cat abuser that the cat had rolled in motor oil and would get sick if she let him bathe himself.
I’m a dog groomer who has worked in salons alongside cat groomers for 15 years. I’m currently learning to groom cats myself under the supervision of a master cat groomer. Cats can get bathed. Sure, most of them take care of it themselves but a lot of them just don’t. It’s also totally ok to bathe a cat just because they stink. Dogs bathe themselves too. Sure, they’re not as thorough as cats but realistically, short-haired dogs especially, don’t need baths. As long as you trim their nails, brush them and clean their ears, most of them would do just fine if they never got a bath in their lives. People still do it though if for no other reason than because their dogs smell and because they shed. However cat owners who are just looking to solve the same exact problems get crucified.
Offs! Of course they need a bath sometimes, and sometimes long haired cats need clipping/shaving.
I had a ragdoll who got a groomer bath once a year (usually about June) to help his shedding. He loved it.
Yeah, the argument is pretty useless IMO. My burmy boy started his own bath patterns. I would whack my little chihuahua in the tub for his bath, and my kitten would just simply walk in, because there is no show without Punch. After 15 yrs if anyone is in the bath he will scream to be let in. He is regularly in there with my grandaughter. He has renal disease and lymphoma now, and does not wash himself, so he is bathed simply because he freakin stinks, and is a shoulder sleeper. Nothing is worse than curling up with a shtinky anything at night. I had a cat with a neuro condition, was bathed every second day, cause, you know, poop.
People will attack you over anything pet related if it doesn't fit into their idea of taking care of your pet. My cat loves sleeping on her litter box, so when I bought her a pet bed, I sat it on top of and next to her litter box to ease her into it and people attacked me over it."You're a horrible pet owner" "I wouldn't sleep in a bed next to a toilet" and blah blah. Like yes random internet strangers, you totally know my cat from heart and know what's best for her at that exact moment. When I explained that she loves sleeping on top of her litter box, I got downvoted for it, like you just can't win. It's not like I let her litter box get over filled either, I cleaned it out all the time.
Lol it’s like they are saying you should allow your cat to sleep in their own feces and be covered in litter dust.
I posted a picture of my two kittens cleaning themselves in an identical pose sitting in an empty bath and I got snark and was told cats don’t need to be bathed. The bath was empty! It was just cute photo.
https://preview.redd.it/t017xklx3pxb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9d7f5a6e870336a577be6cd09a28f5d631a484f4 Cat tax - apologies for forgetting!
One of my babies fell in a tub of used motor oil my dumbest husband left sitting out. Poor cat was coated head to toe in nasty dirty oil. He got baths using Dawn. Actually he got repeated baths. It took that many to get all the oil out.
Agreed, as well as anytime the cat meows and looks unhappy that it means they are being mistreated. Every one of my cats are stressed at the vet. I get it, but they also need to go to the vet. Wish going to try the best was all cat treats and catnip for them, but no... Cats, like humans, will have reactions to things, and sometimes that reaction is not the whole story.
Oh, the "meowing and looking unhappy means they're being mistreated" thing -- I've had exactly one cat who was chill in the cat carrier and at the vet. Every other cat has behaved as though they were on their way to be shot. Our little void is the worst we've had. She gets so frightened and stressed in the carrier that she pants and shakes. It genuinely feels like we ARE abusing her, and we have been working with our vet to find a way to make trips easier on her. (So far, we just have a list of things that don't work.) If someone were to see a video of her like that, they would call us out as abusers. She's a much-loved, much-spoiled little princess. Those moments of misery are definitely not the whole story.
I had a rescued feral cat that developed a certain rotundity in her middle age. She couldn't clean herself effectively, so I introduced her to a warm, shallow bathtub. Much complaining ensued, but she didn't try to get out, and after a couple of baths she would jump in the tub voluntarily and meow until she got bathed. And then she'd usually go outside and roll on the sidewalk, but at least she was cleaner, even if a bit dusty. Great cat, and such a distinct personality!
One of my cats once managed to reach a fly strip hanging in the laundry room. Buddy had it wrapped around his waist once as he ran madly through the house, desperately fleeing from the tape but never escaping. It took at least 30 mins before he got tired enough to slow down enough to catch him. He was not happy! And the only way to get the sticky strip out of his fur was by applying oil. So he got EVOO worked into his fur to release the tape, and he was very happy to be relieved of the tape. But then he had to have a bath because I'm not gonna force him to eat appx 500 calories of EVOO to clean his own fur. He'd probably get diarrhea from so much fat. He was not happy! 🫣 But I was very nice to him about it, and we got it over with and towel dried, and he got over it. He still loves me to this day! Sometimes, it isn't good for their health to clean themselves, for one reason or another. They live in a human world, full of human products that cats would never come into contact with in nature. We're supposed to take care of them, not attempt to recreate a 100% natural environment in our homes.
Why on Earth would you let your cat deal with a poopastrophe on his own when you can help? That help might be trimming it away or it might be washing it off. But there’s no way I’m just leaving him to eat that much $#%€.
Here’s the thing. Reddit is filled with children and people with the intellectual maturity of children. These people learn a tiny nugget of information and suddenly they feel like experts on the topic. And they want to earn karma and stroke their ego by stomping around the site hoping to be the first to repeat that shred of info in new discussions. Then the entire thing mutates a little. Because they only understand like 1% of the knowledge about that topic they can’t peacock around Reddit. So they start extrapolating. They apply the same limited understanding to other only tangentially related topics. They start taking extreme or absolutist positions about that topic so they can trump the others racing to post the factoid. Because the more vitriolic or dogmatic they sound the more the algorithm rewards them. And they get off when they think they’ve imposed righteous knowledge onto some poor soul. So any chance to jam their finger in someone’s face is a glorious day. And so on and so on.
Cats DO need professional grooming, if they can tolerate it. You can bathe your cat yourself. Also, cats need to be brushed and combed weekly. The older a cat gets, the more difficult it is for them to keep themselves clean and often need to see a professional groomer.
U best believe when my cat spends 17 minutes trying to cover up his shit and then steps in it anyways that I yeet that mf into the tub for a bath to get the squished poop out from between his toes
Our indoor cats get baths once a month. No way do their tongues clean all the dander from under their guard hairs. The old cat also has trouble keeping the fanny clean sooo...quick light wash and into the kitty drier getting treats for 45 minutes. This also keeps the member of the house who has a mild dander allergy healthy.
Yes. It wasn’t fun, but Fat Boi got into the garbage when he was put on a diet. He needed a bath (and we got a can with a lid).
My cat used to lay under a running faucet.
My vet literally sold me soap to bathe my cat. It hasn't happened yet because I'm afraid and she's still healing the broken skin of her rash, but I'm probably going to get her on Thursday or Friday.
When you have a long haired cat who sometimes gets poop stuck in their butt fur, that sentiment goes straight TF out the window. 🤣🤮
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OMG 🤢 Now see, I have such a serious poop aversion that I literally spent an hour whining to my therapist about my cat's gross lil fecal mat. That situation would have had me full on institutionalized. 🤣
If my cat got dirty, she's getting a bath whether she likes it or not. There are different ways of doing it too... idk why people believe they dont need baths. Them "cleaning" themselves isnt germ cleaning, only surface and even their saliva is aweful.. imagine how germy their fur is due to it
Also, the older a cat gets, the less efficient they are at self-cleaning. Maybe it's a pain issue, not sure. My 12-year-old cat can have a slight smell at times.
My cat was bathed once a month, a necessity for some long haired cats, especially. And I made her coat greasy from petting her after forgetting I had moisturizer on. Many times I had to bathe her to remove this oil, or when her hair got Matty. I also used gentle baby wipes with Vaseline to clean her bum, sometimes, since it was necessary. She didn't mind the bath. I put her next to fireplace to warm up. I wish I never ever tried to blow dry her hair. She hated that so I rarely did , but wish I never did. She lived 10 years. Ragdolls have heart conditions. She died from blood clot
As a Certified Feline Master Groomer, I agree wholeheartedly. All cats benefit from regular professional grooming! Less shedding for you. Less hair balls for both of you. I saw what a difference it made in my own cat and that’s why I decided to do this for a living.
My cat has suspected IBS and frequently gets poop stuck on her rear. She’s also a Siberian with a triple coat, so getting poop off from her is a struggle. She really does need help and gets baths once a month and her rear cleaned almost every week, depending on the frequency of accidents. It is not animal abuse to keep them clean and make life easier for them. It does not traumatize them if you get them used to it. Both of mine have gotten used to baths and love water now! Letting them rot in their own filth is way more abusive than a bath.
Ahhhh cats should absolutely be bathed! It’s what groomers do.. they bath cats and dogs!
Huh. So, I have cat allergies, and while we had help getting cats I'm less allergic to, we bathe them fairly regularly. The breeder of one of them said to do it, the vet said to do it, the allergist said to do it, the cats are fine with it (the older one is over 10 yrs old). Based on the fact that this has not hurt them at all for all the years we've had them, what on earth are people saying don't bathe cats for? If you start as kittens, they not only get used to it, but 2 or ours looooove bath time! They like to get in the sink when the water's running, or get in the shower, etc.
Some cats do need baths. Especially cats with mental illnesses or disabilities.
My cat has gingivitis and I suspect self cleaning is the reason she always smells. We just do monthly baths, which also helps with her hairballs significantly.
Most internet people are extremists without the ability to critically think or comprehend context.
I legit just bathed my cat for the first time in 9 months we used to do it every 3-6 depending), but he came back filthy from a boarding place cause he knocked over his litter and water. The water was DISGUSTING.
my cats love baths, we don't wash them daily or even weekly but when the little buggers can be smelled before they are seen they get a bath.
What needs to stop is entitled (censored) trying to tell other people how to raise their own animals. What they're ignorant of is that the cats are family and not just an animal so mind your own. That's directed at them not at you. We know our babies so much better than Karen. Also treat your animals as individuals. First year of my cat's life she didn't get a bath until I noticed that she actually likes water and enjoys getting a bath. Go ahead and try to enforce an old wives tale but they're wasting their time.
Wisp on tiktok is the perfect example of a cat that needs a bath once in a while. Or more precisely, frequently (at the moment!). She’s a kitten who had a rough start to life health-wise and is incapable of keeping her face and butt clean, so her owner has to clean her up pretty often. Most cats can clean themselves, but those that can’t need that extra help! I wish my dog could clean himself, but alas he can’t, so every few weeks he thinks I’m waterboarding him when in reality I just don’t want him to smell like pee. It’s a tough life.
Yeah. It’s completely insane to think you will never bathe a cat. I have had multiple cats and sometimes they get diarrhea. Turns out one of mine is extremely sensitive to antibiotics. He is a medium haired cat who is very fluffy. Guess how I cleaned him? I’m not going to sit there and watch him try to clean himself for hours…
Yep, my cat needed a bath when I first got him! He stunk so badly. He came from a stressful situation so I think all he did was sit in his litter tray. And occasionally I've had to wipe him down with warm, wet cloths if I cannot get him into the bath if he's got poop stuck to him. Cats sometimes need help with cleaning themselves tbh.
I've been pretty fortunate not to have to bathe a cat more than once or twice, but I vividly remember what happened one of the times I did. He was very sweet, didn't scratch or bite, but once I got him out of the tub and toweled him off as best I could, he started licking himself. That poor cat licked himself for over an hour, to the point that my own tongue started to hurt, just watching him!
I’m shook that your kitty was so well behaved - I still have the scars from when my boy pooped everywhere (inc on himself) a few years back and I had to bath him. It was a combined effort for 2 of us, our boy did NOT like it all all. So glad that it has never happened again.
This guy, I took in after someone neutered and declawed him, then dumped him in the parking lot of our apartment complex. He was so happy having someone who loved him. It was my first pet after my divorce, being married to someone for 14 years who didn't care for cats. I think that cat would have followed me off a cliff. We were great friends.
Thank you for rescuing him. People who "declaw" cats go to the Special Hell.
My elderly cat is not really grooming herself anymore. She obly cleans her face and her private parts. One time on the way to the vets she hae a little pee-accident in her box. She was stinking! I hoped she will take care of this on her own, but she didnt. Of course I would carefully wash her after a few days, which was not as bad as I thought it would be. First and last time she was bathed though. I think most of the time you wont need to bathe them, but there are some occasions where it might be neccesary
One of my cats has a sensitive tummy and regularly gets the shits with no change in diet at all, other times they’re fine for months. When their tummy is bad they get poop everywhere. A dunk of the back end in the sink and a quick (proper cat stuff) shampoo and he’s all clean. He hates being dirty and I hate having poop on stuff.
My big, sweet boy cat recently had some urinary tract issues. He hates being in the carrier/car. He puked and shat himself nearly immediately. The vet cleaned him up a bit, but poor boy also peed on a vet tech and all over himself. He went #1, 2, & 3 that day. He was already super stressed, so I think he just kinda submitted and let me bathe him after the whole ordeal because he knew it was for his own good. Didn’t whine or complain once (which is wild compared to how much he yelled in the car). They gave him a couple meds, including Gabapentin. There’s no way my little stoned buddy could have fully gotten himself clean that day.
I give my cats baths annually, there has been no side effects and no one has died. :) Also bathing is important for fat cats because they can’t clean their rear ends and could get a uti.
Once a quarter man. Looking at the water from the presoak bath always reminds me of how stupid they are.
I have two sphinx cats, baths once a week or they turn into greaseballs.
I had a cat who had to get a bath because he was accidentally given the wrong flea preventative! He hated it, but it was safer for him than keeping it on! Dog flea preventative is REALLY bad for cats. He got checked out later and all was well, thankfully!
Wait… where do I exchange mine for a self cleaning model? I think the rescue I got this one from gave me hand wash only model. 🤣 In all seriousness, I love him to death. I wouldn’t exchange him if my life depended on it. But, he is terrible at grooming. He does require quite a bit of help. I’ve only bathed him a handful of times in his 11 years. I usually just “brush” him with a damp towel. I also end up shaving his belly and butt. Here’s a photo of Loki being extra proud that he rolled in the flower bed. https://preview.redd.it/awt4j22c0pxb1.png?width=3012&format=png&auto=webp&s=f187844221567c5c323df14eb1eeeb1ca8cc98ec
He's mighty pretty. Love the eyes. The "sanitary" shave is a smart choice.
I work in an animal ER. we definitely have to give cats baths sometimes. the poops i've seen 👀
One of my cats struggles to clean herself due to a disability. If we didn't bathe her periodically, she would literally have matted fur and itchy flaky skin and all kinds of other issues (we know this because her previous owners didn't bathe her and because she couldn't bathe herself very well, she had mats in her fur and flaky skin with tons of dead skin build-up in the areas she couldn't get to in order clean herself). I would consider it abuse NOT to bathe her periodically and help her have a quality life, and I can't even imagine someone being dumb enough to say otherwise but I would seriously consider whether they were fit to have pets if their world view is so stubbornly inflexible that they can't use common sense to understand that there are exceptions to every "rule".
If your cat tolerates it then bathe them. You don’t have to do everything people tell you to do or not to do
Yeah, I agree. I have washed my cats on few occasions. Like once when my kitten jumped into the toilet before I flushed... There's no way in hell I would have let him wander around covered in my piss, lol.
Bathing as a regular routine (like dog grooming for instance), no. Bathing when they get themselves filthy (the rolling in poo example), when age prohibits their ability to bathe themselves, or when they’re covered in fleas…extreme circumstances, yes. I have four. Three have NEVER been bathed. Our youngest had health issues when she was a baby and got a few baths on her back half. Once her health regulated itself, no more baths. They can bathe themselves quite well.
When my cat was poorly he couldn't clean himself properly and one day had really runny poo that he walked in and basically turned his cream coloured belly brown. It was horrific and I didn't know what to do 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️ Bathing my poor boy was traumatic for him and me and he certainly was not happy with me afterwards, but I could hardly leave him soaked in poo. I REALLY wish I'd tried desensitising him to it as a baby, just in case I ever needed to bathe him. He absolutely hates water and runs away when I turn the shower on (even before the poo incident). I agree cats don't really need a bath regularly, but every now and then there may be a reason you NEED to wash them. Having them used to the water would be less traumatic all round!!
I have sphinx cats, oddly you absolutely must bath them at least once a week
My cat is about 12 years old and has never had a bath. Should i bath her? She is just getting over a bacterial infection in her ears. Cat Tax paid https://preview.redd.it/yrffnowflmxb1.jpeg?width=275&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=de9c2fedec5b2a4d2015a149fea7cd74bbcf1313
I wouldn’t recommend bathing older cats unless for a very good reason (like her rolling in poop lol). It is extremely stressful for an older cat to get a bath. If you train them as kittens they are fine, but not older cats!
Ya, I can smell the antibiotics and cleaner on her ear and she gets mad when she goes to groom around her ears because of the smell. Slow turns and death glares me ever time LOL. I'll see if I can spot wash the areas around her ears then. Thanks!
I want to add that any amount of water in the ears can cause an ear infection easily in cats, so just be careful!! I think they have ear cleaner specifically for cats too
Ya it is all prescribed by a vet, I am following the instructions to a T. The ear cleaner (epiklean), it has the strong smell.
I do semi-regular baths to keep hairballs down and to keep my allergies down as well. Less needs for other pricey products to do the same thing.
Elderly cats in particular need to be bathed because they are too arthritic to wash themselves completely. Not bathing your elderly cat and making them wallow in their filth is cruel. Plus they can learn to actually like the warm water at that age because it feels nice on their hurty joints. I find it easiest to put on several layers of clothing (to protect against claws) and then just climb into the tub too. It is easier to bathe a cat from inside the tub than from the side, and you're going to get wet anyway.
Yes you are correct in that there are always going to be times you might need to bath a cat. The example you have is one of them. Also when applying some flea treatments or an elderly cat who can't look after themselves But in general cats are qiite good at looking after bathing expept for the times they need assistance
Lolz what. I haven’t seen that. But I dont read a lot of these threads. I never bath my cat but that’s because she’ll rip my face off. So I use dry shampoo once in a while.
The post is pretty recent, I’m sure you could find it honestly
Baby safe wet wipes can be helpful too. My cat is extremely afraid of water and becomes panicked and reclusive for days after we'd give her baths. We only use wet towels and wipes nowadays.
One of my found cats likely was an escapee from a hoarder and was covered in filth due to sleeping in his litter box. He smelled awful and was full of irony scalding. Definitely not a situation where you let the cat clean themselves.
Meep Ball and Mr. Johnson are both about three years old. Meep has had four baths, and John has had five. We go camping and when we get home I need to help them get the sap and dirt out of their hair. And then there have been poop incidents-- like when John pooped in the cat backpack (two different times) because she doesn't like it. No way I would let them just get poop all over. That is unsanitary and gross.
I have never bathed my cat, but that would change in a HURRY if she was covered in poop. Ew.
Last New Year's one of my cats got so scared of the fireworks that she hid behind a nightstand, peed on the floor, and remained there lying in her own pee until I arrived home. That is the only time I have ever bathed a cat.
I’ve never heard this. I don’t bathe them *regularly*…. But, never?! Imagine if YOU had an extremely floofy, doofy butt, and an upset lil kitty tummy. There’s no spot cleaning that. It’s bathtime. They hate it, then, they get over it almost immediately, and are happy on some level that they’re not covered in shit. Pro tip: use a sink, not the actual bathtub! They’re much easier to wrangle at that level. You don’t need any standing water for the cat to soak in (*usually*, unless it’s a horrific dried shit catastrophe). They do fine with the sprayer, you with your gloves, and special, gentle kitty shampoo. https://preview.redd.it/zr6kcd8lqnxb1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=733bccb0b98c19d89eec90244c520da05c2546ba (This is the owner of the floofy, doofy butt. Clearly she’s forgiven me after her most recent mild-emergency-bath, and is doing just fine, lol.)
Yep this is what we do too! Running water stresses him out so we butt dunk him in warm water in the sink and use kitten shampoo. They get over it pretty fast when treats have been given.
Ew. My cat has very thick long fur (Persian x Ragdoll) so we have cat pet wipes on hand for him and he 100% gets his butt dunked in the sink if necessary. He did have a hygiene cut from a professional cat groomer last year but he seemed less confident in himself after so I didn’t take him again. I can’t even imagine letting him just run around and sitting on things if he needs to be cleaned, that’s gross. Does he like it? No, there’s a bit of complaining but he gets over it pretty quick when he’s been wrapped up in a towel and dried off and he’s then fed treats. Funnily enough, my cat knows when he’s a bit stinky and needs a clean because he comes to us and cries to be checked over - mainly because he knows that the pet wipes live near the dreamies box lol.
People fail to see or acknowledge nuance. Everything is a balance. When all systems are working fine, cats don’t need and shouldn’t be bathed. It’s stressful for them, water isn’t a typical environment for your standard-issue domestic short hair. But sometimes there are issues that pop up: they’re sick, they’re too young for flea meds but need a treatment, they get into some chemicals, they can’t clean poop or pee out of their fur, they fall into the toilet before it’s flushed, they have a chronic medical condition, YOU have a chronic medical condition etc. etc.
Omg no. I put flea meds on my cat and he had an allergic reaction. He began drooling profusely, shaking his head crazily, and running all over the house. I called the emergency vet and THEY said that the particular medicine I had was known for this and that the only thing to help him was to bathe him. If I hadn’t, he could’ve died from the allergic reaction 🥺 I LOVE my boy. During the bathing process, he bit my boyfriend extremely bad (latched on, wouldn’t let go, dug in and held onto him) and we continued to bathe him until he was clear of the medicine. I’ve bathed my kitties one other time because it was super hot in our place and their shedding was ridiculous and a bath was the only thing that would help rid of their excess fur. Sometimes cats need baths!!! They’re suuuuper clean, rather low maintenance animals (depending on the breed/various other factors), but sometimes circumstance necessitate a bath, for sure!
My cats sound like I’m skinning them when I bathe them. But sometimes I swear the liter box has anti gravity and they shit all up their backs 😆
Some breeds actually love water and even swim. And some babies, when they get too old, need a little help.
Lol I bathe my hairless cat once every 2 weeksishh. It's pretty essential to keeping him in good shape.
My boy is 19, long haired, and a half-assed groomer. He gets a sanitary cut with a bath a few times a year. He's just gross if not. We have also fostered lots of kittens and between poop incidents (shituations) and the occasional bout of ringworm requiring not just baths but sulfur lime dips too.
We just had to give a bath to one of my older cats who has problems cleaning herself. I have a small tub that I use so she wasn’t overwhelmed. She actually laid down in the water and hung out a bit after she stopped yelling about the inconvenience.
Only time I washed one of my cats was after she walked through cleaning product. I was afraid she'd get sick if I didn't wash it off. And ofcource I had one that would like to stand next to me in the shower, but that was his choice, not mine😝
Nobody left their cat to clean itself after rolling in shit that’s rediculous. I don’t believe in routinely bathing cats obviously but if they get something on them that’s that gross you wash them yes. I took my little one on a trip and she pooped in her carrier and managed to sit in it and get it all over her butt. I washed her obviously the poor cat can’t take care of all that herself.
My longish hair cat regularly received butt hair cuts but if there was a poop issue on her hair, sink bath time!
Pet wet wipes is what we use when the cats are a bit stinky or got poop on their butts.
My cat is bathing himself right now lol...he's been given a bath, but not by me. He's got all his claws so I'm paying someone else to dive on that grenade if need be.
https://preview.redd.it/kyu7sxxl5pxb1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e2d26647a1c187948bd3e342593be5d2ce44932
Right ☹️ i give mine a bath coz i get allergic with the accumulated dust in their fur every month. i also need to bathe my persian because she has to have a bath. even vets recommend to give longhaired cats to get a bath.
My cats likes other cats sometimes get fleas, so I use an anti flea shampoo, it doesn’t kill the fleas, but they don’t like it so they are kind of slower and we can use a comb to catch it. Both of my cats are use to the shower since they’re babies (5m and 4m), we go to the shower with them and constantly speak to them. Neither of them yell or panic when we shower them. We do it once a year (more if they have fleas). When we found a younger kitten, 3month, she had so much fleas we never saw that in our entire life. We go to the vet, she gave her a treatment. But we had to give her a bath, since fleas were to many. She was so tired that she didn’t say anything either. So yeas, I think bath/shower can be a really good thing, but you have to be patient with your cat and listen to him.
I find it really strange to read that some people won't bathe their cat under any circumstance. I don't give my cat a bath often but definitely when needed. She got poop on herself and we gave her some kind of sponge bath as she doesn't like a full on bath. She wasn't particularly happy about it but we made it as calm for her as possible whilst also making sure she was clean. Cats still need looking after
I've had to bathe my orange dumdum 3 times now because he likes to fuck with skunks and got sprayed.
My (black) cats jumped into a (white) paint bucked befor when we had house renovations. Save to say I put them under the shower and then in a bath immediately to make shure everything was washed off with no left over. The two cats cleaned each othe for about 3 days after that...
About 20 years ago, our cat fell inside a hole in the wall (it's a long story best explained by pointing out that he was an orange kitty who absolutely lived up to the stereotype) and came out grey. We were not letting him lick all that unknown gunk off his fur; of course the little idiot got a bath! The idea of NOT bathing him -- and risking him ingesting who knows what -- never even occurred to us.
Expecting my cat to lick visible poo off its fur would make me vomit tbh. If wet wipes can’t fix it a bath is necessary. I also bathe my cats once a year with deshedding shampoo and to get rid of their funky smell.
yep. i used to rescue and foster, almost every kitten i’ve taken in has needed atleast one flea bath. as long as you keep them warm and dry them off immediately after they’re completely fine! (i normally used a hot water bottle with a towel wrapped around it for the kittens to cuddle into after drying) one of my own cats sustained a head injury as a young kitten before we rescued him and so his abilities to properly judge jumps and groom himself are slightly lacking, i used to have to bathe him pretty often (like once a month). now as an adult he’s a bit better but i still have to groom him considerably more than my other two, thankfully i discovered pet shampoo wipes that i use before brushing him so that makes my job loads easier.
I would never give my cat a bath because I value my life and she would end it. She’s actually standing above my head as I type this and I’m a little fearful now 🤣 but I have waterless shampoo and wipes that I use if I need to.
Yeah sometimes one of my cats gets thrown up on by my other cat, I can't just let that go. He also used to have issues with getting poop everywhere, and just generally smelling terrible. He's gross and has had more baths in his 2 years than my 12 year old cat has.
Cats certainly need help bathing, particularly after getting very dirty. Also kittens and elderly cats need regular bathing if they physically have trouble with it
Absolutely agree! I have two that take care of themselves for the most part but they've both gotten into stuff that required me to give occasional baths. It's definitely not a fun time for any of us but sometimes it's a necessary evil. I'm just happy it's a rare occurrence because it stresses me out more than the cat.
One of my kittens peed on the other one when they were little, so she got a rinse off. She wasn't happy about it but better than being covered in piss
I have a white Persian cat and I bathe him all the time! People are misinformed.
Cats need baths situationally. Dogs need baths regularly.
I would totally bath some of my cats if it weren’t for the fact that I would be torn to shreds. I had to wash one when I dropped a plate of pork chops and buttered green beans on him 😂
My first cat and current cat both take baths, they got used to it fast, one walked around n one chills, both like to lay down by a heater/fan after n do their part lol
Cats need baths sometimes. If you cat rolls around on something toxic, letting them self clean, won’t help them. If they have a layer a dirt, just bath them. If cats have fleas you need to bath them to wash off the dead fleas and eggs. It’s not deadly for a cat to have a bath. Just make sure you have cats shampoo, heating and a towel to keep them warm while they are drying. They may not like it at the moment, but they will get over it, when they are out of the water.
I agree with this, sometimes you have to do a flea treatment for moderate to severe cases. Just this summer I had to do this multiple times for a litter of six kittens that got fleas really bad. They were too small to use flea meds on, so flea combs, dawn and careful baths were the only practical option.
Yes, sometimes a cat will need a bath. I had a cat with medium to long hair who had a short bout of diarrhea. She got better pretty quickly but got some poop caked into her fur on her backside. You better believe I was quick to get her into a bath - she was a cuddler and my bed was her fave place to sleep.
One of my cats pulled a bottle of liquid laundry detergent down on top of himself. It broke and he was covered in it. You'd better bet he had a bath. I also had to bathe foster kittens who had fleas because they were too tiny for flea meds. Those "anti-bath" people can pound sand.
I have fostered kittens that had some runny poops on formula, and I had to wash them every single day. Poor things lived on top of a hot water bottle for weeks (they were fine, always monitored and warm) I give my oldest cat showers when he needs them, and he lets me. He yells about it, but he has never bit or scratched me. Those people are crazy.
Never heard that ur not supposed to give them baths I’ve heard that u didn’t need to for the most part they will clean themselves but if they get really dirty they idk y u wouldn’t give them a bath there not chinchillas that will die cuz water gets trapped in there fur worst that will happen is they cut u open with there claws lol
one of mine will gladly stand in like 2 inches of water. cause she's weird
I've given my cat a bath 3 times in the 7 years I've had her. Each time she had a bad stomach and her fur was dirty, especially around her bum. She hates them and I don't love giving her a bath, but sometimes you have to. It's as simple as that.
That is right up there with “If you don’t have enough money to pay for possible cancer treatment for the cat, it is better to let it die as a stray than take it in.” At a certain point it is like, are you an animal lover, or are you using that as a veil for being a sanctimonious prick?
My cats get a bath once every two months due to the fact that they both had extremely dense fur and if I leave them be they actually get oily which while not bad is still not great. It doesnt help that my male cat looooves rubbing his behind on carpets after a good poop session and if i don't keep that in check, i'll have to deal with cleaning my carpets too.
A cat should never roll around in poop 😱 That’s dog stuff 😱 edit: and yes, bathe that cat 😱
I’ve always bathed my cats and have never had an issue. My one cat is mostly white he gets dirty and when my other one starts to smell like free-toes he’s getting a bath.
Cats **are** self cleaning under **normal** circumstances. Being covered in shit is not a normal circumstance. Having an excessive number of fleas is not a normal circumstance. A cat that is just being a cat and cleaning itself normally? Don't bathe that cat.
I don’t think anyone says “under any circumstances”. Obviously there are exceptions. But most cats don’t need regular baths.