How To Bath Your Cat

When it comes to cat bathing, one of the first things to consider is whether or not you should bathe a cat in the first place!

Most of the time, cats do a great job keeping themselves clean. After all, cats spend 30 to 50 percent of their day grooming...every day!

But sometimes that’s not enough and if cats get exposed to something sticky, greasy or smelly sometimes a bath is in order.

Then there are the cat breeds on the extreme side of the fur spectrum.

Long hair cats like Persians may need extra help staying clean and completely hairless cats like Sphynx cats may need help removing excess oil from their skin.

Once you’ve decided to take on the task of bathing your cat, it’s important to be prepared! Once you start the process you won’t be able to walk away until the bath is done. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Several large towels for drying
• Small towel for washing your cats face
• Cat-friendly shampoo
• A cup, bowl or pitcher as your water source
• A towel or slip-free matt for your cat to stand on
• Optional: Nail trimmer to be used before bath time
• Optional: Treats if your cat is food motivated

Here’s additional information on each of these items:

-Have multiple towels ready to go! You want to try and dry your cat as quickly as possible so make sure to have a few towels available to swaddle and dry your cat with.

-You’ll also want a small cloth to be used on your cat’s face. This will help you stay more precise to keep water and shampoo out of our cat’s eyes.

-Stick with cat-specific shampoos which use cat-friendly ingredients and are pH balanced to make sure your cat’s skin doesn’t get too dry after the bath.

-Prepare the water in advance and make sure it’s lukewarm. Turning on a loud faucet in the middle of the bath will stress your cat out even more. Ideally, you use a pitcher but a bowl or cup will work too.

-Your cat is going to scramble, squirm and generally try to get away from the water. Make sure you give them something secure to stand on and latch onto. If your cat only has the smooth edges of the bathtub or sink to try take hold of they’ll only get more stressed.

-Consider trimming your cat's nails before bathtime!

-If your cat is food motivated, get their favorite treats ready!

Bathing Tips and How-Tow

Wet your cat from neck to tail then start shampooing the most problematic area first. Realistically, you may need to stop the bath if your cat gets too stressed so you’ll want to start with the most important area first just in case.

A little shampoo goes a long way! One of the most common bathtime mistakes is using too much shampoo. While that might not sound like a big deal, you’ll end up having to rinse your feline friend 3 or 4 times just to get all the shampoo out. That can really drag out an already stressful experience (for both of you).

If your cat allows it, use a small wash cloth with lukewarm water to rinse their face. Unless there’s something that needs to be removed on their face it’s best to stick with just water for this area.

Dry your cat quickly but gently. A wet cat can quickly get cold so you don't want to leave your cat to air dry alone.

What do you think?

Did you pull off a successful bathtime?

-Megan McCorkle, DVM