Hello,

I am seeking the experience of cat owners here, especially those who had, have old cats. My dear girl is quite old but not too much to be able to clean herself.

But it seems that she is becoming lazy because she is pretty dirty for an inside cat. Which make me believe she doesn't wash herself because my house is clean.

Should I give her a bath? How am I suppose to achieve that? Any tips and experience will be greatly appreciated because really, it is a shame she isn't cleaning herself... She does have enough energy to annoye me for food though...

Nil

Ok on a serious note: I am not a cat owner and was about to suggest a bath I was always under the impression that cats, unlike dogs, will never let themselves get too dirty. She will clean herself when she thinks the need arises. Its her definition of whats dirty, not yours, isnt it?

Well, her definition took some loose since a while... So I would like to stick on my definition this time. Just because she is really dirty! She doesn't even clean her behind...

You might want to have her checked out, generally if a cat lets their hygeine go south, there could be something wrong.

Otherwise, they do sell dry shampoos for cats or - may the dieties be with you - you can give her a bath

We gave our old cat an annual bath, and a south region wash whenever needed (sometimes more than once per week).

Bidets are actually kinda good for that...

If you give her a bath can you put the video footage on here?

Wait, you really mean I can wash her in the bidet?

I will make a vidoe for sure, that has to be a part of posterity!

Yes. It's very nice to handle a cat. You just sit on the toilet, keep her back paws inside the water, hold her front on your lap, and proceed to wash the southern regions.

My old cat, though she hated the annual bath, didn't complain about this one. Water was kept warm, and I think she noticed she need a wash, but her old age didn't allow for acrobatics anymore.

After a while, I couldn't pee in peace. As soon as I went inside the bathroom, she was clawing the door to get inside and would sit inside the bidet while I was... hum... busy.

It was very awkward. But I think she just wanted to make sure I wasn't using the kitty bathtube...

So you don't get scratched, maybe use something with a lid, with some soapy water in the bottom.

But make sure you look both ways, afterwards.

There seems to be alot of 'cat bath' vids on youtube. Some hate it........others love it. If you do go down the bath route you will know within 5 seconds if you cat like it or not.

cheers
SC

p.s. Feel free to post pictures of your dirty pussy

That is just so cute! just imagining Her Majesty sitting in the bidet like the queen of all bidets!

I'm trying to remember if we ever gave our cat a bath when we had one - I don't think so but lots of brushing because she couldn't really deal with all that hair she had.

Nil is your cat used to getting a bath? And I would also think something is wrong with her.

Couldn't hold it back, could you?

I had to laugh when I read this thread. I had a cat that was not that old
(8 years), but she started to get very very fat, had bad dandruff (she was black) and was lagging behind on cleaning the same.

I did give her a bath in the tub using the shower nozzle (un hooked it from the holder) and very carefully with warm water and low pressure, gave her her bath. I also took her to the vet (because she was soooo fat) and they told me to stop feeding her any dry foods. She had a thyroid problem so she should only eat small amounts of canned foods, and to give her the food once in the morning,then take the dish away, then once at night and again take the dish away when she walked away. I was leaving the dish down all day and she was just eating herself into oblivion, as other folks in the house would fill it up when they saw it was empty.

Getting her to loose weight was the key, but I still had to gave her baths.

Good luck.

I did find a suitable 'spiderman' pic.......but decided not to completly de-rail the thread.

cheers
SC

Cat in a bath?

I have tried it twice; once with a cat of my parents and once with my current cat (who has been to a pension where they didn't treat them right ).

Two times it has been hell!
I was happy I cut my cat's nails, but if I didn't it would have looked like I fell in a rose bush or so

Dry shampoo on the other hand --> PERFECT!

So I gave her a shower.

She used to be shaved to answer someone's question. But now that she is old, I don't want to shave her to not stress her (well, she never been stressed by it to be honest...)

So anyways, I put her in the shower (a place she loves to be) and I cleaned her.

As expected, she acted like a lady and waited patiently for me to be done with it.

She is now under our dinner table redoing the job at her standard. (I think she wasn't too much impressed.)

Please specify if you are unable to type in the word "genitalia" and "backside" or whether you mean the end pointing the opposite of magnetic north.

I can only imagine..

oh the humiliation.

My wife and I attempted once (never again) to shower our pure white cat after he had walked under some parked cars and come back with lots of oily streaks on his back.
In short, we lost (and there were two us).
His 4 sets of paws multiplied into an indeterminate number, all extensible with sharp penetrating hooks. There was blood everywhere and it wasn't his.
Don't try this without armour plating on you.

Additionally to the suggestions others have made - I've seen something like "wet wipes" sold at pet stores for the intention of freshening up pets with a bit of between-bath spot cleaning. I'm thinking the ones at pet store are maybe a bit more safe for pets who will likely lick themselves after, otherwise some of the moist-tp or baby wipes would probably work.