TomTom had his first ever bath

He was a bit taken aback - kept looking at me in fear that I was going to try and drown him! Poor feller. But he was very good. Extremely good in fact. He made a few attempts to escape but eventually surrendered and let me wash him all over. He weighs in at 18lbs! so if he'd put up a fight it would have been 'interesting'!

When I wash my cats, I use a big tub - a large trug is ideal - in the bath and filled with water laced with veterinary shampoo. Then I immerse them in it right up to their chin! It's about the only way I have found to make sure the water gets right into their undercoat and deals with all their little 'guests'!

Then I lift them out into the bath and use the shampoo shower head to rinse them off. Lots of big towels to wrap them in and partially dry them off.

They seem to like that part. He certainly did and laid in my arms like a baby, looking at me with a kind of "and what was THAT all about!" expression! But when I put him down, he didn't shoot off which was good. He sat near me and started grooming, then followed me down into the lounge and continued to groom only feet away from me.

Not bad for a stray it took me 3 months to befriend and who has panic attacks like nobody's business! I was so proud of him!


BTW - I had to bath him because he loves rolling in things and was beginning to pong!



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TomTom sleeping on the compost heap!
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How trusting of him-a real testament to how gentle and patient you must have been. Well done puss-cat!!

 

Sounds like you have made an impression on him Daiseees.:thumb:

 

Daisess,

Ive always wandered about bathing cats, can see the benefits especially owning a long hair cat !!!

Sadly my tuffty (rescue mainecoon) is not as trusting and id lose fingers if i tried!!!

 

I have never tried to bathe a cat - I have enough problems trying to give them worming tablets:rolleyes:

 

The only thing our cats allow us to do to them is feed them!

 

Well done, Daisees, and I love the pic of Tom-Tom on the compost heap - and what a tidy one it is too! Is it covered with something :confused:

I've never bathed a cat, apart from when Gato was a baby and fell into a small smelly pond. He didn't know what was happening to him so I didn't have a problem.

You are an excellent cat mama. :thumb::thumb:

 

Yes, KG, it's covered with an old bit of carpet - hence his apparent bliss!

And I should point out a couple of things I've always for cat-baths

- I trim claw points beforehand, front and rear - I often do that anyway as I am very allergic to scratches or even pin pricks from claw points
- I shut the bathroom door to ensure there are no preemptive bids for freedom!
- I hold both forepaws firmly in one hand all the time to restrict movements and was with the other hand
- I take a lot of time to touch noses and say soothing things, praising them and such

 

Awwwwww tom tom looks so peaceful. My eldest loves water she tries to beat me into the bathroom every morning and jumps into the sink waiting for me to turn the tap on for her. Only problem is, besides being on a water meter, is HAIRY SOAP :confused:

 

Do you know there is an alternative that you use like 'Spot-on' flea treatment? It's not cheap - about £5 per treatment but well worth it if your have problems.

I have never been able to give TomTom a tablet as his head is so huge I can't get my hand around it and his neck so strong that one little movement and his head is out of my hand anyway! Definitely a three or even four handed business. Awkward when one lives on one's own.

If he has to have antibiotics or something, my vet now very kindly gives me several loaded syringes so I can continue the course of treatment at home. She knows how he get sooo stressed out when I have to take him to her, she is more than willing to help that way. Poor lamb, when he gets like that, he leaves sopping wet footprints all over the exam table, just like he's walked in a puddle or something! I know I used to get terribly sweaty hands when I went through a period of panic attacks once so I do feel for him. I dread to think how he has been treated in the past to make him like that. I've had him for 4½ years now and the vet reckoned he was about 8 then. That makes him almost 13 and no signs of this abating. He must have been really badly treated.

Just look at those eyes in that photo below - how could anyone mistreat that sweetness?

 

Aww bless I've never tried to bathe a cat. One fell in my dad's inspection pit and clawed his way up my dads arm to get out. I tried bathing my rats and regretted it when I look like I'd a had a fight.

I just get to bath the dogs now.

Tom tom's deffo got a good home now

 

Daisees, patience is obviously your virtue! Well done. I love it when I hear stories like yours. You do good!


cheers

 

Just thought I would join in on the bathing of a cat........

My experience with a cat called Christmas. We called her Chrissie because the car we were following down the lane, threw her out of the window and drove off.....illegitimate children.....and it was the Christmas Eve.

She was a tortoiseshell and went missing for a few days. She arrived home covered in car engine oil (and later found out she had a broken jaw)

I knew I had to get the oil off so into the bathroom we went. Like an idiot I stripped to the waste so as not to get my clothes wet....I should have worn a Kevlar outfit like the SAS do.

She cut me to ribbons and kept running around the walls...but I eventually got the oil off her. The vet said that I had saved her life getting the oil off....I just wanted to kill the little ****** for tearing me to pieces (only kidding, but she did make a right mess of my upper torso)

I have never ever tried to bathe a cat since then....if they wanna get dirty...then so be it.:thumb:

 

Ive never tried to bath a cat, but I had a cat called Boo and she used to sit on the side of the bath trying to paw out the bubbles when i was having one. She fell in now and then, she soon got out again.:eek: Daft enough to keep coming back for more though.:rolleyes: 02

 

moral #1, tweaky - always trim their claw points first!

As for the old urban myth that cats don't like water, let me tell you a story about the cats my other sister (eliagnus) had.

One time she was temporarily domiciled in a house boat at Henley upon Thames. The boat was in a mooring at right angles to the river bank with wooden walkways between each pair of boats. The mooring next to hers was empty and the entrance to the boat was at the other end from the bank. She had a few cats at the time and quite often they would come in sopping wet. She was often worried that they had fallen in or, worse, had been thrown in by the many lads that congregated around there.

However, one afternoon she returned home and three of them came to meet her as they often did. But as she walked along to the jetty, instead of going round the 'two sides of a square' to the boat's entrance, they ALL launched themselves off into the water and swum diagonally across the empty mooring space,climbing up the supports and onto the jetty like it was nothing unusual! We reckoned they were just too lazy to walk around! She said if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes she would NEVER have believed it!