howtodoitwell
55How to bathe a cat
Wait for a time when your cat is somewhat sleepy, or already asleep.
Clear the tub of any shampoo bottles, loose towels, etc. so the cat can't scrabble at them knocking them down trying to escape.
Run a bath half full of warm water, approx. 101 degrees F (cat body temperature!) but try not to let your cat hear the water running. This is key. Just have a nice warm tub of water at the ready.
Scoop up sleepy cat and gently lower him or her into the nice warm tub. You'll find it's much easier this way. The noisy tap scares the cats. Use soothing calming words with it. Have a plastic cup handy to carefully douse the cats back and body. Use soap minimally, use baby shampoo.
After your cat is bathed, wrap it in a big fluffly towel "ice cream cone hold" style. Perfect time for nail clipping! While the cat is wrapped up, she can't struggle much, and clipping the nails is MUCH easier this way.
cat in the bath
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I thought about the towel at the bottom of the tub, but sometimes the cats use that as a gripping tool to escape, and do a "running man" impression on the towel, wadding it into a bunch. I forgo the towel deal but whatever works for you!
Since I've been bathing my cat this way, she now LOVES baths! She even licks me while I bathe her.
Sterling Sage 3 years ago
Good info here. I'll add another suggestion:
Fold a towel as part of the preparation. When the tub has some water in it, soak the towel. Make sure it doesn't have air trapped in it. Arrange it on the bottom of the tub, and use it as a sort of carpet for the cat to step on.
One of the reasons cats can panic in the tub is that they can't get a grip on the bottom. It must feel to them something like standing on ice wearing bunny slippers would feel to us. The towel can really calm them down.