• mammata@feddit.it
    15·
    3 months ago

    Most indoor cats never need a bath, they clean themselves pretty well. In the few cases where a bath is needed (accidents happen, cat got very dirty outside, or similar): don’t use any human soaps, try to only use water, as cats have a natural scent that they build over time washing themselves, and perfumes work against that. Also, they will lick it up later. Soap is not a good thing to ingest!

    Especially if you have multiple cats, a cat smelling very differently can lead to fights.

    • Janx@piefed.socialEnglish
      5·
      3 months ago

      If a cat is messy/smelly enough to need a bath, it’s probably gotten pretty bad! Since they have to go through the trauma of a bath anyway, I would definitely use a well-reviewed pet-safe cleaner at that point. I have no specific recommendations, but they definitely make cat shampoos that address your concerns…

      • hereiamagain@sh.itjust.works
        3·
        3 months ago

        Our cat has a dog tongue instead of a cat tongue, so he struggles to clean himself well. He also has really long fur, compounding the problem.

        He lives indoors only, and he gets greasy and matted within a year. So we shave and bathe him twice a year. He hates it, naturally, but his personality is much better in the months after his bath than the weeks leading up to it. Especially if he’s matted.

  • Doubleohdonut@lemmy.ca
    11·
    3 months ago

    I have never bathed my cat. I value my fingers and can’t imagine it going as well as in the comic!

    • bonenode@piefed.socialEnglish
      10·
      3 months ago

      We had to only when we got ours because the person we got him from must have kept him a long time in the transport box. It is only a mean assumption, but I think he must have peed himself or had been in touch with his poop, because he smelled like that.

      We had to bathe him twice over the next few days before he smelled fine again.

      Then another time because we had to get him neutered (or is it castrated when its a male cat?), probably he must have peed on himself in the recovery period with the cone of shame, so he got another bath. But that was it, no need since then and we got him now 5+ years.