How to bathe a cat that won't let itself

Bathing a cat is not an easy task, in fact it is one of the most difficult, but we will leave you a few tricks on how to bathe a cat that won't let you.

Although cats mostly pets clean and meticulous, sometimes They will need a good bath, either because they get into places they shouldn't or because of a medical condition that requires a bath to treat For example a skin problem.

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Although most cats are very clean They will react very negatively when bathing, which can be quite something stressful both for you and for him. That is why we are going to leave you some tips to make that moment less stressful for both.

What to do before bathing him

Before taking the big step of put him in the bathtub, we will need to do 3 things What are they essential. 

  • The first is cut his nails, with that we will avoid further damage if our cat excites either angry too much with water. Furthermore we must do this some hours or even a few days before.
  • The second is brush, this step is very important since when brush it we will distract him and even while he we comb can cut his nails without complaining. Furthermore, we will prevent you from having knots in hair if we use a special comb.
  • The last is to have the correct shampoo for our cat, we must read the instructions that come carefully and use them as they teach us. It would also be good dilute it with water. He non-human shampoo It is an option that can dry out your skin. The best are natural soaps or for pets. 

Once the nails are cut, everything will be ready for bath time.

How to prepare the bathroom

It's time to prepare the bathroom so that neither we nor our pet suffer any harm, all the steps are very important and must be followed to the letter, since with this we will avoid everything bad that may happen.

  1. Close the bathroom door, this will prevent the cat from escaping and will keep the other cats (if there are more) away. If we have a sandbox in the bathroom where we go to bathe the pet, you must remove it, if it leaks wet it can create a disaster.
  2. Secure the bathtub, with a towel or with a rubber mat, with this we will ensure that our cat does not slip and it can also serve to grab with your nails, thus reducing the possibility of being scratched.
  3. Fill the bathtub a little, we must do it before entering the cat, since the sound of water can scare you, we must also fill it with warm water, neither too cold nor too hot. Can try turning on the water very loosely, that can get your attention, if you get scared turn it off. 
  4. Wear protective clothing, even if we have cut our pet's nails, wear protective clothing, whether a long sleeve sweater or one hoodie, can save us from unwanted scratches. 

Some cats like to drink directly from the tap, opening the water very little can get their attention.

Once all these steps are done we shouldn't have much problem When putting it in the water, we only have to:

  • Maintain control of our cat at all times.
  • Avoid fighting them and be patient.
  • Always soak it from the neck down and always holding the water with your hands.
  • Rinse the shampoo as if you were caressing it.
  • Wash your face only with a damp washcloth.

If we see that our cat doing all this continues panicking and protesting, perhaps our best option is to bathe the cat with a small humid towel. 

You may be interested in this article about how to stop our cat from scratching the sofa.