How To Bathe A Cat

How to give a cat a bath who hates water... without getting scratched. :)

Hey guys! Our family got a surprise kitten 1 year ago for Christmas (which was my daughter's favorite gift of all time!) We have been wanting to do some fun videos with her, but haven't gotten around to it until now.  Hope you don't mind something different from our usual hair tutorials once in a while. Maybe (if we can find the time) keep an eye out for more cat videos in the future occasionally on our YouTube channel.

How To Bathe A Cat, Video Tutorial: (Click here to watch the video directly on YouTube.)



A few of our best tips for bathing a cat:

• Start when the cat is a kitten and bathe regularly to get them used to the water.

• Clip his or her nails before you start to avoid getting scratched.

• The kitchen sink works better for us than the actual bath tub since it is higher and smaller.

• Have all supplies ready and within arms reach before you start.

• Brush the cat before the bath and after.

• Make sure your house is warm before bathing.

• Don't give the cat a bath too often or their skin will get dry.  We usually bathe our cat about once a month unless she gets unusually dirty.

• Some cats will allow you to blow dry them on a low setting until they are dry.  Our cat is not one of them! The blow drier scares her, so we don't bother with it.  It is not worth scaring your cat if she really hates something.  

• Clean your sink before and after the bath, especially before using it for anything food related.

• The water should be warm.  Not too hot or too cold.

• If you have someone to help you, the process is so much easier with 2 people!

• If your cat is especially scared, work quickly (and calmly) to cut down on the time she is in the water.

As you might have noticed in our video (above) our cat doesn't like the water, but she isn't completely terrified of it either.  She hated it at first, but we had to bathe her a few days after we got her because she got into a huge mess and was filthy. After that, we decided to try and help her warm up to the idea with regular bathings so that she wouldn't be so terrified if we (inevitably) had to give her a bath again, and it has worked.  She is actually quite calm after the initial "getting in" part. ;)

P.S. The shampoo we used in our video is called "mane and tail" (affiliate) and was recommended to us by our local shelter when we adopted our kitten. It seems to leave her fur soft, smooth, shiny and smelling nice.  Our cat doesn't seem to mind it and has been healthy and happy with us bathing her with it regularly. We purchased it at Walmart. Strangely enough, I've actually heard this shampoo and conditioner is great for human hair as well, although I have not tried it yet.