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Kitten bathingThis is a discussion thread · 4 replies Hii! I got my first kitten a few weeks ago. I've read a lot of books and stuff and found out that frequent bathing of cats is not recommended. It only has to be done in case of mites (ticks), dirty hair, and before a cat show. My kitten is 6months old. We're not going to take part in any cat shows and his coat looks perfect. There's no need to bathe him now. My question is, should I bathe him anyway so that he gets used to the procedure? What if I need to bathe him in the future but he'll get a panic attack? Please advice and thank you! First Steps01 I gave Magnus his first bath when he was 5 months. Vincent got his first bath at 1 year. They both were not pleased but handling Magnus was way easier because of the size. Now I bathe them about two times a year. They still don't love it but they are able to bear it.  Regular Participant116 I've never bathed mine. They're indoor only but I use a certain kitty wipe on them once every couple of weeks. It's got no chemicals in it and all natural. I absolutely won't use anything else. It poofs them up and they are so soft and clean! That's all I do, besides brushing and using the Furminator. If I had to bath them because of fleas or anything of course I would but not for any other reason. I think we bathed Barsik only once in his entire life (when we brought him home after rescuing). To be honest I can't imagine how we'd do it now because he'll bite and scratch the hell out of us! I can tell you age doesn't really matter unless you do it often enough. It's also, as with anything, just going to depend on the individual personality. It also depends on how much they are handled/willing to be handled and any other issues you may have or have had that make you do things like medicate them. My Owyn was 3 weeks old when someone found him outside. He was relatively clean, and very healthy, as he seemed to be taken care of by his mother. However, bringing him into the house, especially with other animals, I wanted to make sure there wasn't anything gross on his fur that I just couldn't see. He had a bath at that point, and was perfectly fine with it. I've never had reason to bathe him since, and just from the experience of trimming his nails, I guarantee it wouldn't be fun. He's not one that likes to be held, especially held still, and he will claw and bite to get you to let him go if he needs to. Phoenix was a farm kitten that someone I work with got when he was 4 weeks old. She thought he was older and didn't realize he was sick. She didn't know how to take care of him with those issues, so I took him home. He was filthy, so he got a bath. He also had gunky eyes and nose (upper respiratory infection) and we had to wipe at them regularly for the first week or so he was with us. Also, he came to us on a Saturday night, so the only vet open was the emergency clinic. To go there would have cost me 3 times what it would to take him to my vet on Monday morning, so we wanted to do everything we could to avoid having to take him there. My husband had the great idea of using steam to loosen up his congestion. We had to get up every couple hours to bottle feed him anyway, so while we were up, we'd take him in the bathroom. We turned on the hot water in the shower, closed the curtain, let it get all steamy, then held him in there, being careful not to actually put him in the water. He now LOVES running water and has to be around it in any way he can. He jumps up on the fish tanks and plays in the water flowing from the filter, he climbs my back and sits on my shoulder when I do dishes, he sits on the edge of the tub when I shower, etc. He still doesn't really like being wet, but there were other things that made it so we can do whatever we need to with him and he doesn't fight, or at least not much. Again, he was sick. We had liquid antibiotics that we gave him 2 times a day for I don't remember how long, starting at 4 weeks old. He's also had a chronic ear infection. Basically, he's used to having to hold still for liquid to be squirted down his throat or into his ear. He doesn't like it, but he tolerates it because he's known it all his life. Again, the personality comes in to play though. Owyn, again, doesn't like to be held much. Even though I've had him from so little, he's more of a loner and if you make him mad while holding him, you will be in pain! When Phoenix gets upset and wants to be put down, he'll struggle a bit, never using his claws or teeth, then let out a little huff. If that doesn't work, he plays the pity card and lets out the softest, most pathetic sounding mew you've ever heard. So, it breaks your heart, but at least you're not bleeding if you force something like a bath on him. I hope this all makes sense.... I'm tired and feel like I'm babbling. I guess the basic point is, make sure your cat is willing to let you do what you need to with him and it shouldn't be as much of an issue, even if he doesn't like it.  Junior Participant23 | Have a question? People are waiting to help. Interesting stuff |
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