Washing the kitty

In the past I wouldn't ever wash a cat for no good reason. The only cats that I ever washed were the newly picked up strays that had fleas and then they got washed just once on their first day inside. Now I'm thinking perhaps some cats would appreciate being washed with some sweet smelling shampoo with added conditioner.
OK this is the first one to get washed. I first soaked her good, rubbed in some dawn dish detergent and finished a good washing with a longhair pet shampoo with conditioner. Now I'm not sure how to finish the job though. I toweled off as much water as possible but the kitty is remains very wet. I'm trying to hold her in front of the portable fan heater but its taking forever to get the fur dry. I wonder if any one here knows more than I do about this cat washing routine. I think I read somewhere about a special kind of towel for pets that was more efficient in wicking up the water. Also is it always so time consuming to blow dry a cat and is it a good idea to comb the wet fur? Seems like I'm pulling out too much of the fine inner coat with a course comb. Also shouldn't a good conditioner be separate from the shampoo?

<>

That may be the cutest cat bath picture I've ever seen. Love the little pink tongue.

Years back when I was a teenager, before they had good flea medications I had to bathe my dear Howard periodically because he was alergic to fleas. Back then (we're talking the 1970's) when he was an indoor/outdoor cat and we had a late frost autumn here in Virginia the fleas would be horrible. My poor sweet Howard would develop an ichy rash and I would take him over to the utility tube and bathe him. He was so sweet about it. Most of my cats are really afraid or repelled by hair dryers. I say put the cat in a good warm room and turn up the heat and let them dry after a vigrous toweling off.

Howard was the gentlest sweetest cat in the world. He trusted me to bathe him. It wasn't easy at the time because usually we were doing the shampoo the rug thing and baking soda treatments on the carpet. Bathing a cat and shampooing the carpet at the same time is a formidable task.

There are much better treatments today for fleas for our pets and I'm very grateful for that. I haven't bathed a cat since and don't intend to. If my cats need a little wash on the behind or thereabouts I will oblige but I haven't had to do a full washing of a cat for a very long time and am glad of it.

On edit:

I did bathe my baby Lily when I first got her, she was living in a house but covered with fleas at 8 weeks old. This was 1991 I think before the major flea meds came out. I only had to bathe her the one time.

Pad Thai, Charley and Scorpio were flea treated with the new medicines when I got them.

I used to wash our dogs and we did use a hair dryer on them - low heat, low air. If she'll stand it, it might be a good idea, at least to get the hair closest to her body dry faster so she doesn't get a chill.

Not sure if the human kind is good for them, since they have fur, not hair.

If you use a big comb, sort of like a hair pick, perhaps you can get the hair tamed without pulling out any of the undercoat.

More pics, please...

I used to bathe my kitty, Linus, all the time. It was before flea meds and I had to give him regular baths. I used Johnson's Baby Shampoo (no tears) and the vet told me it kills fleas better than anything. I used a couple of big, thirsty towels and toweled him dry as best I could. If it was cold in the house, I turned up the heat until he was dry. I tried the hair dryer once, but it scared him too much.

My two girls (Ginger and Pepper, the Spice Girls) get Advantage, no baths. They were both wild kitties when I got them and don't really tolerate claw trimmings too well, so I don't think the bath would be as easy as with Linus--he was a big old friendly tomcat who was fixed. Pepper needs occasional help with keeping her little behind clean but I just clean up with a warm wet cloth. Actually my husband now does these chores as my muscle disease prevents me from holding these two frisky girls at all. I actually really miss bath time with my old buddy Linus.

I do bathe my cat once in awhile. She's not thrilled with the procedure, but I put a harness on her which makes things much faster. As for the drying, she has long hair and it takes forever to get her dry. I put her in her cloth carrier which has plenty of places for the hair dryer to blow in. She doesn't get completely dry, but it saves a trip to the ER to have her removed from my arm.

The one time I tried a dryer sent me to the emergency room. :scared:

:rofl: