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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU not to shower my cat?

108 replies

Eltonjohnssyrup · 14/02/2018 09:50

Met with friend and FOF yesterday. Conversation turned to pets. Both have bog standard short haired domestic cats.

Both of them said that every couple of months they shower their cats. Someone holds it and they spray it with the shower. They are both adamant that this is perfectly normal and cats will tolerate it.

I've always been under the impression that cats are entirely self cleaning and this is not necessary and possibly a bit cruel. They insist not to do it is manky.

AIBU or are they? (I have tried very hard not to make any Mrs Slocombe type jokes).

OP posts:

apostropheuse · 14/02/2018 10:10

Both my cats have lovely clean glossy fur, completely au natural. No washing of cats was undertaken by any human.

THowever, the Labrador has been thoroughly washed a few times after rolling in shit episodes.

AwkwardPaws27 · 14/02/2018 10:10

Cats do not require bathing*. I used to work at a vets and it is definitely not recommended!

Obvious exceptions are rolling in something smelly /toxic, very messy poo etc. I have had to wash my long-haired boy a couple of times as he has food allergies and the occasional bout of haemorrhagic diarrhoea.

ginyogarepeat · 14/02/2018 10:12

God, my cat of 15 years has obviously been missing out

emmyrose2000 · 14/02/2018 10:14

My last cat occasionally used to like hopping in the shower with me, and skirting around the edge where the spray was. Other than that, no, I've never showered a cat with the intention to clean it; ie. used a cleaning product on it.

fishonabicycle · 14/02/2018 10:14

I washed one cat once. He had been up.the chimney and was covered in soot. Otherwise no - your friends are mental.

StillMedusa · 14/02/2018 10:18

I have three long haired cats (two of whom are Maine Coons so very thick long coats)
I do not shower them!

I have had to do a bum wash twice when one ate someone he shouldn't have and had the runs and it's not an experience I'd want to repeat very often. They generally smell perfectly fine!

ComtesseDeSpair · 14/02/2018 10:19

My former cats used to happily pop into the shower with me on their own terms but my god, if I'd tried to forcibly hold them under it I'd not have any hands left. I had to sluice down one of them once when he jumped into a cowpat and it was excruciating for us both. I don't know anybody who would shower their cat, even the two people I know who breed and show pedigree cats - their cats just get groomed in special ways.

Toddlerteaplease · 14/02/2018 10:21

Never bathed my two long haired Persians. They don't need it.

ohfluff · 14/02/2018 10:22

I make a little bubble bath in the bidet

Boatsonthewater · 14/02/2018 10:23

This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

SoftSheen · 14/02/2018 10:25

I wouldn't wash a cat unless it is absolutely essential e.g. covered in engine oil. They are very good at keeping themselves clean!

NargleFlargleZoobah · 14/02/2018 10:25

YANBU.

I think it does depend on the cat, though.
I have one cat who loves to get in the bath with me (he enjoys it), another who has to be bathed quite often because he is a filth monster (never known a cat so vile and dirty) and another who has only been washed once or twice in 8 years. She's a proper self-cleaning cat.

BarbaraofSevillle · 14/02/2018 10:26

She showed me a pic of her cat after a shower. It was just a really angry little face poked out of the towel it was wrapped in

It's OK, the cat will be plotting it's revenge. She might have to wait a long time, but it will do something to show how displeased it is with the bonkers and unnecessary showering. Or it could just be getting its own back, day to day, perhaps by sitting bumhole down on her pillow for all the time she is at work.

StilettosAreANoNo · 14/02/2018 10:26

My cats would be furious at the mere suggestion. One of the has a lot of white fur and he always looks pristine. He would be most offended at the suggestion he’d not been doing a good enough job.

morningconstitutional2017 · 14/02/2018 10:27

Cats wash themselves. The only time we had to wash puss was when he brushed up against a recently creosoted fence (daft neighbour) and the wretched stuff would have poisoned him - an experience we'd be mad to repeat. Never again.

RueDeWakening · 14/02/2018 10:28

I've bathed/showered a cat once, when ours got stuck in a boiler room and covered in oil. He wasn't happy about it, either

RadicalFern · 14/02/2018 10:29

This is nuts. Cats are self cleaning...

HottySnanky · 14/02/2018 10:29

No that is a daft idea, your arms would end up in shrebbons!

My MIL had a cat once that liked to be hoovered, with the little attachment thing though, I don't think the cat lay there while she ran him over with the upright! Apparently he loved it and it was great for getting his post-winter moult off...

floriad · 14/02/2018 10:29

I've never washed my cat... (and she lived to the ripe old age of 17...)

she did once fall into the bathtub and definitely didn't appreciate it. She was quite obviously extremely horrified and panicking...

I have however read that it's possible to get young cats used to this and that it's recommended in breeds that shed a lot or if a cat doesn't have good natural grooming habits.

Seeing as you might not know whether this applies to your cat (if she's a rescue)? I can see why some people would get the cat used to this from an early age, yes.

But it's imo still very unusual, kind of weird and most likely unnecessary.

PositivelyPERF · 14/02/2018 10:30

I had to shower one of my long haired cats when the prick next door gave him milk. A bad tempered long haired cat, with the skits and water is not a pleasant mix. It ended up looking like a shitty version of the shower scene from Psycho! The blood was mine and, in case of any doubt, the shit was from the cat. Though when he attached himself to the neck of my tee shirt, there was almost an extra wet fart.

Ohyesiam · 14/02/2018 10:31

Americans have their cat's claws removed, and regularly bathe/ shower them.
They also voted for Trump.
QED.

violetbunny · 14/02/2018 10:31

They are self cleaning. My old cat actually hopped in the bath with me once!

FeedtheTree · 14/02/2018 10:34

I've never showered my cat. Even when he comes home smelling vile from running with the dodgy beasts of the forest, I only wipe him over with a damp facecloth and then brush a bit of butter on his fur to encourage him to clean himself. And he usually smells gorgeous.

Turquoise123 · 14/02/2018 10:34

Showering cats not advised - removes oils from hair and skin.
I have had cats for 50 years and in that time have known a lot of cat owners and seen a lot of vets. My brother in law and fellow cat owner was a vet.

No one of them even mentioned showering cats.

endehors · 14/02/2018 10:36

Have owned Persians, and currently have similar long haired cat. They have needed showering on rare occasion, but I wouldn't do it as a matter of course.

I did once have a cat (almost hairless, I won't name the breed) who did need regular bathing in the sink (I can't imagine she'd have liked a shower!) but she was unwell with long term chronic illness.

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