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Original poster

To give cat a bath after falling in toilet?

54 replies

Cherrycoke2 · 15/06/2023 20:48

We have a kitten who is 5 months old, we have been really careful with putting the toilet seat down but she's absolutely crazy and like a little ninja and went into the bathroom without DH noticing. Anyway while he was peeing she flew at him and landed on the toilet and fell in. Covered in wee!

We gave her a bath. Not just a rub down with a flannel. We didn't fill the bath up with water we just put her in the sink and poured it on her with a jug and used baby soap. (We were very careful and gentle we didn't just throw water on her) To us, this was just an obvious thing that you'd do? We don't ever bath our cats but surely we should intervene if they're covered in wee or poo?!

Anyway we told the story to DHs parents who looked at each other like we were crazy and said they would've just left her. They said cats are self cleaning and she would've got it off herself. Ok but what about before that.. running around the house getting it on the carpet or the bed? Anyway we shrugged it off just thinking they're a bit weird and dirty.

But then another person at work told me the same. They said cats don't need our help and it isn't worth stressing them out as baths are really traumatic for them and that we should've just kept her in the bathroom until she had cleaned herself and maybe just wiped her down with a towel.

I kind of feel really guilty now, I mean she's fine it didn't traumatise her, after we finished she just started zooming around as normal. Is it really that cruel to bath a cat that's covered in pee?! I'm a first time cat owner so if it is at least I know for next time but I'm a bit shocked that anyone would be ok letting a cat that has been down the toilet bowl chill in their house without cleaning it off ??

OP posts:
Original poster
Cherrycoke2 · 15/06/2023 21:36

Thanks everyone, I knew I wasn't mad!

It doesn't seem to have put her off water either, she has started to jump in the sink every time I'm brushing my teeth 😆

OP posts:
GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 15/06/2023 21:37

I washed a kitten once who fell in his own poo trying to bury it in a litter tray. He just seemed confused by it really, rather than distressed. I'd definitely wash if covered in wee, I wouldn't expect him to lick himself in that state!

StillWantingADog · 15/06/2023 21:40

Gawd I would have done the same as you

if dcat was ok with it then this bodes well for if it’s needed in the future. Most adults cats that hate baths probably never had them as kittens.

maddiemookins16mum · 15/06/2023 21:42

I sponge bathed two 12 week old kittens covered in rotten food once (they’d been put in a dumpster). They’d never have managed it themselves.

Nottilfive · 15/06/2023 21:50

I’d have done the same as you OP, for the cats sake, but I also wouldn't water/wee from the toilet around my house.

FrostyFifi · 15/06/2023 22:29

Definitely would have washed the kitten! Not fair on the poor thing to have to lick piss off itself and not fair on the rest of you to have it dragged through the house. Your PILs are odd.

ThatLibraryMiss · 15/06/2023 22:51

I used to bath my Maine Coon silver tabby boy, because he was a grub and didn't bother cleaning himself. The easiest, least bloody way I found was to take him into the enclosed shower stall with me. He knew he couldn't escape so he just used to meow pathetically instead of trying to claw his way up my arm to freedom. I recommend it.

OiFatArse · 16/06/2023 01:08

I wouldn't usually recommend bathing cats after bad experiences with my previous cats, however our 5 month old kitten recently had poo stuck on her longish fur, so in the bath she went! Only problem is now we can't keep her out of it 😂

To give cat a bath after falling in toilet?
To give cat a bath after falling in toilet?
TiaraBoo · 16/06/2023 01:33

How much wee could she have been covered in though? Even falling in the loo water - that’s clean water.
I wouldn’t have used any cleaning products unless you had cat specific shampoo but I would’ve given her a flannel wash.
Mostly I’d just be scared of being clawed to death!

I did wash my cats head recently with pet shampoo as she came back one day smelling like petrol/fuel was on a patch of her fur and I didn’t want her ingesting it. I was scared for my life.

Indoorcatmum · 16/06/2023 01:56

My kitten was urine incontinent until his surgery last month. I bathed him every second day for 3 months... I looked him in the bathtub with cat shampoo and gave him a good rinse! Absolutely fine and vet approved.

WiddlinDiddlin · 16/06/2023 03:24

@TiaraBoo I think you missed that the OP's partner was actually weeing in the toilet at the time. The cat was actively pissed on, not just wet from water in the bowl!

Xmasbaby11 · 16/06/2023 07:38

I would have done the same if dcat allowed it!

littleripper · 16/06/2023 07:40

My mum always told me that my vagina was like my pet cat - self cleaning - no soap 😂

TiaraBoo · 16/06/2023 07:42

@WiddlinDiddlin
I was imagining the partner to stop pissing on the kitten 😂

piedbeauty · 16/06/2023 08:02

It's fine. I'd have done the same. Silly thing! (The kitten, not you.)

Selttan · 16/06/2023 09:51

I definitely would've bathed her.

A tip I once saw should you have a repeat issue is to put a towel or similar in the bottom of the sink/bath as the cat will feel more secure than trying yo stand on a slippery surface.

When my old girl was a kitten she fell in the fishpond we were cleaning and came up covered in algae and sludge. That was fun cleaning it out of her long fur.

Muu · 16/06/2023 09:59

It sounds fine. Any thing or being that gets soaked in wee would be getting washed before getting free range of my house too!!

GettingStuffed · 16/06/2023 10:02

One of my cats used to like a bath, I can't remember. Why we needed to bathe him but he was happy standing in the bath whilst we(OK me) poured water over him and he really really enjoyed being dried of in a towel.

WiddlinDiddlin · 16/06/2023 14:09

TiaraBoo · 16/06/2023 07:42

@WiddlinDiddlin
I was imagining the partner to stop pissing on the kitten 😂

I don't think everyone can do that... the bladder and presumably for a man, hand control required to stop pissing immediately and not say, swerve and spray piss everywhere in surprise at a 'sudden cat in toilet bowl' situation... mm! I think you credit the OP's partner with some extraordinary widdling skills there!

Onegingerhead · 16/06/2023 14:33

I bathed my cat 3 times in his adult life. He's strong and muscular, but had to be done. You don't want to know what he was covered in and no ways I would let him spread this around the house before he would bother to clean himself up throughly enough

Thirty5 · 16/06/2023 14:39

My cat sits on the edge of the bath and dangles his front paws and tail in. Most cats are against it but I would have done the same as you in that scenario.

OneTC · 16/06/2023 14:43

I'd have washed it with water not soap

WotNoUserName · 16/06/2023 14:45

I had to bathe my cat after he came home covered in shit (fox shit I think) Which I found out as I stroked him while simultaneously wonder what the stench was . Envy

I thought we'd be mauled to death by him, but I filled up the sink first (running water scares him) then put him in and washed him and he sat there like he knew it had to be done. Not so keen on the towel dry after!

OneTC · 16/06/2023 14:46

I washed my old cat a couple of times to blitz fleas before relocating him temporarily while we fleabombed the flat

DiscoDragon · 16/06/2023 14:47

We adopted a cat last year and have had to bath him a few times. It turns out he gets the runs if he eats anything other than Royal Canin, he has a very fluffy bottom and it was all getting stuck in his fluff and he was trailing it around the house so he got bathed! I'm sure he wouldn't have wanted to sit there licking caked on poop off of his backside even if he could stretch that far (he is a big cat!)