Do cats need a bath, this is the most asked questions by the cat owners. Because cats and baths are the two words that can never be put together in the same sentence. It is a difficult task because most of the cats do not like to go under the water.
But bathing your cat is an essential step in grooming. Although cats groom themselves naturally, so only brushing your cat is only enough at times. However, cats do need a bath occasionally.
With this, a new question arises how often you should bath your cat? It simply depends on the hair coat of your cat. For short-haired cats grooming and bathing is not an issue. But the cats with long hair needs more care and maintenance because their hair gets easily tangled. In this case, brushing helps cat owners to help their cats.
Besides brushing, giving a bath to your cat is another important step in grooming. So, here is a proper guide that how to bathe a cat. Follow these steps as it will be helpful for you to bathe your cat properly.
Steps to Give a Cat a Bath
Few simple steps that can help you bath your cat are as follows:
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Wear Gloves
Your safety and protection are a must when you plan to bathe your cat. Wearing gloves is necessary before bathing your cat. Use leather gloves for complete protection because you never know how your cat reacts in water. If she might attack you or scratch you then the gloves will provide you complete protection.
Other than that, for sanitization purposes wearing gloves is a great option. It can help in providing safety against germs and anything that can spread bacteria or infections. It is the most important step to keep in mind before giving a bath to your cat.
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Prepare the Water
The next step is to fill the bathtub or the sink where you want to bath your cat. If you are using a bathtub fill it up to 2-3 inches with water not too much or too low. Make sure the water is of perfect temperature, lukewarm water is perfect to give a bath.
Once the water is set perfectly according to the requirement, then it is the time for the actual practical work.
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Starting Slow
Now that the water is all set and you are also ready to bathe your cat, now it is time to proceed with the process. Start slow as it will work the best and you will also notice how your cat reacts to it.
Take some water and start pouring it from the shoulder to the tail of your cat. Do not splash water on the face directly as the cats do not like it at all. Once your cat is wet start applying shampoo and rubs gently. And you are done with shampoo rinse it off with water.
For face cleaning, take a small cloth or towel and make it wet. Now using this wet cloth clean your cat’s face gently. Do not be so harsh at this point because your cat may get angry at this point.
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Focus on Deep Cleaning
As you are done with the shampoo now to wind-up the process, take a cotton swab, and make it a little wet. With the help of this wet cotton swab start cleaning ears gently. Make sure you do not use Q-tip or any other thing inside your cat’s ear.
At this point, you can also cut your cat’s nails as well. Otherwise, you can skip this process for later. And now you are almost complete. Give your cat a final rinse with water and the process is complete.
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Use a Towel to Dry
It is the favorite part of cats after taking a bath. Use a big, dry towel to dry your cat’s hair. Rub it all over your cat’s body. Let your cat do it freely, and enjoy this moment. If you have a long-haired cat, you can also use a blow dryer.
But make sure not to scare your cat with the noise of the dryer. Use the one that is less noisy otherwise you can skip this step if your cat gets afraid of the noise.
Conclusion
Bathing your cat is an essential step of grooming. Because pet cleaning and grooming is very necessary for your pet’s health as well as your health. Thus, described above is a guide that can help you give your cat a proper bath.
Be gentle and make your cat feel comfortable while taking the bath. Instead of becoming mad or annoyed try to make your cat enjoy it. Following this guide will be helpful for you to make this process easy and comfortable for your cat.
