Are you supposed to wash your cat?

I said 'bonding' because my 2 cats like to be wiped off.   I try to do it every Saturday and clean their ears and then put some toothpaste into their mouth on their upper back teeth.  Then I brush them quickly, just after being lightly towel dried. They KNOW you are one of the pack and accept you if you help them. My older cat cleans me back by licking my hand...

It keeps peace in the house, too, because they both smell the same. They know that you're helping them stay clean! They also love to be brushed anytime! Only when they come to me for it. I'll hold up the brush and they come to my lap. The hairier one will sit for many minutes; I show her how much hair I took off and she understands and stays there until she indicates for me to stop (teeth on my hand or pushes my hand away). The less hairy cat comes over and gets a couple of quick swipes and off she goes!

I give my cat baths every once in a while when my allergies start acting up. However, there was a period of 3-4 months when she had fleas and we absolutely could not get rid of them! We were trying everything!! Every time I saw a flea on her, almost daily, she would get a bath and I would pick fleas off of her. 1 bath time usually ended up taking about an hour from start to finish. She was not happy at all at first but she quickly got use to it. We finally found a chewable pill that we have to her that started killing the fleas within 15 minutes, shortly after giving her that pill we moved and haven't had a problem with fleas since! She loves bathtubs but still hates baths but, it is about time for her to get another one because she has started shedding very bad and has been playing in the backyard while we work on our garden. She is strictly an inside cat unless we are in the backyard (she hasn't figured out she can climb the fence and I want to keep it that way) so unless your cat is very dirty or has fleas or you have allergies I would recommend just brushing it

You left the eggs, larvae and pupae behind when you moved and didn't take any fleas, hence no problem now...

With the sort of infestation you are describing you need to treat all pest with a good safe effective long-term flea control, AND you need to treat the house.  Fleas lay some 50 eggs a day which drop off into the environment - your house. 

Don't use pet shop flea products - some of them can be positively harmful:

http://www.fabcats.org/owners/fleas/info.html

Also, where there are fleas there are often worms...  Have you used a safe effective wormer of late?

I wonder if the people in your old house are itching?

Well, the house we were living in is my husbands parents house. And apparently they have had horrible flea problems for years! We did everything we could to remove the fleas from the home as well as our cat and their dog but nothing was working until we got that particular pill from the vet. I haven't heard whether the dog has gotten fleas again but I don't think so. The problem is, their house is a mansion build in the 1800's. so through the years many creatures have found ways in and out and bring fleas with them. And yes, our cat has been treated for everything.

I have to bathe her every few months (Himalayan) or else her coat gets greasy and has this gross oily sheen to it. Bathing her removes the excess oil, makes her fur soft and fluffy, and lets me groom it out better. For a short or medium haired cat though, I'd say it's pretty unnecessary, unless the cat has bad hygiene or the owner has allergies. Just don't ever wash a cat that has matted fur, the mats will never come out if they get wet!

sparklexo said:

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Just don't ever wash a cat that has matted fur, the mats will never come out if they get wet!

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Top advice.

My first Maine coon breeder told me about why she washes her cats for the cat show. Basically you wash and the blow dry the fur so that each strand stands out. you get a cat that looks super fluffy and cool. But it is just for looks. Not realy a good thing to do too often as it takes out the natural oils from their coat.

I give my cats a bath 2-3 times a year one of them will get a build up of dead skin on the base of his tail and not grow hair there even if i comb him it stills builds up so wen i bath him i rub that area and get the dead skin off i can actually see the hair pop up from under the dead skin :/ and he is due for anouther

FatalFranklin said:

Interesting...Why the bath disparity between show cats and house cats? I know dog grooming for shows is Extensive. What is the regime for show cats?

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I've never owned a longhaired cat, but I've taken a couple of the shelter cats to shows. The bathing and grooming is much more extensive than for shorthair cats.

Even with shorthairs bathing makes a definite difference in the way the fur lies and the way it feels. Believe me, the judges can tell which cats have not been well groomed. One show I was really short on time and decided the kitties didn't need baths. None of them did well at that show, not even my baby who usually makes a lot of finals.

When my Barry got skunked, my mom bathed him in poroxide, then put him outside. The next morning, half his gray and white fur was brown!

The poroxide dyed it! Poor Barry, he had to wait until his fur grew out! Otherwise, don't wash a cat.

I have a couple cats that love water. My blue cat will actually come running when he hears me turn on the water for a bath or shower and he once jumped over the glass enclosure of the shower while the water was on. Luckily I wasn't in it yet, I was letting the water get warm. Now he just jumps to the top of the glass and peers in. He bats the water coming out the faucet when I take a bath and has been known to try and climb on me when I'm in the tub to check the water out. 

As for bathing, I do bathe our ragdoll once in awhile. In fact she is due for her spring bath. 

Like I said, each cat is an individual!

My...my... The only time this dope of mine puts himself in water is

A. He got skunked

B. He stupidly puts his paw in the water to see

     if it is actually water. (His sister never does....)

When we first got our cat, we bathed her twice a week to get her used to a bath and because she was really too little to wash herself properly (as her mum had died). we only needed to wash her twice a year since then to help with the change from summer to winter coat, but as she's gotten older we've had to wash her every two months as her grooming has gotten subpar in her old age.

our cat is outdoors most of the time and long haired.