Blow Drying??

[LauraMJones]

I think it depends on the cat. Spenser, my oldest, is totally fine with being blow dried and he also loves baths, as long as I am in the shower with him. Endeavour, his little brother is a flitter....never bathed him, but if I ever had to I would not dream of using the blow dryer.

 

[1 bruce 1]

I know this thread is ancient and the original poster is probably long gone, but I'll share what has worked for us...MOST of the time ...in case anyone is reading...
We start with the towel drying thing too and get as much water off as possible. (If you have a helper, this makes life MUCH easier.) We keep the cat in a corner area that they CAN escape from but can bury their head into if they wish. Have your helper drape a towel loosely over their head/shoulder area (not to restrain, just to give them a "safe cave" that they can stick their head into and "hide") and turn the dryer on pointing AWAY from the cat. Let them get used to the sound of it. Move it around a bit so they hear it from all angles and the noise it makes as the air is moving from side to side.
We've had really good luck by keeping the dryer running (still pointed away), assuming the kitty is calm and not reacting, and petting them from the withers down, patting them gently, and keeping this up while aiming the dryer (on low) towards them a foot or two away. It seems as though the dryer "feel" blends in with the petting and/or patting and isn't quite a shock to the system. This is the way horse people give a shot...pat the area the shot will go into, pet it, pat it hard, pat pat pat pat *shot* pat pat pat...most horses don't react. It seems to work on most cats, too, with the hair dryer thing.
Just make sure it doesn't get too hot. Keep the dryer moving around at all times.
If it's absolutely un-doable, the next best solution IMO is to keep a pet safe space heater (we like Eden Pure) in the bathroom. Start the heater up 2 hours before bath time or so, door shut, so the room is nice and warm. Bath time is warmer, add warm towels to towel dry, and give them some warm towels around the room and keep them in the warm room for an hour or two. It doesn't do "as good" as hand drying but they aren't shivering as much.
Also, if you have a new kitten...even if it's a short hair and will probably never "need" a bath, do it anyway, often. Don't worry about getting them 100% "clean", just let them experience it, just wet them down if you have to without shampoo. The worst thing in the world is having an adult cat, not used to a bath at ALL, getting into something that could potentially kill them if they lick it off. In this case, there's no time to ease them into the process, upsetting both owners and the cat.
Hope this helps someone.

 

[lollie]

Koshka is terrified of the hair dryer, even leaves the room when I'm using it. Unfortunately, she also hates being rubbed down with towels. Gets mad as a little hornet. I have found that she gets dry a lot faster if I brush her a couple of times. Just the act of giving the towel dried hair a lift (by brushing in the opposite direction) speeds up the drying process. It also calms her down, since she likes to be brushed.

 

[Charles Dale]

I would say DO NOT DO IT! A few days ago I left one of my cats at a boarding facility close to my home for 3 days. I had asked them to bathe her while she was there. They used a hair dryer on her and she had a heart attack (out of fear I suppose) and died.

Be safe and use a towel please. Be kind to your cat. I can only imagine the fear that my cat had and I feel REALLY guilty for having them bathe and use a hair dryer on her. Part of the reason for her death was due to her older age (about 17 years) but still, this shows that you should not use a hair dryer at all...way too traumatic.

 

[posiepurrs]

I would say DO NOT DO IT! A few days ago I left one of my cats at a boarding facility close to my home for 3 days. I had asked them to bathe her while she was there. They used a hair dryer on her and she had a heart attack (out of fear I suppose) and died.

Be safe and use a towel please. Be kind to your cat. I can only imagine the fear that my cat had and I feel REALLY guilty for having them bathe and use a hair dryer on her. Part of the reason for her death was due to her older age (about 17 years) but still, this shows that you should not use a hair dryer at all...way too traumatic.

Unless the cat is used to it, I would never advise bathing or blow drying an elderly cat. I still bath and dry my older cats but they have had this done since they were 5-6 weeks old. I would also advixe to use a certofed cat groomer. Dog groomers are generally not used to dealing with cats.

 

[Babypaws]

I would say DO NOT DO IT! A few days ago I left one of my cats at a boarding facility close to my home for 3 days. I had asked them to bathe her while she was there. They used a hair dryer on her and she had a heart attack (out of fear I suppose) and died.

Be safe and use a towel please. Be kind to your cat. I can only imagine the fear that my cat had and I feel REALLY guilty for having them bathe and use a hair dryer on her. Part of the reason for her death was due to her older age (about 17 years) but still, this shows that you should not use a hair dryer at all...way too traumatic.

I’m so so sorry to hear your cat passed away…my prayers for you. May she RIP.
it’s very hard to lose one of kitties, I’m still grieving for my 11 month kitten who passed away 5 months ago.
I would have thought the person who bathe and used the dryer on her could see how scared she was and would have stopped…some people are insensitive and shouldn’t be dealing with animals….

 

[vince]

Generally, I avoid giving my cats baths for self-preservation reasons, but when I have to do so, I turn on the heater in my little electric fireplace for them (really, it's just an overgrown space heater). The cats like to lie in front of it and let the warm air blow on them. Much less stressful than a hair dryer.

You might try this to see if your kitty prefers this as a drying method.

 

[Purr-fect]

Thanks guys! I'm not even going to try it

The warm towels are a great idea!

Good decision!

 

[LokiWolf]

I bathe both cats but only use the hair dryer on the old girl cause she tolerates it. Lizzy jumps out of her skin in fear.
Weirdly enough Bella's brother Bucky (may he rest in peace) hated the hair dryer but tolerated a force dryer at the groomers no issue. Maybe cause the groomer was really good with animals but I don't know. I also used a force dryer on him at a grooming salon I worked at and he was very good.