Old cat on Grooming life support

[mvp]

No, she’s not dying for want of oxygen or anything, but the cat is dying for want of grooming.

Being old and having multiple health problems, the cat has all but quit grooming herself. It has happened slowly but the cat has let her standards get surprisingly low. I “went outside the relationship” today to pet some cats at the local shelter and was reminded what I am missing in the way of cat fur.

No, she doesn’t feel bad. Currently, her wings are so spread that she won’t come inside. She says she has waited 4 years for the right summer plus the right yard to come into her life, and she’s bloody well going to enjoy it.

But the cat (covered in Outside Cat Dirt/Dust which is held on by Cat Scurf) now just looks at me when I threaten to give her a Silkwood Shower before she comes in bed to cuddle. Which is what I want.

So, those who do superfluous things like groom a cat, how do you completely and satisfactorily clean one? Oh, and she has thick, short hair.

[oliverreed]

Give her a bath? If she has never had a bath before, though, that could be dangerous. All my kitties have always been gotten used to baths as kittens.

Barring that, how about stroking her all over with a somewhat damp towel and then a good brushing.

[VaqueroToro]

If she’s good with a bath, several series of wet-down-suds-up-hose-off will get the junk out.

If she’s not good with a bath, rub in several handfuls of cornstarch or arrowroot into her coat and brush the living fluff out of her, back raking her as much as she’ll tolerate. If you have a Zoom Groom or even a Epona flower curry with the knobs, even better – the static electricity generated of the rubber going through her fur will help to pick up the dander, balls of powder encrusted junk, old hair, etc. Knock the rubber off (like you would when grooming a horse) and keep going until you’ve gotten majority of the crud out of the coat.

My old girl is in the same boat – she gets a horrible grease slick at the base of her tail/small of her back and it turns into a matted, gooky mess (long haired cat too!). She’ll tolerate an occasional bath, but I could never do it in the frequency that she’d need. Powdering and currying the crud out of her has kept the grease to a minimum and has increased the airflow to the skin (it’s not trapped beneath layers of sticky fur). I brush her every other day and re-powder her about once a week. The powder visually dulls her coat a bit (she’s still soft to touch), but I’d rather have that than to touch a grease slick.

ETA: By several handfuls, I mean about a teaspoon total – a little goes a long way, especially if you can part the hair down to her skin and directly apply it where it’s the worst. I wiggle my fingers around in a bowl of it then massage what coated my fingers through her fur. The idea is to get as much of the powder out of the coat with the gook – eating too much of it can cause constipation.

[bdj]

I took my parents’ cat to Petsmart and had her groomed - no bath, just a thorough brush out. (Would have done it myself, but she’s a bit of a fussy older lady, and she thinks I’m pretty annoying already, since I’m the one who clips her nails and since she was visiting my house at the time, I didn’t want to be the cause of any additional resentment.)
I have no idea how they accomplished it, but they did a very good job, and Mademoiselle Heidi returned home unflustered and much more pleasant to pet - not so greasy, and relieved of much unnecessary unshed underfluff. I don’t recall that it was particularly expensive, either - pretty sure it was under $30. (And the very nice groomers at Petsmart seemed unscathed and happy when I picked her up, so I assume she didn’t inflict any lasting damage on them…)

[MumboJumbo]

I have a VERY long haired, thicked coated beast of a cat. If I do nothing, he looks to be quadruple his actual size so it’s hard to tell if he’s getting fat/what his body condition is. I call this his “hair weight”.

When I met him at the shelter a year or so ago, I told him that the only way he could come home with me and come into my house/bed would be if he would agree to get quarterly lion cuts at a groomers. He has held up to his end of the agreement and gets his haircuts reguarly. When he starts to get hairy and greasy, I brush him as much as he will tolerate (which admittedly, is a lot) and then use a spray shampoo designed for cats. This seems to help keep the greasy scurf away until his next haircut.

If he didn’t get haircuts, I don’t know how he would survive. He has SO MUCH hair it is unbelievable and he’s not the best at grooming. Not to mention what my house/bed/couch/floors would look like! I’m so lucky he is perfect for the groomer and just lays there and tolerates the clippers!

[SmartAlex]

My cats are used to getting regular baths. They are much easier to bathe than my grey horse! One sort of likes it. Its the blow drying they hate.

Thick short hair is one of the easiest coats to whip into shape. I would suggest a very nappy terry cloth towel, wet and wrung out well. Scrub kitty with the damp towel. Stroke with a dry towel and then brush. That’s what we do when ours take a dust bath and we don’t have time for a tubba.

If she doesn’t already have a brush I’d suggest buying more than one and finding which one she will tolerate/ goes best with her coat type. Our two girls each have their favorite brush that works for them.

[mvp]

Thank you all so much!

First on the Actual Bath… with water and wrestling and everything:

That’s what this cat would call a Silkwood Shower. Have you all seen the movie? What happens to a body after she is exposed to radioactive water? Yeah. that part. That’s what most cats would think of a bath.

I think this cat would tolerate it. She’s old, arthritic and stoic. She’d deal, but I’d hate to take advantage of her resignation.

Shampoo: Can I use low-suds, good-quality human stuff? And what’s the spray-on cat shampoo? That sounds so much better.

I like the idea of a powder-based bath… except for putting the powder on the cat. Remember those Shake-n-Bake commercials? Chicken breast in a bag of bread crumbs? Yeah, that. Except a cat. I have a shedding flower, so I can try that on her. I’ll let you know if I try the powder-based bath.

Fortunately, the cat loves being brushed. Her favorite is a fine-tooth comb mean for de-fleaing. She thinks it’s A-OK if I comb her hard.

[Highflyer]

I generally just use Dawn instead of shampoo. My little white buddy is named Pigpen for a reason

[VaqueroToro]

Don’t use human shampoo – I don’t think the ingredients would be good on an animal that self-cleans (even in reduced capacity) unless you could get every bit rinsed out. There are some good cat specific shampoos out there. The one I have is supposed to help eliminate the hairballs acquired after the cat spends the next two hours drying and rearranging each displaced strand of fur.

I’ve used some of the foaming cleansers that you massage into the coat. They don’t really work on greasy, but are okay for in between touchups. It works pretty well on my shorthair (a lot better than on the longhair) so it might work okay for your gal.

Shake-n-Bake cat – love the visual!

[Puglet]

Ahh, cat grooming. I must say this has been an obsession of mine lately as I prepare my cats for upcoming shows.

Cats are horribly greasy animals, you just don’t notice as you don’t see freshly bathed cats strut down the street. The only way for her to look good is to bathe her. Ideally, you will first “shampoo” her with Dawn, followed by another shampoo. You will want to use the original Dawn (blue stuff). What I do (learned from a cat breeder with National Winners), is fill up one side of my kitchen sink with a couple inches of water and some squirts of Dawn. How much depends on the concentration level of the Dawn I’m using. Insert kitty. Calmly start to work in the soapy water. Having the cat sitting in water allows the coat to pull in water. This is important as it is hard to really get the coat wet to the skin. Add Dawn if needed and work in. You don’t want a blue cat, but you want enough to make sure you are getting the cat clean.

Now, it’s time to rinse. I have a sprayer on the sink that I hold up to the skin. This really helps to get all residue out. You can also fill the other side of the sink and use it to pour clean water over the cat. I prefer the sink to the shower, as cats can be sensitive to the noise of the shower head.

If your cat is relatively calm, you can go ahead and shampoo. If not, a Dawn bath is definitely adequate. My friends who are top quality Devon Rex and Exotic breeders/exhibitors rarely use anything other than Dawn!

As far as shampoos go, human shampoos are ok. I know several top exhibitors that use them on their cats. These are spoiled cats too. I would NOT recommend any sort of dry shampoo, conditioning shampoo, or conditioner. Again, cats are greasy and your old lady will look dirty again before you know it if you use them. If you want a cheap human shampoo, go for Suave Daily Clarifying. If you think you may try this more often and want to spring for a cat/dog product, I’d recommend Chris Christensen, Kelco, Davis, F1R2, or Jerob products.

Now some parting advice. No matter what you do, your cat will look like crap unless you RINSE RINSE RINSE! I literally set a timer and rinse my cat for 5 minutes. Make sure you get that rinse water down to her skin. And stay calm

[Puglet]

P.S.

I had heard of powder packing a coat and tried to “shake and bake” my 18lb British Shorthair last week. It did not go so well. See, it’s much easier to get the cornstarch IN than OUT of a short dense coat. Of course, I didn’t have a good plan for getting it out. Oh, blow it out, you fancy Persian groomers say? Not so fast. YOU try to blow it out of a massively strong 18lb male who is terrified of a hair dryer, and even more terrified of me blowing on him. Ya, go figure. So not only was my deck covered in cornstarch, but everywhere my giant Cream Puff went, he left a trail. My couch, the rug, the floor - you get the idea. Powder rubbed off on my hands whenever I petted him until he got his biweekly bath.

Needless to say, he showed no signs of grease

(The Majikal Kittycorn showing his greaseless coat: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=651844398160417&set=a.572910382720486.130456.565553243456200)

[mvp]

[QUOTE=oliverreed;7100569]

Barring that, how about stroking her all over with a somewhat damp towel and then a good brushing.[/QUOTE]

@SmartAlex;7101539

I would suggest a very nappy terry cloth towel, wet and wrung out well. Scrub kitty with the damp towel. Stroke with a dry towel and then brush. That’s what we do when ours take a dust bath and we don’t have time for a tubba.

This might be the smartest way to go. It sounds effective and easy for both sides.

It’s also what we used to do to clean horses on a show morning on the East Coast when you couldn’t bathe them. For a horse, it was a towel dampened with very hot water, followed by brushing. Steam cleaning a horse.

But the same might do well for a short-haired cat. A very “wax on, wax off” kind of thing. Too bad she’s so 3-D and flappy and has legs and all. This isn’t like a curvy corvette.

[spotteddrafter]

I admittedly do not wash my cats with any sort of frequency - however they are all young (oldest is 7), inside-only, and super great groomers. But, when I did have my old guy, this is the product I used on him:
http://www.amazon.com/BND-803318-MIRACLECORP-PRODUCTS-PET/dp/B009P710FS

He hated baths - I mean it really stressed him out. So, I did whatever I could to not subject him to them. He actually really tolerated my methods. I used the above “shampoo” all over, and then used a towel to really rub him down (and dry him). Then I would use a kitty brush, as he never tolerated a comb, all over. As he got older, his grooming habits really began to wain - this is what really kept him looking great all the way up to when he died at the grand ol age of 19.

[mvp]

For the rinse-out phase.

Can’t I can’t just make kitteh Crocodile It? You know, the whole body is submerged except for the head. It seems to me that completely submerged is the way to make sure the rinse is thorough.

I don’t have a moveable, spaying-type kitchen faucet, so I’d have to resort to moving catness around underneath it. I predict that will not be enjoyable.

And I think the problem with getting wet for cats isn’t wet… as in Not Dry… but the kinda wet. They don’t like the in-between. Actually, we don’t either. But being Crocodile in a warm bath isn’t bad.

[PaintPony]

I use something like this on my cat: http://www.petsuppliesnow.com/p-2248-earthbath-all-natural-hypo-allergenic-pet-grooming-wipes-100pk.aspx?utm_source=googlePla&utm_medium=csc&utm_content=na&utm_campaign=dog-supplies&gclid=CL-UqMy53LgCFUqk4Aod1lgAhQ

It also works well on my mom’s handicapped cat that can’t groom her back very well.

[Mosey_2003]

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/17/21896754_42b67de6fb_z.jpg

:lol:

[Bicoastal]

[QUOTE=mvp;7102157]
For the rinse-out phase.

Can’t I can’t just make kitteh Crocodile It? You know, the whole body is submerged except for the head. [/QUOTE]

This is how some professional groomers recommend wetting and shampooing the cat: submerged up to the head in a bucket. They state it is the least stressful.

Method and photo =)

[VaqueroToro]

I’ve used the bathtub spout to get kitty rinsed well back when my kitchen sprayer worked like crap. One hand to hold onto cat by cupping the chest behind the front legs, and the other hand to rub the stream of water through the coat.

@Bicoastal;7102347

They state it is the least stressful.

I might have to try the bucket thing if I can find a flex sided one – the story of the cats relaxing once submerged up to their neck has me intrigued.

Do you have a second bucket of rinse water ready to go to plunk cat into (assuming they’ll stay submerged) while you rinse/refill the original wash bucket for a secondary rinse?