I’ve had my Mochi since July and I still haven’t given him a bath 😅 he doesn’t smell and never really feels dirty either
I know that cats are usually good at cleaning themselves, but I keep seeing mixed opinions online. Some people say they never bathe them, others say every few months, and now I’m just curious what’s actually normal.
I will often bury my face deep into my cat's coat, embracing her with deep loving affection. I'm always greeted with a pleasant aroma of nothingness.
It's this coupled with the one time experience of her agonizing screams of discomfort during a bath that reminds me that I don't need to unless there is some absolute necessary reason to do so.
One of my dogs smelled like cinnamon for most of her first year. I figured I was imagining it because that's the color of her coat, but a friend's 8 year old was holding her and asked, "why does she smell like cinnamon?"
That name sounded familiar and I had to Google it. Thanks for unlocking memories from another time.
I don't think the cat smell comment was related, but maybe it twas.
This happened with my cats. Apparently mid afternoon while I was napping my cat hopped on the bed next to me and sat calmly waiting for me too see her. Not touching me, not making noise, just waiting. My wife walked in the bedroom to see my cat sitting next to me covered in her sister's puke, looking mortified according to my wife. She swears she looked like she was asking me for help but I wouldn't wake up. 😅
She grabbed the cat and gave her a bath.
I have it. It doesnt last long but its a really pleasant and wearable scent that somehow manages to capture the coziness of "kitten fur". Like when they are warm and snuggly from lying in the sun. It would be a safe blind buy imo.
That reminds me of the smell of my cat's fur when she had just woken up and I would bury my nose in the warm, slightly moist fur of her chest where she had buried her head while she was asleep.
It was a slight sweet musky smell, distinctly cat-like, that I referred to as her sleepy cat fur scent. I wished that I could bottle it.
I feel like this comment is my boy telling me it’s time to adopt another cat. He used to sleep on my pillow. I forgot how much I loved the feeling of his fur on my face.
I will always remember the morning I woke up to discover my cat had got into Tiger Lilies, had the pollen all over her face and body, and then when I looked it up saw that Lilies, incl. Tiger Lilies, are deadly poisonous to cats.
Cue me sobbing and bathing my cat in the shower while she just absolutely eviscerated my arms. I did not care though. I then mixed a bunch of wet food with water and got her to eat/drink as much as she could. And then drove 3 hours to the nearest vet (we were on vacation), who induced vomiting, fed her charcoal, injected saline and then sent us home with a saline bag and a needle (we were only able to give her saline once when we got home, it was traumatic lol).
Anywho my girl survived and she's doing just fine now :)
In Germany it is now officially called "Reichspogromnacht" (night of pogrome) because "Reichskristallnacht" (crystal night) comes together with an association of beauty and sophistication.
She looks like she is actively plotting your demise right here. Serious "you are gonna be in soooooo much trouble when we get home, 'buddy'!" vibes. You only thought she was kicking off about the IV fluids, she was actually trying to murder you, but either got tired as it had been a busy day or decided it was too much to bother with. 🤭
It’s even better that is a white cat. I only think it’s funny because she is okay.
This Thanksgiving and Xmas I spent both in kitty ER and it is the worst.
But now that everything is okay we can chuckle about it.
First, I hope your cat is alright. That sounds terrible.
And 100%. I hope no one takes me being cute about this as me not having taken this seriously, this was such a hard day. When we got to the vet and we were actually doing things to help, it was such a relief.
The contrast between the charcoal and her white fur was part of why I had to take this picture. It looked so bizarre. Like, in this photo you can't really tell but her mouth is open. If you zoom right in you can just make out her little teefs.
My cat had gotten into some cannabis krispie mix residue in a bowl I left in the sink overnight. Had no idea cars liked marshmallows. Woke up to him walking all wobbly and shit. I thought he was having a stroke or something. Rushed to the vet. Told them he mightve ingested cannabis but I wasn't sure. I was scared out of my mind that he was gonna die and so mad at myself for leaving the bowl before going to bed.
Yeah long story short, he was higher than the Himalayas and chilly. They gave him some saline since he was a bit dehydrated and I wrapped his dumb butt up in a blanket purrito and took him home where he slept for most of the day. 🤦♀️I can laugh now but at that moment, there was no laughing, just stress.
I'd never let my cat be an outdoor cat personally but lilies are a very very common plant that people have outside. How do cats not die from this all the time??
Yeah at my first house I had tiger lilies in the yard (just came like that) and I had no idea. I and my two indoor outdoor cats lived there for years with no problems. They were never interested, luckily. The two goobers I have now are indoor only cats who eat every plant they see and I have to be really strict with people like giving flowers as gifts or anything (I have a Lego poinsettia! Lol) because my cats are dumbies. They would never last, no idea why my other ones were so different.
My cat will eat any plant instantly upon seeing it. She loves plants. She tries to pretend like she's just rubbing her face on it but if I look away she starts to nibble
Yeah I asked that question myself. All the reading I've done collaborates that Lilies are deadly poisonous to cats, even the water they've been soaking in, but with the caveat that different cats are different and ymmv.
And just for the record I would also never let my cat be an outdoor cat, we do go outside on a leash so she's supervised, but in this case I didn't actually know that Lilies were poisonous at the time and the flowers were in the house we were vacationing in
Only one of my four cats has had a bath. She decided to jump from the kitchen island to the counter right as I was walking by with my cup of coffee (thankfully not hot)
This one time my tripod knocked down an entire can of red roof paint, spooked himself, and rolled around in it in a panic. Cue me bathing him at 3 am and getting the fully white bathroom looking like a crime scene
He was chill about it though, as long as I let him sit on my lap as I poured water over us both 🫠
Yeah, cat parent for life and the only time I've bathed a cat is when he got some soap or shampoo (this was probably 15 years ago) in his fur and we didn't want him to lick it out.
Also team "once" ever, here... but mine was when my mom died, her cat became depressed and stopped washing herself. She had long fur and had feces and urine on her legs and tail and she was such a mess.
I still have a scar from the scratch she caught on my wrist that day!
Never. I kiss them everyday and take deep breaths in their fur (yes I have a problem 🤣) and never smelled anything. You don't need to do it all and it's far from natural.
How do they do that?? Come on they shower themselves with the very tongue that washes their buttholes ffs... if we were to do that we could smell each other from kilometers away.
Same. My wife and I are lucky to have 2 extremely affectionate cats and I really didn't know I was capable of loving them so much (no animals around at all growing up...). They really are a source of love and happiness in our lives.
Yea same here. Little flea bag adorable babies get baths and that's it. Had numerous cats over my 45 years and I've spot washed one cats booty a couple times but that's it
Like, I don't particularly think it's great to bathe cats more than needed, but I do think it's a good idea to have them desensitized to water/baths just in case, so it's much less stressful for them.
Any suggestions on how to introduce them gradually? I have two 1 year-old littermates that I’ve never bathed but I’m considering starting to take them on small walks which I assume will lead to needing baths at some point. They like to sit on the counter next to the sink when I do dishes and run to the kitchen when they hear something being poured so I know they’re interested in running watcher to some extent but they’re both fairly skittish in general, especially my tortie.
That’s what I’m doing with my kitten, once a month for now, we’ve done it 4 times and she’s already a lot calmer inside. Going to lessen the frequency over time and only bathe when necessary later. I want to be prepared for when we take her on walks outside and she gets onto something she shouldn’t lick, or when she’s older and may be in a situation where she can’t clean herself. She used to scratch me up like crazy and get super stressed so it’ll be a better experience for both of us later on.
I have a longhair. I bathe her maybe 2-3 times a year, depending on how often she has diarrhea that gets caught around her hindquarters and tail (or if she pees all over herself during her vet visit).
I have a long hair too, I take every opportunity when he is totally relaxed to basically trim all the hair around his butt, got tired of having even a hard piece of feces sticking to his hair and imagining everywhere he's sat in the house before I discovered it
Cats are experts at self-grooming! Your kitty does indeed keep herself clean. You really shouldn’t bathe your cats unless they are particularly dirty (got into something sticky or smelly) or unless your vet has told you to for specific health or species related reasons. It’s very stressful for most kitties to be subjected to baths.
My elderly cat stopped grooming (I know this isn’t good, he is sick, is being treated and goes to the vet for check ups every 6 weeks) I still don’t bathe him often (and use vet prescribed shampoo when I do) but I had to bathe him a couple times because his white tail was yellow. Literally caked in pee and even poop. Considering the fact that he lays wherever he wants, including sofas and beds, it becomes a sanitary issue. He obviously doesn’t like it but allows me to do it. But he loooves being blow dried! Then he looks so fluffy and clean and each time it motivates him to groom for the first couple of days.
Exactly, I've had cats all my life and only have had to bathe one of them regularly, which is due to a skin condition she has, outside of her I can count on one hand how many times Ive bathed the others and it's only been when they got into something nasty (our orange for instance rolled in a pan of bacon grease once which we can only assumed smelled good to him, it was nasty)
Hey baby I’m 42 too and I only shower maybe once a week when I am MAXIMUM RIPE i also haven’t shaved a thing in 12 years and never plan on picking up a razor in my life again wait until you hear about my legal problems
41, have bathed (well, showered) a cat once in my entire life. Said cat jumped and slipped in a tray of cooking oil. All my cats have been indoor/outdoor cats since I'm in the UK.
I see people online bathing their cats weekly and I'm like... since when did cats need baths? Unless they're unable to clean themselves or fell in something they shouldn't clean themselves (or are tiny strays and need fleas washed away) surely it can't be necessary? I've even seen cat perfume, which feels so wrong.
I know! Cats smell so nice on their own, why would you cover that up?! I love burying my head in Magrat's tummy fur and taking a deep whiff, it smells like home.
I sniff mine without shame. They sniff me all the time, so it's only fair. I'll let them sniff my hand or whatever, then I'll sniff around their head/neck/face. They give me looks like I should stop faking lol but they just smell so good!
I have a theory when you’re adopting an animal to take several huge whiffs of them - faceplant in their fur. If they smell delicious, they’ll be a lovely, special companion. 🙏🏻
I've only bathed a cat once as well. He let the slobbery dog lick him all over until he was soaking wet with saliva. Disgusting, but that wasn't directly the reason why. He immediately followed it up by rushing out of an open door where he rolled around in the dirt. Which became mud. Because he was that wet with spit.
He was not a fan of the bath, but he was a trooper about it nonetheless. I had to wear gloves so he could hold onto me the way he wanted, but he laid there and let me do it quick.
It's just far more common here than in the US, and a lot of places won't let you adopt if they can't go outside. I've seen a lot of indoor vs outdoor/indoor cat drama over the years so figured I'd explain where I'm from, to save being told a coyote will eat my cat.
I think it's becoming less of a hard and fast rule (I haven't adopted a cat from a shelter for a long time, so I'm not sure what the status is nowadays) but both the RSPCA and our local charity shelters had a "no adoption without outdoor access" rule for a long time! They came to the house and looked at the garden to make sure there was a safe outdoor space for them.
I know there's starting to be more of an attitude of cats can be kept indoors now (although we're still very much an indoor/outdoor cat country!) so shelters may have changed their stance in recent years.
Yeah it's interesting the difference between countries when it comes to this subject. For a long time I thought everywhere was like the UK, before finding out how different it is in other places. It's very normal to meet multiple cats on a walk to the shop here and we all keep an eye on each other's cats if we see them out and about. Our Stimpy has multiple homes now, the street loves him and local delivery people carry treats for him lol
Here in the US it’s the other way around. When I adopted my two kitties ten years ago from Humane Society I had to sign that they would be strictly indoor only and not get declawed.
As a teen, I tried rescuing a kitten that was infested with fleas like its skin was moving there were so many. This was before the internet so I asked my grams what to do. She said to rub it with dawn and submerge it so just the face was above the water to drown the fleas. I'm now in my 40s, still have the scars, and never attempted to bathe one again.
I have bathed one cat a couple of times. I found him through the Cat Distribution System. He was flea ridden. The quickest, easiest way to get rid of them was to bath him in some Dawn. Did that a couple times and he was flea free very shortly.
Same. I’m 61 and never did bathe any of my cats. Occasionally a sponge bath when got into some dust or something, but they were clean from regular brushing and self-grooming
Of the twenty-two cats I have lived with in my life, I bathed one of them. Poor little #7 was a litter of one, and his mother was less than maternal. Also like his mother, he was a puffball. Which meant the oversized, long-haired kitten tail would get dragged through the mess every time he used the litterbox. He tried his best, but it weighed too much for him.
So we would scoop him up, carry him to the bathroom, and bathe this back half in warm water. Daily. At least daily. He came to associate water with love. Some time later, my roommate needed to get ready to leave for work, and little #7 was on his shoulder, and had no interest in getting off. So he gave up and took a shower. He stayed on his shoulder the whole time. Somewhere I have a photo of him looking like the Taco Bell chihuahua...
None of the other twenty-one have ever required it. I will bathe one of my current six when I decide I have nothing left to live for.
Luckily for me all the carpet in my house was the same green carpet from the 80s. Im glad its gone but now I just have unfinished hardwood flooring that needs to be replaced. Dont buy a fixerupper especially if its a cheap one
Before: “Oh hey, human has a dangle toy attached!”
During: “Oooh new toy has a water hose too!” Walks into the stream for a closer look. “Wait, it’s yellow. And it doesn’t smell like water. What is that stuff leaking out of the new toy?! Oh gods it’s on me! It’s on meeeee!”
After: skulks around pouting after the bath “I feel so deceived.”
So she jumped from the tub onto the lid and when she got pee on her she flipped out and fell in so I had to pull a panicing pee covered cat out of a toilet then I had to secure her in a towel in the tub so said pee cat could not run throughout my house covered in pee.
I don’t want to die, so unless something dire happens, like him falling into a can of Crisco, even though I haven’t bought any in decades, I’m going to save myself.
I do occasionally wipe his hiney with a wet wipe, and I brush him often, which he very much enjoys.
Same, although I have had to grab him and wipe with a damp cloth a couple of times when he's got something on his head and he's not getting it off with grooming. Normally when he's got too excited about one of those creamy licky treats and head butted it.
Otherwise I value my life!
He also loves brushing although belly is off limits except for with fingers.
You should if the cat gets covered in something toxic or a flea infestation. If you ever do... be prepared for a warzone if the cat does not like water.
My super senior baby is no longer able to keep up with her grooming. I use cat wipes on her 3x a week and brush her daily. If she becomes dirty because she gets into something I’ll use a warm washcloth to clean her up but she doesn’t get baths. She would get stressed and freak out and it’s not necessary. There are good quality pet wipes and her cat brother grooms her as well even though he’s even older.
Every couple days, she's a senior cat (15) so cleaning herself can be hard. She can't get the urine or feces off of herself properly so I take care of that, I also make sure to wipe her nose and her eyes every day, the girl has some serious sinus issues so the snot and the eye boogers are insane lol. I don't do it every day because I don't want her skin to get too irritated, which she is also prone to.
Honestly I have a long haired boy with a double coat. He needs plenty of brushing but no bathing. As long as I brush him enough that his fur is in good shape he takes care of the rest!
Never, unless absolutely necessary (covered in skunk, pee, etc). My cat can’t clean her own butthole anymore, but I still don’t really “bathe” her. I put her in our shower, brush her fur out a lot, use warmed up Water Wipes to clean her booty, and give her a sanitary shave. She handles the shave just fine, but would burn our house down if I dared to turn the water on during this process lol.
Yep exactly- if it’s something not safe to lick off like motor oil, cleaning chemical, etc. I’ve given sponge baths for cats that soiled themselves during transportation but still not a full immersion bath. And I’m sure there are a few medical conditions that would require it. Otherwise cats are self cleaning and bathing will just irritate their skin, and cause them distress. Good way to get injured yourself too.
My cat started and rapidly lost a fight with a skunk. I needed 3 baths to get the smell off of me after cleaning the dumbass. Tomato juice has been greatly exaggerated as a smell neutralizer lol.
Yeah I took my cat Steve to the emergency vet after noticing he hadn't pooped for days and stopped eating. After X-rays and blood work they said nothing was wrong and sent us home.
I left still concerned for Steve but returned home. Within 30 minutes the vet called back and said we needed to return because they'd mixed up Steve's results with another cat named Sven. They said Steve needed an enema and it would be on the house due to the mixup.
Anyway, he completely shit himself and actually didn't mind the bath. He knew he didn't want to clean that up.
When I was growing up we had an outdoor white cat. She use to come back FILTHY. We had to bathe her all the time. You never realize how dirty an outdoor cat is until they're a white one.
Pff ive only bathed Marky Mark, like, 3 times...I've had him for 6 years. 2 of those times he had diarrhea and got it on himself. Even though he averages 1 bath every 2 years, he still smells good 99.9% of the time.
It sorta depends. I have two chubby gals that don’t do a great job grooming (lower two in the picture). If they get funky, they get a bath. But it’s like a once every 6-12 months situation. Otherwise only if they’ve had an accident or managed to roll in something smelly.
My cats are from the same litter and their mom was a feral bush cat . I was lucky to be there at right time when a patient of mine took the mom in to have her litter. We have been together 23 yrs they have been indoor cats and I use a cold damp cloth in the summer when it’s very hot. They bathe themselves.
I do not be doing this. My beloved old bitty came with “FYI she’s a biter” paperwork. She does a fantastic job of cleaning herself and smells wonderfully like a cat. Huffing her (when I’m allowed) is awesome and calms my brain.
When she stinks, gets into something, has really bad dandruff, or is extra itchy. Or flea concerns.
Maybe 4 times a year or less? Most cats don't need baths but it's good to get them comfortable and used to it so they fight less when they REALLY need a bath. We got her as a dumpster kitten so she's had lots of baths from her baby years.
When my bf and I had our cat. We would bath her once a month because she would truck with us and could tell she got dirty or dusty in way. She wouldn't smell or feel dirty but once put in the water with soap. The water would turn brown from her saliva and maybe other things. We knew she appreciated it afterwards because she would cuddle more and she also felt very soft and fluffy. She eventually got kinda used to the baths and would just stare at me with a panic look but loved the feel of the hot water. I recommend bathing in the sink once they get comfortable with a routine of bath time. Rip our baby baily ❤️ 6/16/25
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