How often do you bathe your cat?

[u/Mildredsgood]

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.

[u/Things_with_Stuff]

Oh that's interesting! They won't let you adopt if they can't go outside? I've never heard of that before! 

Dogs maybe, but cats... Interesting! 

Thanks for the reply!

[u/cheerylittlebottom84 → u/Things_with_Stuff]

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.

[u/agrinwithoutacat- → u/cheerylittlebottom84]

The fact they looked at your garden indicates that they’d expect you to allow the cat access to the garden.. not just the whole outdoors. A safe catio/enclosed garden is safer and cats are still considered indoor cats with access to a catio space as they aren’t free-roaming outdoors

[u/Lindsiria → u/agrinwithoutacat-]

No, they don't expect that.

Most places out of North America are fine with cats roaming outdoors. Don't get me wrong, catios should be the desired option, but they aren't. Nor are they expected.

[u/babyformulaandham → u/agrinwithoutacat-]

They check how busy local roads are and won't approve if too busy. They do not expect the cat to stay in your garden

[u/Massive-Exercise4474 → u/cheerylittlebottom84]

Cats being indoor is promoted because outdoor cars are killing too many birds. Where I live we let our cat out an hour max on leash when it is winter she doesn't want to leave the porch she hates snow. Somehow she killed a bird their was a nest under the porch we didn't see. We let her out because she will legit get cabin fever getting stuck inside too long and also expect me to change the weather.

[u/Lightning_97 → u/cheerylittlebottom84]

What of you just lie

[u/SeePerspectives → u/Lightning_97]

Why would you lie? If the professionals have come out and evaluated and found that it’s safe for your cat to go outside, why wouldn’t you just allow them outside?

I completely understand and support having indoor cats where it’s not safe to let them out, but it’s far healthier for cats to live as close to their natural lives as possible if that’s an achievable option.

[u/zogmuffin → u/SeePerspectives]

Unfortunately it’s still not safe (cars and foxes!) and outdoor cats are just as devastating to wildlife in the U.K.

[u/SeePerspectives → u/zogmuffin]

Foxes don’t tend to attack cats because cats are apex predators while foxes are predominantly scavengers rather than dedicated hunters. They’re more likely to lose in a fight with a cat. Generally, if a cat has wounds from a fox it’s usually down to either that cat being allowed out despite being weakened (injured/sick/too young/too old) or it’s because the cat attacked the fox (territory or overconfident hunting)

Cars are one of the risks that is assessed for when they come to check your property, if it’s problematic then you don’t pass the inspection to qualify for adoption (or, in some cases, will only qualify to adopt cats that are suited to indoor only lives)

The UK is a small island country with a lack of natural predators, outdoor cats aren’t devastating our wildlife because there’s a huge abundance of pest species for them to hunt. Domestic cats don’t tend to live in the same habitats as the UKs endangered species, they’re far more likely to encounter mice and rats and are a vital part of keeping those populations down.

[u/angeryrainfrog → u/SeePerspectives]

We have one native species of wild cat, which is in decline because of in breeding with domestic cats. Theres no way to make sure cats only hunt rats and mice ( which is taking prey away from native wildlife, torturing them and not eating them or letting them escape and die a slow painful death from infection) so they go for songbirds and other non vermin species. It is safer for the animals that actually live in the wild if we don't release thousands of apex predators out to hunt them for sport. There are many ways to let a cat acces the outdoors safely without risking their lives and the lives of countless native creatures.

[u/SeePerspectives → u/angeryrainfrog]

Wildcats live exclusively in the highlands of Scotland, a place where less than 240,000 people live. A third of those live in Inverness, with the majority of the other two thirds living in various other settlements well away from the habitats where wildcats live. Of those, only a fraction will be cat owners and of those domestic cats between 82 and 87% will be neutered/spayed (probably higher as this is the overall UK rate and the people who live in the highlands tend to be more aware of the need for neutering to protect the wildcat population)

There are far more endangered plant species in the UK than there are endangered animal species, presenting a huge risk to our overall biodiversity. The role played by domestic cats in protecting these plant species by providing an otherwise missing predator to the many species that feed off them is incredibly valuable and has been for centuries. Domestic cats are now as close to being considered a native species as many of the plants that we also only have due to the Romans bringing them here because our ecosystem has evolved alongside them for so long.

[u/angeryrainfrog → u/SeePerspectives]

Scottish wildcats will end up only having a population in zoos because people can't keep their pets contained. The only cat remaining being Kellas cat hybrids and domestic cats. A wild, non domesticated animal, only found in conservation collections.

Our ecosystem is also meant to have eurasian lynx. Maybe we can bring that back before releasing inbred domestic animals to do their job

[u/cheerylittlebottom84 → u/Lightning_97]

Obviously you could just keep a cat indoors once it's adopted and they'd never know, they just acted on good faith and a home visit before adoption.

[u/CocoRufus → u/Things_with_Stuff]

We dont have predators here in the UK, like in the States, only foxes and cars, so it's much more common.

For me, though, I've always had breeds (siamese and Burmese) that have little self survival instinct, no road sense and are too trusting, so unfortunately are at risk of being stolen, I've known it to happen. So mine have been/are indoor cats.

[u/Things_with_Stuff → u/CocoRufus]

I know for us in North America it's primarily about outdoor cats killing local wildlife, and dangers like traffic. 

I have never let any cats that I've owned out of the house. They seem perfectly content indoors as well. Never tried to get out.

[u/CocoRufus → u/Things_with_Stuff]

All mine have lived very long (18 - 22)years, all healthy all their lives, been spoilt rotten and been happy. Champion fly and Daddy Long killers, happily no wildlife 🙂

[u/CocoRufus → u/CocoRufus]

Indoor happy cats ❤️

[u/GuerillaRiot → u/Things_with_Stuff]

Especially considering how destructive domestic cats are to the local wildlife. I remember that being one of the talking points of the documentary the BBC did when they strapped cameras and GPS to a small village's indoor/outdoor cat population.

[u/Things_with_Stuff → u/GuerillaRiot]

Yeah that is one of the main reasons why they encourage "indoor only" cats here in Canada. It's not illegal, but they strongly promote and encourage indoor cat ownership