Clean Cat

CeeCee came to us as a stray that was starving. She was super thin and not very trusting. I feel sure that today was the first bath she has ever had. I have been conditioning her as much as possible with touching her all over, petting, massaging, and clawing her. Clawing sounds worse than it is. I take my finger nails and use them to massage her. CeeCee begs me to massage her.

I gave CeeCee some Bach Rescue Remedy about 15 minutes before her bath to calm her. Then I found all the large empty containers I could and filled them with warm water. I filled a small basin with warm water and cat shampoo. I thought we would need armour to protect us from claws and teeth. I put on garden gloves that are thick plastic and on top of those I used gloves that have those little nobs on them. I used a small kitchen knife to check and see if the point of the knife would penetrate the gloves. It didn't so I felt safe enough. My husband put on very thick gloves that are for use with chemicals.

I had all the breakables out of the bathroom. I placed two thick towels on a stool to dry her. My husband took her by the scruff of the neck and tried to hold her. He had to use all his strength. I poured the shampoo mixture over her and I heard her Geerrrrr in a deep voice. I put a little more shampoo on my glove and rubbed it over her and then poured all of the containers of clean water over her. When my husband placed her on the floor she got the floor really wet. I dried her with two towels and then mopped up the floor. She stood real still in a corner and gave us a prize. Yep, she relieved herself. After that was flushed down the toilet we dried her a little more and let her out of the bathroom. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Now I think we can bathe her more often. I'm sure she will remember this and be watching for signs of bath time. That means I'll have to change what I did this time. Next time I'll have to prepare everything before I bring her in the house. She sure smells better. After she's dry I'm going to powder her with Diatomaceous earth to keep fleas off her. She loves to be outside and hunt birds and squirrels and anything that moves.