I just gave three cats a bath, ask me anything! n/t

[Solon]

[fortyfeetunder]

1. all at the same time?

Like did you have to herd them in the bathing area, etc?

[Solon]

4. One at a time, in the sink, it was hell. n/t

[fortyfeetunder]

8. are they all p.o.'ed at you? n/t

[Solon]

21. Yep, you could say that...

In fact I just realized that they are surrounding me right now, looking at me with an evil eye, wait, oh shit NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

[Beaverhausen]

2. Why? That's my only question.

[Solon]

7. Extremely bad flea problem...

that once a month shit don't work at all on one of the cats, and she was badly infested, so I give her a bath with flea shampoo, it seems to kill them off pretty good. She's also slightly disabled, a spinal cord injury, so she can't clean herself properly.

[Sanity Claws]

3. Why?

Did they get into something?

[yvr girl]

5. How many and how deep?

Scratches.

[Solon]

9. Let me put it this way, I feel lucky I still have 10 fingers...

And the hands I have now look like I put them through a wood chipper.

[Cuban_Liberal]

6. Blood type and next-of-kin?

:P

[Solon]

12. Hell, I go to the blood bank before the bath...

just so I won't pass out. ;)

[goodboy]

10. can you please help me with this?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x2295813

[OhioBlue]

11. Ear mites

I took my cat to the vet last week b/c she was acting funny - they said she was fixed but part of her ovary may remain and she was acting like she was in heat. Anyway, we got her first round of shots and were told she had ear mites. I bought "Four Paws ear mite remedy" and put it in her ears last night. She has been hating it ever since. We tried to wipe excess away and I washed her fur around her ears earlier. She is still aggravated. Any suggestions?

[Solon]

16. Cats hate anything to go into their ears, but make sure that it....

isn't still in her ear canals, as far as I'm aware of, cats can get the same ear infections from putting stuff in their ears that we can, and she may still have some down in their that's not draining right. Then again, she could also be all fussy about it, that's what cats are famous for after all. :)

[OhioBlue]

31. Thanks - it keep oozing out

What I'm afraid of is that the box says it shouldn't be ingested. That is why i washed the fur around her ears earlier. (which she hated of course) She keeps shaking her head and cleaning herself around the ears tho. Think I should continue giving her "mini-baths"?

[sleepyhead]

33. Check with your vet.

There is a product called Acarexx which is a one-time treatment for ear mites. Your vet can apply it in the office -no further treatment or ear cleaning required. Much easier than chasing the poor kitty around and fussing with her ears every day!

[OhioBlue]

35. Thank you

I will definitely go that route next time. I didn't know it would be such a big deal w/ the ear drops. (First time pet owner).

I was never really a "pet" person before - she found us and we fell in love w/ her.

Sounds ridiculous - I know....... she figured out how to open my storm door and waited all day in between the doors for me to get back from work. I had to "adopt" her.

[sleepyhead]

40. Ear drops can be a real big deal.

Most of the OTC ear mite products are very irritating. You don't want to have your cat upset with you during the time that you and she are supposed to be bonding. All my cats have "found" me rather than vice versa - that's the best way.

[OhioBlue]

41. Think I should bath her again?

Like i asked in my previous post to Solon...
The box says it shouldn't be ingested, but it keeps oozing out. I washed the fur around her ears earlier, but it is still kinda greasy and she is still fussing about it. Should I wash the fur again, so she doesn't ingest it while cleaning herself?

[sleepyhead]

44. Maybe just clean the ear area very gently

If you have any Dawn dish soap, that will work well to remove greasy residue. Dilute it with lots of warm water. Rinse very well and dry. You may have overdone it with the ear meds if it's still oozing, so clean it up well one more time, then leave the area alone so as not to keep drawing her attention to it. If she is still fussing with it, you may want to have the vet give her an anti-inflammatory injection to ease the discomfort. And do ask about the Acarexx - it's great!

P.S. You may also want to have the vet do a swab test on the ear discharge if that hasn't been done - I often see cats who have been treated for mites by the previous owner but turn out to have a yeast infection instead.

[OhioBlue]

45. Thank you for the advice.

[bigwillq]

13. Any cures for a head cold? (nt)

[Solon]

22. Not really...

if it is a normal cold, check the vet, make sure it isn't a respatory problem. At best you could give them Chicken Noodle soup, I bet they would love that!

[bigwillq]

23. I'm the one that's sick, not my pet!

Sorry if I confused you.

[Solon]

27. Well in that case, get some chicken soup for yourself, none for the..

cat, its GOOD! :)

[bigwillq]

28. I'm at work, no chicken soup here

I'm having a tea, though.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. How many stitches did you need?

And how large are the missing chunks of flesh?

[Solon]

18. Let me put it this way...

I didn't know my knuckles looked like they did, exposed as they were. Good thing no stitches were needed. :P

[Historic NY]

15. You still wet yet?

[Solon]

19. Entire front of my shirt is still wet, too lazy to take it off, just...

a little damp.

[Texasgal]

17. Are you still alive????

OMG! What a nightmare!!! HA! I feel for you! :)

[Solon]

20. One of them went for the jugular, I thought I was a gonner for sure...

but I made it. Pray for me please? :)

[Texasgal]

24. I'm a' prayin honey!

That must have been somethin' else!

[MissBrooks]

25. Aren't cats supposed to bathe themselves?

[Solon]

26. Yes, normally, but we have a partially disabled kitty who can't do it...

and two kittens who learned from her, plus a bad flea problem, so what can you do?

[barb162]

29. was the once a month stuff called Advantage or Revolution? You

get those from the vet and they work very well, like 100 % effective but you have to use it for 3 months straight and it is expensive. The once a month stuff that you buy in the pet stores for about 5 bucks, as I understand, is no good at all. Which did you use...do you remember?

[FizzFuzz]

30. my vet said she can't understand how it is that those OTC flea

drops are still on the market. Totally worthless.

Get the prescription ones from the vet.
(hi barb :hi: )

so.....
my question:

did you alert the media?

[barb162]

32. hi! Yeah, I swear Advantage kills the fleas within a day. Every so

often my 14 year old gets out and if he does the first thing I do is get the Advantage and put it on the back of his neck so my other cats don't get infested. My vet says the fleas don't come out around here until around late July or Augustand they can infest a cat until the first hard freeze.

[FizzFuzz]

36. we had some bad fleas this summer

two kitties (both 14 yrs old) and two doggies ( Weeney age 8 and Pugsley age under 1 year, Pom and Pug)--maybe I better buy stock in Advantage!

I got some spray for the house too, but I hate spraying poison around, and the house will just get reinfested when Spring comes around. Don't make no sense, 'far as I can see...

[barb162]

49. I have that spray stuff but never used it; it has to be poison and

then you're spraying it all over the house. No way. I have never had a real infestation of the house. Before Advantage came out, I would give the cats flea baths but they HATED it. They acted like I was killing them. I let them go out on the deck and as long as they don't go in the grass, no fleas.

I stock up on the stuff although it is really expensive. I found if that one cat (Babe) gets out and I immediately put Advantage on him I don't have to give it to the other cats.

[SOteric]

39. ABSOLUTELY!

My vet prescribes the industrial strength Frontline, - wonderful stuff. And then he gave me some stuff to spray the carpeting with. It kicked little obnoxious flea butts. Infesting the cat is one thing, but apparently most infestations are of carpeting, pet bedding, etc. Making them hard to defeat.

I dosed up my little guy with the frontline, sprayed the entire apartment, and in one afternoon, no mas on the fleas, 86 fleas.

[ldf]

46. advantage works very well

unless you have an outdoor cat, and then they are just constantly being reinfested.

but try advantage. put it on the skin on the back of their neck. i trimmed a little spot so i could get it directly on the skin. it causes any flea on them that bites them, to die. will kill the nits, as they hatch.

it WILL make them froth at the mouth if the get it in their mouth, though. it is to discourage them from licking it.

once the fleas are gone they will be SO much more comfortable.

good luck!

love to the kitties! :loveya:

[Not_Giving_Up]

34. I feel your pain...literally

I had several litters of kittens brought to me by their homeless mommies...big time fleas, bathed them all...those little needle kitten claws are really bad...We have three - they bathe themselves!!! Our male is nearly 15 pounds, and he's not fat, just huge. No way am I bathing him now!

[n2mark]

37. Just disinfect your scratches

I can remember when I gave my last cat a bath....... you should have worn a body of armor for the three.

[RevCheesehead]

38. Is your tongue full of hair now?

[nicolemrw]

42. will they ever forgive you?

some cats are more forgiving than others.

[China_cat]

43. And you're still able to type?

[cyn2]

47. Why? n/t

[politicat]

48. we bathe ours monthly... eventually, they get resigned to it.

There's a couple tricks to it. 1) a HEAVY denim shirt with long sleeves, the bigger the better. I wear my 6'3", 240 pound husband's on my 5'4" 150 pound body.

2) Trim the claws FIRST. We trim fronts once a week and backs 2x a month, or when needed. The round cutters work, but flat nail clippers will do in a pinch.

3) Use double sinks, with water at cat's blood temp. Fill both, use one as a rinse. (When you're done with cat one, you can use rinse water from one as bath water for two, and rinse water for two as bath water for thee.) Use as little soap as possible.

4) let kitty put front paws on the rim of the sink. You can usually hold them down with a hand on their breast with your fingers and thumb resting on their shoulder blades.

5) have towels ready, and let them sulk. Catnip is a good bribe. So is tuna. Don't take pictures; if you must, don't post them to the internet. Behavior like that can get you smothered in your sleep. :evilgrin:

[TXlib]

50. Try the toilet method next time.

Drop the cat into the toilet, close the lid, sit on it, and flush a dozen times.

[48pan]

51. What type of topical anesthetic

works best for cat scratches?

[Not_Giving_Up]

55. Neosporin rocks! n/t

[haele]

52. What type of bandaids did you get?

We've got some of those nifty looking "tattoo" bandaids for the event, should it ever happen.

Haele

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

53. Need a transfusion? I'm O+. (nt)

[tk2kewl]

54. Where are the pics?

not much uglier than a wet cat