Cat Care: How Often Should You Bathe Your Cats?

 Unlike dogs, cats are excellent at grooming themselves. They can keep themselves clean even without our help. However, there are also times where we need to intervene. For example, those with outdoor cats know that it's not surprising to see their cats coming home covered in dust or even engine oil since they love sneaking into dark corners like cars and attics.

According to the National Cat Groomers of America, it's advisable to give your cats a bath (with a blow dry) every 4 to 6 weeks to keep their furs clean and shiny as well to avoid having matted or pelted fur.

How often should you bathe cats? It depends on several circumstances:

Temperature - I'm living in a tropical country where most of the time the weather is hot and humid. In these cases, it's best to bathe your cats once or twice a week (or as needed) since they are prone to heatstroke in the same way as humans do. Vice versa, if you're living in a cold country then you can do so at least once a month just to keep them free from danders and fleas.

Mangled Fur - Definitely if you see their fur all mangled up then it's time for a cat groom and bath. Brushing them regularly using special pet combs can also prevent them from having mangled fur.

Outdoor cats vs Indoor cats - Outdoor cats need to be bathed more often than indoor cats. Regularly brushing your indoor cats can reduce the hairballs and clean their coat.

Fur length - Cats like Maine Coons, Persian cats and Norwegian Forest cats need to be bathed regularly since they have longer coats as compared to British Shorthairs and Siamese.

Self-Grooming Habit - There are cats who take care of themselves really well and they are those who are not that good at it. Take one of my Persian cats as an example. I had a white Persian cat named "Sugar" who is not that good at grooming herself. She can't keep her coat as white as before unlike my domestic cat named "Bernard". So when I bathe Sugar, I really have to thoroughly scrub her to get that shiny white coat back.

Health Issues - If your cat has any skin irritations or maybe has fleas and ticks all over, it's absolutely necessary to bathe them regularly along with providing topical treatment for their health problem.

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