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Can you have a cat re-waterproofed?

(71 Posts)
Anne58 Wed 05-Aug-15 16:50:07

I'm sure that most cats must have a degree of waterproofing, or at least be showerproof, but Oliver Sprout's appears to have either been incorrectly applied, or have worn off in some way confused

It is raining, which is not unusual in Devon, and both the boys have just come in. Digby has a dense (how apt) coat, with a beautifully silky top layer. He comes in with a sort of fine mist shimmering on his stripey fur.

Oliver Sprout, on the other hand, has a somewhat coarser coat, and comes in looking as if he has either been swimming of his own accord, or has been dunked by some psychotic passer by into at the very least a deep puddle, or more likely a pond.

He is SOAKED , fur sticking up in spikes, every inch of him absolutely saturated. The state of him bears no relation whatsoever to the amount or duration of rainfall. He steps daintily through the window and onto the small towel that is permanently on that section of the worktop directly beneath the window to absorb any water from paws, and presents himself ready for drying.

He has his own towel (a rather old one that has seen better days) and stands there while being given a good duffing up brisk rub down all over (including under the tummy and around the back legs, several pulls on the tail for good measure). He loves it. Digby does not like being wet, although in his case it is better described as "damp" or "moist" , but will not succumb to the towel, instead he performs an intricate pasa doble around ones legs in the hope of getting a "pick up cuddle". This achieves 2 things. Firstly, he gets cuddled (obviously). Secondly, there is an almost osmotic (probably the wrong word) transfer of the the delicate droplets of water from the cuddlee to the clothing of the cuddler.

I am at a complete loss as to how Oliver Sprout gets so wet. I believe that there are breeds of cat (Turkish Van?) that love water and will happily swim, but as research shows that they tend to be mainly white with the odd ginger bit, and himself is a sort of silverish tabby, I don't think that is the answer.

Does anyone else have a water absorbent sponge cat?

NfkDumpling Thu 06-Aug-15 17:30:08

Re the spot-on treatments. Our old springer had an incredible pain threshold but would yelp when the stuff hit his skin. I do wonder if it stings.

shysal Thu 06-Aug-15 17:33:12

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa4YcV6VRgA
I sometimes get joined in the shower by Saffron, or she steps onto my chest when I am in the bath. I also have a notice beside my loo, warning that the lid must be kept closed. Bengals are very characterful, and vocal with it!

NfkDumpling Thu 06-Aug-15 17:39:53

Sitting here on the sofa in the conservatory, young pup just raced in from the garden and jumped on my lap. The little beggar has been sitting in an ants nest! They're everywhere! shock (luckily not red ants!)

nonnanna Fri 07-Aug-15 09:32:35

Oh how I have loved these tales, double entendre, smutty and practical. I'm cracking up over my coffee whilst I've picked up tips on bathing, washing and bottom scratching. Absolutely hilarious. I do love Gransnet grin

Anne58 Fri 07-Aug-15 10:08:23

Oh heavens, I have now spent almost an hour watching Bengal cat videos! blush

Mogsmaw Fri 07-Aug-15 16:06:03

I've bathed a cat, well two cats. One was a Siamese the breeder wanted us to show. He was bathed and primped before the show. To be honest a "drookit" Siamese doesn't look any different, just a bit annoyed.
My beautiful deaf white moggy, on the other hand, was dunked for his own good. He came in covered in slimy oily mud the length of his back and tail. He looked like a negative image of a skunk! The vet said to get this off him before he licked it off and the cat shampoo would be ideal.
He wasn't that keen, he liked the shampooing but was less keen to be rinsed but I insisted. He LOVED being dried with the hairdryer. When truelly wet he looked like a drowned rat, or, I suposse , a Siamese, with a thin ratty tail. Once fully blow dried he was fluffy and startlling white, we called him the percil puss
The shampoo was from the vet and smelled of apples, we didn't have to "reproof" the boys after bath night they both could go out in the rain after to no ill effect. Hermes, the moggy had to be bathed several times, he never did learn or perhaps he enjoyed his wash and blow dry

numberplease Fri 07-Aug-15 16:40:14

I do occasionally bath my cat, although it would probably be better for her if I didn`t. It`s necessary now and again, as she`s white all over, but loves sitting under cars and getting oil on her back! The first time she got like that I tried all sorts for spot cleaning her, but nothing got the oil off, so rang the vets, was told we could take her in and they`d give her a special bath. When we collected her, they`d had to sedate her, so the bill was £53!! When I asked for advice on what to use in future, the vet said airily, "We use Swarfega!"

rosesarered Fri 07-Aug-15 22:03:17

Lovely white cat Number, and useful to know about the swarfega, wish I had thought about using it years ago on an oily cat ( washing up stuff got it off in the end.)

Mogsmaw Sat 08-Aug-15 11:17:23

Number please your beautiful white cat looks so much like my lovely,stupid Hermes did. He used to rub himself on the underside of cars from ears to tail tip.
We were living in rural North yorks at the time and the vets was very " all creatures great and small" like. If they had offered to clean 'mesie they would probably dunked him in a vat of sheep dip ( legal at the time )

numberplease Sat 08-Aug-15 18:25:38

lol!!

Nelliemoser Sun 09-Aug-15 08:12:56

When we lived in a top floor flat our cat had access by the fire escape and the roof tops. Then the landlord had the tiled roof repaired with some sort of roofing felt and the poor cat got tarred when coming home.

We used swarfega as that was what came to hand from OHs old car I did not know then that was the usual option.

The cat was very tolerant but as Mogsmaw says he really did not like it when legs and feet and tail were
being dunked in a bowl of water to be rinsed off. We were lucky he was generally a very gentle cat but I still got rather scratched. All things considered I think he knew we were trying to help him.

The end result was one clean but very wet ginger cat who looked as skinny as a rake. He did enjoy being wrapped in a towel in front of the gas fire.

He was a naturally waterproof cat and would happily sit out in fine rain.

Joan Sun 09-Aug-15 13:26:38

My cat doesn't need waterproofing - he is too lazy to bother getting wet

Joan Sun 09-Aug-15 13:29:29

Luckily my dog has several layers of waterproofing, being a water dog (Golden Retriever)

Anne58 Sun 09-Aug-15 14:28:05

Loving the photos! smile

numberplease Sun 09-Aug-15 18:19:26

Love your photos Joan, that`s one very relaxed looking cat!

Nelliemoser Sun 09-Aug-15 19:34:27

My Frankie the cat who got tarred.
AKA Frank,
officially Franklin D'arcy Crouch.

Wow this picture was from a scanned in old photograph. I photshopped it a bit to improve the lighting and get rid of a few marks on the original. It is looking far better than I thought it would.

merlotgran Sun 09-Aug-15 19:38:56

Please can I have my favourite seat back? I'm asking nicely.

Joan Sun 09-Aug-15 21:27:40

Where did my pictures go? Here they again

Joan Sun 09-Aug-15 21:30:16

Oh - they came back.Sorry. Nellie's cat pic was there, but not mine and Merlot's. Then I posted mine again. Then they all came back.

numberplease Mon 10-Aug-15 16:26:13

That`s a very handsome cat Nellie, reminds me a lot of our lovely Pepper.