When you bathe babies – how do you do it? Do you put water in the sink? if so – how much? Do you just wet a wash cloth? What kind of soap? do you only use baby wipes instead of soap and water? Huh? Huh? What do you do?! 🙂 The 4 babies I’ve got are starting to smell and they keep tracking through their poo in the litter box. I’ve been wiping off feet as I catch it happening, but still. 2 of them like to snuggle under my chin and the smell is starting to annoy!!
The kind of bath I give the babies depends on how dirty they are. If they’re just a little dirty, baby wipes work okay, but if they’re stinky, then you need to get water involved. This is how I do it: I put the stopper in the sink, then put a couple of inches of warm water in the bottom of the sink. Leaving the water running (slowly), I put the kitten in the water (scruffing them if they struggle or freak out), get the offending areas wet, scrub them down with pet shampoo, and then rinse them under the faucet.
I got the pet shampoo at Petsmart, I believe, though I’m sure you can find it elsewhere. And in a pinch, Dawn (the dishwashing soap) will work, though I wouldn’t use Dawn too often, because I think it’ll dry out their skin.
I know there are other kitten-bathers out there – got any tips?
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Robyn, your cat pictures are adorable, so I know you (and your readers) will appreciate this most adorable cat photo on 365 Project.
I think – no, I KNOW – that that is the BEST. PICTURE. EVER.
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I just wanted to tell you that I LOVE YOU. You are so funny and charming and your posts really make my day, every day. I, wish I lived near you and we were neighbours but then you’d probably get sick of finding me on your property all the time, petting all your critters and asking what you were cooking up in the kitchen. And although we’ve never seen him (not that I can recall), I love Fred, too. You guys are super-duper awesome.
Awww, you guys are so good for my ego!!!
Also, I’m sure I’ve shared pictures of Fred before, but for anyone who’s curious what he looks like, here you go.
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Where did you get the hammick?
I got my Ham-Micks here. They’re a big hit with all the cats, and the one in the corner of the computer room is occupied 24/7 (Elwood’s there right now).
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How do you clean a bed that the cats PEED on, and I have an elderly cat that has started pooping on the carpet. (yea! so much fun)
I’d highly recommend getting a cleaner like Nature’s Miracle, saturating the area with it, and letting it dry (which can take days, so isn’t terribly convenient). Then buy waterproof mattress covers for all your beds!
I’ve also used the homemade stuff – 16 oz Hydrogen Peroxide, 1 Teaspoon dishwashing liquid , 1 Tablespoon Baking Soda, mix together, saturate the area, let it dry – and it works really well for me. (I used it on a chair that the cats were targeting.)
The one thing I can tell you is that no one solution works for everyone; I love and adore Nose Offense – it’s what I use when the cats spray – but someone told me that it doesn’t work for her.
Suggestions, y’all?
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And how in the HECK do Georgie and Gracie look so clean in all of the pictures? Today was the first day I saw some dirt on their coat, from their wonderful nap. But whenever I see them, I wonder how those long, white coats do not become matted and dirty??
I always say that their fur is made from Teflon. They can roll around in mud and get absolutely filthy, and by the next morning they’re perfectly clean again. The dirt just falls off their fur. It’s amazing!
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What are you going to do with your muscadine grapes? I had muscadine wine from TN for the first time this spring, and it was excellent. It is not made in Colorado, or anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line, from what I can tell. (Not that I know where that is, I mean, sounds like it is mostly made in The South). : )
Muscadine jelly! We don’t do wine around here, and to be honest we don’t eat that much jelly, but Fred planted the muscadines, so I’ll keep on making the jelly!
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So, maybe this has been asked before, or mentioned, but do the outdoor cats ever stalk/catch any of the baby chicks?
Several years ago, the chicken yard was actually right up against the back yard. Also, we weren’t letting the hens hatch their own eggs – we’d buy eggs at one of the flea markets, and then Fred would put them in the incubator. When they were big enough, we’d add them to the flock (if you add new chickens to an existing flock at night, the chickens will wake up in the morning under the impression that those other chickens have always been around). But before we added them to the flock, we kept them in a brooder in the garage. On nice days, Fred would set up a piece of fencing, and take the chicks out to what we called their “play yard” while he worked outside.
Maxi and Newt would always be interested in the chicks, but we’d shoo them away, and they’d retreat to about twenty feet away and just watch the chicks from there. That lasted until the day that Fred went to check on the chicks, and found that Maxi had reached through the fence and pulled one out and killed it; no more play yard for the chicks, unless we were right there watching them.
Since then, we’ve moved all the chickens to the back forty, and they have George and Gracie to watch over them. The chicks do occasionally go through the fence to parts where they’re unprotected, but they don’t wander far from the fence, and the cats don’t go too close to the fence, because George and Gracie will bark at them. The cats know, I think, that the dogs can’t get through the fence, but they’re wary enough to stay a decent distance back from the fence.
All of this is to say that I don’t think we’ve lost any chicks to the outdoor cats since we got George and Gracie, but I can’t swear to it. The cats don’t mess with the grown chickens (we have one rooster and one hen who insist on leaving the back forty for a few hours every day), because they’re kind of scared of them. Especially when they flap their wings!
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Any news on finding Aristophanes a new home?
Last I heard from Lora, he MIGHT have a home. I’m still waiting back to hear for sure (graduation for Aristophanes’s owner is this week, so I’m sure things are pretty busy) and I’ll be sure to let y’all know when I know.
In related news, I did hear from Gayle about Princess – you remember Princess, the elderly cat who needed a home because the landlord changed their mind about allowing cats in the apartment? Well, Princess now has a home! She will have a teenage girl to spoil her rotten (which is something every elderly kitty needs, I think), so she is now safe and sound.
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My husband sent me this and even though I’m swamped past my eyeballs at work, I am laughing so hard I can’t work cause I’m CRYYYING. I NEED BOTH OF THESE.
Oh, that is terrible and I did not laugh out loud. I didn’t! No, really!
(Okay, I might have.)
If I hadn’t given up completely and let the cats go where they wanted to, I very well might be harassing Fred to make me something like that. 🙂
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Is lucky Rupert interested in going inside? (I’m so happy he’s fetched up in Kitty Paradise!)
While Rupert is interested in following me into the garage, the blue coop (where we store things), and keeps us company in the garden, he stops short when it comes to coming into the house. Which is honestly fine with me, because I don’t need another cat in the house. We’re just FINALLY getting over a several-months-long spraying spree, and I do NOT want to set the jerks off again.
Of course, we’re making sure that Rupert has safe places to sleep – the front porch, under the blue coop, beside the blue coop, on the steps of the blue coop (the blue coop being where we store a lot of stuff right now; it used to be for the chickens ’til we moved them out to the back forty), in the bed of Fred’s truck. The list goes on and on, but his favorite place to hang out is on the side stoop. So we put a little shelter under there for him to sleep in if he so desires.
Rupert (I still occasionally call him Rufus, and the other day I called him “Rupus” and then “Roofert” in a five-minute span) has clearly belonged to people in the past. I don’t know if he wandered here from someone else’s property (someone else who didn’t have him neutered, that is), or if someone dumped him in the field across the street (which is what I suspect), but he’s made it clear he’s planning on staying.
Rupert is also a talker. I made a video for you. Ignore the human babbling like an idiot! Also, if you look in the background, you’ll see Elwood sitting next to the fence, flicking his tail back and forth.
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Emmy has gone off to her new home. I don’t have any pictures for you, because I didn’t actually take her to her new home – I handed her over to her new caretaker, and then went out to breakfast with the shelter manager and friends. OY, it isn’t even the first of June, and Challenger’s House is being flooded with calls for people who have kittens (large numbers of kittens), multiple calls every day. This kills me.
This is why I could never ever run a rescue – I have a hard time saying no to people and I would end up with a thousand cats in no time flat and Matt Paxton (from Hoarders) would be knocking on the door, and I’d fling it open, all “What? You have more cats for me?!”
I started scrubbing down the foster room yesterday, and I’ll finish it up later today. I only got to vacuum in there with the real vacuum cleaner once – when Emmy was off being spayed – in the past three months. I imagine I’m going to vacuum up so much Emmy hair that I’ll be able to make another Emmy with it.
Fred let Newbery in the room with Emmy Wednesday night, because he was curious to see how they’d react to each other. He reported that they sniffed each other, meowed a few times, but didn’t run in slow motion into each other’s arms or anything. Newbery sniffed at the food, and then asked to go back out. I guess it’s good to know that Emmy hadn’t been pining away for her babies!
So another week and a half, and the little Noms will be spayed and neutered and ready to go. They’re at that age where they’re ridiculously long and lanky. I love them so much at this age (but then, I love them at all ages, don’t I!).
Do you see this attitude I’m getting? Brats.
Miz Poo likes to keep an eye on the kittens.
Darwin sure does like that basket, especially when it’s in the sun.
::Zzzzzzzz…….::
Look at those legs!
Looks like Miss Logie’s going to have brown eyes.
I adore Razzie’s little stump of a tail.
What I didn’t catch: Alice licking Newbery on top of his little head. And then biting him. She was like “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Nom? ::lick::lick::lick::BITE:: Three licks!”
Razzie rolling around on the “Wipe your paws” door mat.
Such a cute little monkey.
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Corbie in the back yard, keeping an eye on stuff.
And inside, napping. I adore the caramel-colored fur on his belly. SO gorgeous, that boy.
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Previously
2011: That look on her face epitomizes ::SIGH::, doesn’t it?
2010: Reacher and Bolitar: Brudderly Love.
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: We have officially named the kittens.