How often do you bathe your filthy sphynx?

[RandE]

Jade has to be the dirtiest cat I have ever met! She has been home 4 days and got her first bath tonight. She was turning brown down her neck and belly and the top of her head. =/ (well also my 2 year old was petting her with sticky maple syrup fingers lol). Any one else have a cat that is either dirtier than usual or shows dirt quickly? How often do you bathe? I don't want to dry out her skin so I'm a little worried about it. What do you do to try to extend time between baths?

 

[zoinks]

I have two sphynx - Dippy and Alfie from different breeders. Dippy is 10 times as dirty!!! or maybe it's just more noticable as he is white. I swear 3 days after bath day he is oily. But for some reason, a few days later he gets mysteriously cleaner.

I bathe Dippy once a week and Alfie once every 2 weeks. I probably wouldn't do more than that, in between I use wipes on any very dirty parts if I have to.

 

[Catzzzmeow]

I bathe our 3 babies every week. I think Jouët could go every 2 weeks, but she does not seem to have sensitive skin so it is easier to just do all of them. Although her skin is cleaner, her nails and ears need a good cleaning , so why not do the whole kit and kaboodle? I will say if you do not rinse well and then rinse again, I have found they get dirty very fast.


patti

 

[assibassi]

i used to bathe Hairy once a week, but now with the D'grease shampoo i do Rooka and Hairy every 2 to 2 1/2 weeks.

 

[Catzzzmeow]

@assibassi do have to agree D'grease is working wonderfully here as well.

Patti

 

[RandE]

I used my son's baby wash. It's got shea butter in it to prevent dry skin on him. Hopefully it will help- she doesn't seem overly greasy, but just DIRTY. lol.

Also, I read that you are not supposed to put ear cleaner directly into the ear canal but on a piece of cloth or cotton. The directions on the bottle I got says to put it liberally into the canal and massage the base of the ear then wipe clean. Is that ok to use? She seems to be quite waxy so I want to make sure her ears are very clean to minimize the risk of ear infection (which she has already had one).

 

[RandE]

I have two sphynx - Dippy and Alfie from different breeders. Dippy is 10 times as dirty!!! or maybe it's just more noticable as he is white. I swear 3 days after bath day he is oily. But for some reason, a few days later he gets mysteriously cleaner.

I bathe Dippy once a week and Alfie once every 2 weeks. I probably wouldn't do more than that, in between I use wipes on any very dirty parts if I have to.

The white cat may be the problem. Jade is white as well and just seems to get diry quickly.

 

[Calicocious]

I have two girls, sisters, and one gets dirtier than the other. For both they get the sphynx "rust" on the neck and belly the very next day. Samara seems to collect more dirt than Phiona. I've noticed it appears more if they are under the covers a lot and get sweaty. I bath both once a week and tried keeping shirts on them to absorb oils. I use wipes if they start getting too "rusty". Another thought is the litter. Some litters have more dust that can stick to them or the color of the litter makes it more noticeable. All in all, just part of having a sphynx.

 

[Hairless Blessing]

I bathe Izmae every week, if I get really busy I might skip a week. But, she isn't that bad.
Her ears of course needs it twice a week. Yes, it's ok to put the ear cleaner in the ear canal.
I do, then massage and let the head shaking begin. Then, I clean the ears.

 

[andreanar]

I have 2 sphynxies, and I bathe once a week. Archie can go 2 weeks but Jinx is dirty the day after her bath. I dont know if the degree of baldness is a factor or what. Jinx is baldy bald and Archie is velvety furred, with hair on his feet, ears and face and tail.

 

[PrimateLove]

We bathe our girls once a week, usually over the weekend.

 

[RandE]

I bought some waterless kitty shampoo at the store today. Wondering if anyone uses this on the icky spots in between baths? Like under the arms and on the neck? It says it contains aloe to keep the skin from drying out and it supposedly leaves no residue- has anyone tried anything like this? If so, how did it work? Did it make it worse?

 

[andreanar]

I have used waterless shampoo on my fur cat and my dogs. Im not sure if it would cause your sphynxie to produce more oils, or if it may cause more dust/dirt to stick to her skin. I just use a warm, damp washcloth between baths.

 

[Cattitude]

I try to wait and do Yoko every two weeks because she HATES baths, and goes berserk when I get her wet - full-blown biting and sinking claws into my flesh berserk, like a child having a tantrum. Also, I find that if I bathe her less frequently she doesn't get as dirty. I use a soap-free mild dog shampoo and it seems to do the job. Sometimes if she's really grubby I use J&J baby wash.

Between baths, I clean Yoko's eyes and face daily with a baby wipe. I also use a wipe wrapped around my finger to clean her ears when they need it, and the wipes are great to clean her claws when I clip them. Wipes can also be used for spot cleaning of the body and bum between baths.

I have also tried spray-on waterless cat shampoo, but Yoko hates to be sprayed. I still use it to spray onto a wipe for the heavy-duty cleaning jobs (i.e. the "little brown eye").

 

[Ickushouse]

Little Eudo has been getting a bath on Saturdays. I clean his eyes daily. His chin and butt get wiped constantly (with a damp cloth or wipe). His ears get Q-tipped about every other day and Q-tipped with cleanser about 2x week. Midweek I will wash his face and neck with a warm washcloth. He likes the terrycloth rubbing on the neck.

Oh yeah, the nails.... His goo is industrial and will only come off after some soaking in the tub and soaping up= I do this on Saturdays with the bath.

 

[andreanar]

Little Eudo has been getting a bath on Saturdays. I clean his eyes daily. His chin and butt get wiped constantly (with a damp cloth or wipe). His ears get Q-tipped about every other day and Q-tipped with cleanser about 2x week. Midweek I will wash his face and neck with a warm washcloth. He likes the terrycloth rubbing on the neck.

Oh yeah, the nails.... His goo is industrial and will only come off after some soaking in the tub and soaping up= I do this on Saturdays with the bath.

We got the industrial strong nail goo here too, sigh. I have to scrape it off with my fingernail about 2x a week.

 

[gothicmist]

Leia I do everyweek. Spencer every two.

 

[amikhaylov4]

Every 2-3 weeks depending on how dirty he is. Dexter usually does a really good job of cleaning himself clean...it's his ears and nails that need more attention.

 

[Ashdm]

Once a week even though he hates a bath, cries, wants out etc. He's all black so I find it hard to tell how grubby he is. He doesn't really stain the bed covers when he sleeps with us or anything so he can't be too bad.
I find his ears the easiest thing funnily enough, we do them once a week with ear cleaner and they're not really dirty in the grand scheme, a q-tip in each ear, checking all the little folds and he rarely has very much to clean.
I'm thinking I might change it to every two weeks. Iv just always kept it weekly like the breeder did!

 

[RandE]

The first time I bathed Jade I did it in the kitchen sink. It was a nightmare! She was trying to get out and just not happy. Tonight I bathed her in the bathtub with a towel on the bottom and she was MUCH better! Just stood there for most of it. Thank goodness!

 

[GizmosMommy]

I have to give Giz a bath once a week. He gets soooo nasty and his ears are the worst lol.

 

[rlewis899]

I used my son's baby wash. It's got shea butter in it to prevent dry skin on him. Hopefully it will help- she doesn't seem overly greasy, but just DIRTY. lol.

Also, I read that you are not supposed to put ear cleaner directly into the ear canal but on a piece of cloth or cotton. The directions on the bottle I got says to put it liberally into the canal and massage the base of the ear then wipe clean. Is that ok to use? She seems to be quite waxy so I want to make sure her ears are very clean to minimize the risk of ear infection (which she has already had one).

When my girls had really waxy ears (and before I learned how to clean them real good) I had to use the prescription ear cleaner twice a day on a cotton ball. Soak it really good and massage. Before you let them go you have to dig around real good with q-tip. The vet showed me a diagram of the entire ear and showed me how to swab out the mess, I was being too fearful and wasn't doing a good job. Now they rarely get any was build up and I don't clean them but maybe twice a month if even that, just when I see some crud.

As far as baths, mine get one once or twice a month. Faces and buttes get more cleanings as needed.

 

[Rosered13]

My baby is very light colored so dirt shows up on her pretty easily. When I first got her, I was bathing her once a week and she would always get instantly dirty again! She would be spotless for only the first day and after that she looked filthy. So I started bathing her every two weeks instead and after waiting 2 weeks between baths just a couple times, she actually stays a lot cleaner now. Of course I do take some baby wipes or a warm wash cloth and do some light spot cleaning as needed and ears and nails as needed. Every Sphynx is different so it's just about finding out what is best for their skin type, I was definitely bathing my baby too much. At first her dirty spots under her arms and around her neck bothered me and I had to clean then instantly, I felt like a bad mom if I left them dirty like that, but if you just leave them be they will magically disappear after a couple days! lol. My best guess is that after we bath our Sphynx, the body produces a lot of oil to make up for what you washed off and it takes a couples days for it to even out again. That's just a guess though! lol