Rub a Dub Dog
Okay, I want to hear all your "time for a bath" stories!
For those of you who read the comic strip "Pooch Cafe'," you know he's been sprayed by a skunk and is holding his hated master's wife's cat hostage, threatening to stink it up if they try to give him a bath. They are in negotiations, with Poncho's master explaining to him what "Stockholm syndrome" is. Read tomorrow's paper to keep up!
Tramp got sprayed by a skunk once. We used to go camping years ago, at Piney at Land Between the Lakes. Tramp was tied with tether and harness as we sat outside our camper. Skunks wandered all over the place. One came by and Tramp was interested to put it mildly. The Boss says, " You better put her in the camper." I said she was FINE, she was tied and I was holding the harness as well. He insisted. So, I made the mistake of listening to him instead of my wiser self. As I hoisted her up the steps, she jerked back, slipped the harness and took off after the skunk.
It was HIS fault, because it was trying to get her in the camper that caused the escape. She stunk. We didn't have tomato juice, only a can of tomato soup, which we poured over her. Glen said she looked like "after birth." She didn't get a full spray, but enough to stink things up. He wanted to leave her outside for the night, but I wouldn't have that, so we slept with the skunk smell all night. The next day, we went to a little store where they had a big supply of skunk shampoo.The Boss was not amused.
I've never given Zoe a bath, as she goes to the groomer about four times a year. Peanut never digs or gets into yard work, so he gets one only twice a year if lucky. Some people bathe their dogs ever week, but I read that unless a dog gets into rolling in doggie diamonds or gets totally filthy in mud or a river bottom or something, that it's not good to bathe too often, as it strips needed oils for a health coat. Peanut is a wussy dog, and while he doesn't mind a bath, he doesn't like being picked up or messed with too much. He'll give me the Elvis lip, a slightly curled warning as if he's going to nip or something, which of course, he never does. He'll give a little growl too as I pick him up for the tub, but other than that bit of defiance, he's cool.
Then there is Scooter. He has a thick coat. A longer, WHITE coat. He digs. He loves the rain. He's a mess. He gets a lot of baths...sometimes just foot baths. I had to bathe him the other day. I tried a brushing only, but he had a smell about him that wasn't coming out with a brush. But thankfully he's good in the tub.
I also use an air purifier in the bedroom, which really does wonders for doggie smell.
So, any good bath stories? Picture above is one of about seven murals I painted at my vet's office all over their walls.
posted by Sandy at 3/29/2007 09:43:00 AM
Pet People
14 Comments:
I don't have bath horror stories anymore. We take our two doggies to the Pet Food Center for bath time. They have the wash center, where you do it yourself for $5.99. They provide shampoo and towels and blow dryers. You can bring your own if you prefer a certain type of shampoo.
They have the big square tubs that are at just the right level so that the person doesn't have to bend down. The doggie climbs steps up into the tub (or if they are like mine, they just have to be lifted up there). They have a place to attach the dog's collar if you need them restrained. They have the hand held shower nozzle so you can put the water where you need it.
This is the bomb, let me tell you!! We still get plenty wet (though they do have rubber aprons to wear), but there isn't the hassle of dealing with a low to the ground bath, with a water hose or whatever. It is AWESOME!!! They have tables for the doggies to get on for drying as well. They have the BIG blowers, which my doggies did not like in the beginning, but now they are used to the air and the noise. They also have kennels there in the room, so if you have more than one doggie, you have a place to put one while you bathe the other.
So, for those of you that hate bath time at home, or hate to pay big bucks for a groomer to do it, I highly recommend a drive to the Pet Food Center in North Clarksville. There may be other places in town that have facilities like this, but none that I know of. Since I live right down the road, it's very convenient for me. But, I'd still go there even if I lived across town. It's worth it.
Of course, bath time is not complete until we hit the Krystal drive thru for Krystals (plain, please) for the doggies as rewards for being so good at bath time. Sweetie started that habit, and it has stuck.
Sandy, first of all I have to tell you how much I love your painting! You are a fantastic artist! I bet your vet is happy with you for painting the murals, hope you get a discount.
I dred bathing the girls since they all hate it so much. The carry on like we're torturing them. You should hear them, they sound so ppityful. They only get one when it's absolutely needed so it's not like it is often. Brittany and Courtney got thier first bath becasue they were curious when I was in the bathtub. They were walking on the side of the tub and sticking thier paw in and the next thing you know I had a bath pardner,ha. This happened to each of them at a different time. I had bath oil in the water so they got oily and had to have it washed out. Penelope got her first bath last year when the other two got one. I decided she needed it too. They all have thier own towel and they are cute. I foung these lavender colored towels with purple paws embroidered on them so couldn't resist them.
Well Well Well.....after seeing Matt's picture I must say a tubby with Matt sounds like oodles of fun. Wonder how he feels about older women? The dog's pretty cute too.
My dogs are pretty cooperative at bath time, but it's torture bending over the tub. The place Stacey takes hers sounds like heaven!
The worst bath we ever had was Stella and the skunk. We had a stock pile of tomato juice but it still wasn't enough. I think she drank more of it than what got on her. I ended up buying skunk stuff at the store and bathing her again. We had a hard time getting the smell out from under the house too where Stella had chased the skunk. I think it took about 6 months for her to not smell anymore. Any time she got wet, you could still smell it.
Mattie hates baths too. She tries to climb out of the tub. We end up just as wet as her. We now put her in the tub when we take a shower. She's better about it, but she still get fussy when we try to rinse her.
Oscar has never given us any problems when it comes to baths. He is a perfect angel in the tub.
I haven't given a bath to a cat in years. I do't know how Jazzy would react to it and I don't want to find out either. So far he has had no reason to have a bath. Knock on wood.
We are moving into our new house this week end, so you all won't hear from me for a few days. We close tomorrow. I can't wait. No more noisy neighbors and a yard for the dogs!
What a wonderful painting Sandy! You should do this sort of thing on the side for moo-la... Ah, the story on Piney Campground brought back many fond memories of us kids, mom, dad, grandma and the dog on camping trips back in the 70's. Those were the days...
Wish we lived near you Adrienne, we would help you in the moving process!
The one and only time our girls had a bath was when we found fleas on them. I think I may have chatted about this before but not sure. Anyway, we decided to give them baths with flea shampoo. They fought us through the entire process. We had the heat turned up high as it was winter time and we did not want the girls to catch a cold. We put a towel in the bottom of the tub because we had heard that the slippery tub scares them. We have sliding glass doors to the tub/shower so there was little room for movement. We put warm water in the tub and then went for a cat. Sheba was the first. The Saint held her by the nap of the neck as I would pour scoops of water on her with a large cup. Oh boy, is Sheba strong! She fought us like we were killing her. She looked like a drown rat! The Saint ended up in the tub with her while wearing his sweat pants and shirt for protection against the claws! She was clawing mad and screaming like crazy. We somehow managed to get her shampooed and clean then it was Cheetahs turn. We let Sheba out of the bathroom and closed the door when we started on Cheetah. Cheetah has a horrible scream when she is scared and it came out. She was screaming with such distress that Sheba about clawed the door down trying to get to her baby. (Sheba is Cheetahs birth mommy) We had to let Sheba in the bathroom with us. Even though she had just gone through the tub ordeal, she was frantically trying to get into the tub to be with Cheetah. We had never before seen such true love a mother cat has for her baby! It was hard to keep Sheba out of the tub and Cheetah in the tub but we were finally satisfied with the job we had done on Cheetah. With the heat up high, the Saint and I both were sweating like pigs due to the work and stress of the bathing process. Even though the Saint had on the thick sweat pants and shirts, he had lots of scratches on his entire body. I did not dare go for the hair dryer so we just fluffed them with warm towels until they dried. We got rid of the fleas and they get drops every month even though they do not go outside. I think we brought the fleas in on our clothes… Hopefully they will never had to get another bath as long as they live…
Sandy, you saying how you heard it is not good to bath a dog too often reminded me of a funny story...
We had some good friends in Germany that had a beautiful chocolate Lab named Allie. We all loved Allie and she went everywhere they went. They were first time pet owners and never had children so Allie was their pride and joy. Allie always smelled so nice and was a real sweetheart of a dog. They would exercise her with throwing a ball or the Frisbee and she loved to chase and retrieve for them. One day our friend heard about how you should not bath dogs too often. She took that to heart and pretty much stopped bathing Allie. We all knew when they were coming because you could smell Allie. Their van smelled of fowl doggie odor to the point that no one would ride in the van with them!
They had an emergency back in the USA and needed to fly home without much notice so they asked a good friend (Brad) to take care of Allie for them. They were gone for two weeks and the first thing Brad did was to bath Allie so he could stand to have her in the house with him. He took good care of her and she was happy. He would exercise her with the ball and Frisbee over the two weeks time so her smell slowly came back. When mommy and daddy returned to Allie, they told us that they would never let Brad baby sit for Allie again! They did not know what he had done to her but she stunk really badly when they returned home to her! How funny… We all knew that they had lived with her for so long that they did not notice her odor and once away for two weeks, they then noticed it upon their reunion. We all thought it was funny but being good friends, we never said a thing to them about Allies odor...
Poncho's master made the right call by telling him about the Stockholm Syndrome, that was all it took. That was cute.
I'm trying not to think about how it is getting time to give the cats a bath soon.
OH MY GOD!!!!!!!! Today's strip just sent me over the edge!! When Poncho smooched the cat--I about fell out of my chair laughing. "We must end it...."
You guys that don't get to see Pooch Cafe are, like, totally missing out......Oops, fell into Sandy's Valley Girl speak.
LOL
Pam, why would you give a cat a bath unless they get into something? That's the benefit of a cat--they clean themselves!
I am new to cats, but I really never heard of anyone giving one a bath unless they get into mud or whatever.
Sandy, Brittany may not need one this time, I'll have to siff her better,ha. Ciurtney gets poop caught in her hair and we can't get it out any other way, believe me we've tried and she and Penelope rub themselves against the pee in the box when they accidently get it on the sides so they stick like pee and even though they groom themselves it doesn't take away all the smell. If it wasn't for that they would never get a bath although I've been told by a couple of vets that it's ok to give cats a bath every month if you'd like. I'm just wondering who in thier right mind would like to do that? Ha. Not me. Courtney doesn't groom herself as well as the other two cause she is too fat and Penelope can't get all the pee smell from higher up on her back. It's not strong smelling but I don't want it on them at all.
PS, remember too the reason Brittany and Courtney got thier first baths is because they jumped into my tub filled with bath oil.
Okay Pam, you grossed me out and now I understand. LOL. So far, I haven't had those poop issues with my cats thank goodness!
Sorry Sandy, it is pretty gross but it's a thing I have to deal with. And I have seen so much more gross things with humans,ha.
That’s okay Pam, Monkey girl (Cheetah) had a dingle berry on her butt yesterday! Guess who found it and had to get it off?
argggggg...
Post a Comment
<< Home