Cats and Water, Don't Mix Together

We’ve all been pretty busy lately, so unfortunately, Thomas and Harun have been somewhat neglected. They still get fed and their litter box still gets cleaned out but that’s about it. Not much time to play with them and even less time to give them a bath.

Daddy and I (well, Daddy mostly) try to bathe the cats twice a month; there was a time when we were feeling pretty ambitious and tried it once a week but then we got lazy. When Harun was a wee kitten I could bathe him very easily by holding him under his body with one hand and the other to soap him down and rinse him. Now, he’s this big ole cat who turns a year old (officially a cat) on 22nd December 2006, who was so annoyed at being bathed that he practically growled at me.

Over the weekend I had some time so I took the chance to bathe him and Thomas. As mentioned, Harun was really quite upset. He ran off so many times in mid-bath that I ended up chasing him up and down the garden, wet from getting splashed (Harun AND me) and looking absolutely ridiculous to any neighbour unfortunate enough to watch the ongoing cartoon.

Eventually, after many run-offs, come-backs and growling (Harun AND me), I was satisfied that he was properly rinsed off and let him go. He ran straight out the back gate and into the back alley. Then, as if that wasn’t far enough, and to make his point known, he went out on to the road shoulder to dry off. He didn’t even let me pat him down with a towel.

In the meantime, Thomas just looked over with a curious expression, wondering what all the fuss was about. I went up to him and said, “Ok, Thomas, your turn now.” Strangely enough, he didn’t resist. He didn’t even complain!

Man, this is one HUGE cat. Or, as the book suggests, BIG-BONED. Whatever. All I know is, Thomas is fat. So much so that I ran out of warm water (yes, the cats get bathed in warm water from our bathroom water heaters) in the middle of bathing him. It could also be the extra splashing from bathing Harun that depleted my warm water supply. Poor Thomas had to be rinsed off with cold water from the garden hose.

Even then he didn’t complain! Still, he did scarper as soon as he could but I managed to catch up with him and towel him down.

This reminds me of our other two kittens – Abang, the fussy one and Adik, the more happy-go-lucky.