Tip For The Day: Cats and Paint

[Kati Compton]

Cats + Paint == Bad.

I'm trying to paint some trim in the bathroom as we ready our condo for sale. However, the cats don't understand "wet paint", and why I may not want them to walk on the windowsill. But, since the door is wet, I can't close it...

To skip to the end of the story, paint comes off of cats easily with a wet paper towel. I, however, am worse for wear with a couple panic scratches on my leg from trying to restrain the cat.

I have now learned not to hold onto the cat's body while attempting to clean the paint off, but instead to hold onto the cat's legs. Without legs, they cannot run away. While holding rear legs, they cannot scratch me. While holding front legs up in the air, they need rear legs to stand. Again, cannot scratch me.

I now know the right way to clean paint off of cat feet.

[JackTheTripper]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I never knew there was a "right way." But now I know.

[drop]

Good to know :lol: .

Do you have a way to clip cat's claws without decorating your body with your own blood? :mrgreen:

[Janak Parekh]

I think we need to have a "Cat Maintenance" forum on PPCT. These are such useful tips! ;)

--janak

[Kati Compton]

Do you have a way to clip cat's claws without decorating your body with your own blood? :mrgreen:

Our cats only have their rear claws. They came that way. Frankly, if we had gotten them fully clawed, we'd have fully DE-clawed them. I know this is a sensitive issue, but we will only ever have indoor cats, and we believe in lots of anesthetic. It's just our opinion that the cats would have MORE discomfort from being punished any time their claws happened to hurt us or our furniture. Many people disagree, of course.

Anyway - for clipping the rear claws, my husband does it. The main problem is that the cats want to bite the clipper. I don't think he's been injured doing this. He just waits until the cat is sleepy on his lap, and grabs one foot at a time.

It's not nearly as difficult as giving a cat ear drops. 8O

[Crystal Eitle]

Pictures! Give us pictures! (of the cat + paint action, that is).

[dean_shan]

Wow. Makes me glad to have a dog instead.

[Kati Compton]

Okay, I'll give you that cleaning paint off a dog might be a little easier. ;)

As for pictures - I couldn't hold a camera AND cat feet. But let me see if I can grab some other kitty pictures...

[GoldKey]

If you get your cats young, start clipping them right away to get them use to it and give them a treat right after. Otherwise it is a two person operation. One just to hold and one to clip. Both are cat have full claws and it is really not a problem. We had our former cats declawed, but after reading about the process decided to try not doing it this time. It has not been a problem for the most part.

[PetiteFlower]

I trim my cats claws and I very rarely get scratched. Trimmed claws are not sharp. Dull claws=no scratches. The rear claws never seem to get really sharp anyway. The only times I've gotten bad scratches from my kitties are when I've forgotten to trim the claws for too long, or when I've tried to put one of them in the carrier--he REALLY hates the carrier! I have to wrap him in a towel, stand the carrier on its end, and dump him in the top, to get him in there. How'd you end up with a scratch from the back claws anyway?

[Kati Compton]

This might be a way to clean paint off of cat feet:

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/kati/Bath.jpg

This is the two of them sleeping:

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/kati/CatsTogether.jpg

This is the three of us asleep on the couch. The cat on my neck is also laying on the TV remote... Though it's hard to see the black remote on the black shirt under the black cat.

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/kati/Sleepytime.jpg

[PetiteFlower]

awwwwww :)

:lilangel:

[Kati Compton]

How'd you end up with a scratch from the back claws anyway?
I get them all the time. Only from one cat, though. She's not very smart... at all... She just doesn't understand it hurts, no matter how many :twak:s I give her, or how many times I yell at her.

So I got clawed THIS time because I grabbed her with her facing away from me, I was kneeling, and I was trying to get my husband to wipe paint off her paws. She started kicking with her hind feet, and clawed my thigh. Her claws had been trimmed semi-recently. She put a LOT of force into that kick.

Normally when she claws me it's because I'm holding her high on my chest (where she likes to be), and the doorbell rings, and she panics. Or she gets too excited and tries to treat me like a tree, trying to climb higher. This is the smaller cat that's on my neck in the pic. She just loves my neck. Refuses to sit in my lap.

The other cat is generally very good about not scratching us. But she LOVES to stand on my back (with me bent forward so it's a flat platform). It's one of her most favorite things in the world. However, sometimes she digs her claws in just a little. Not to where it draws blood, but starts to hurt. Well, once I asked my husband to get her off of me in this position, and he had his hands full... He forgot she was scared of feet, and tried to nudge her off my back. THAT was the WORST set of scratches I've EVER had. The scars didn't go away for like a year or year and a half.

They both are very much towards the naughty end of the cat spectrum, though. I'm VERY glad they don't have front claws. The dumb cat just couldn't be trained at all, and the other cat is SO smart, that she knows that she just can't do certain things when we're in the room. She'd just scratch the post when we're in the room, and the couch when we're not.

[JustinGTP]

Giving my dog ear drops is the hardest thing ever!! :D

And we cannot cut his nails, but he can sit and stay really really well, among other things. To cut his nails we take him to the vet, she puts him out for 15 minutes, and she clips his nails! You may think why do we do that, but he hates it and he squirms and wiggles way to much to actually get a good cut, and to not cut him!

-Justin.

[JackTheTripper]

My cat is declawed in the front. (As a kitten her front claws didn't retract all the way. We were affraid she was going to rip a claw out one day while we were not home. :( )

I was going to take a picture of my hand and post it but I hate my stoopid work PC. She doesn't scratch but she sure can bite!

Will try and post from home.

[maximus]

I have now learned not to hold onto the cat's body while attempting to clean the paint off, but instead to hold onto the cat's legs. Without legs, they cannot run away. While holding rear legs, they cannot scratch me. While holding front legs up in the air, they need rear legs to stand. Again, cannot scratch me.

I now know the right way to clean paint off of cat feet.

I saw this funny movie on TV yesterday, about a person who want to bath his cat, but the cat does like the idea, so basically he tied the cat on top of his car, and drove the car into an automated carwash. :D

This is the three of us asleep on the couch. The cat on my neck is also laying on the TV remote... Though it's hard to see the black remote on the black shirt under the black cat.


I thought that you have yellow-goldish cats.

[dean_shan]

Kati, who is that on your shirt.

[Dave Beauvais]

This reminded me of an e-mail I got a couple years ago. (Yes, I keep almost every e-mail...) Jeffery LaCroix is a veterinarian with an office in Wilmington. He writes a column for the Morning Star called "From Paws to Tails." Here is his response to a letter regarding bathing a cat:

Dear Dr. LaCroix: I've heard that cats never have to be bathed, and that they have some sort of special enzyme in their saliva that keeps them clean. This doesn't sound believable to me because there are definite "kitty" odors on my couch and dirty cat paw prints on our white hearth. Is this true about the saliva? If we do decide to give "Nice Kitty" a bath, how do we do that? - NSP, Wilmington

Dear NSP: Fortunately for you, several years ago a client gave me a written set of instructions about cat bathing which I am privileged to share with you:


Cat Bathing As A Martial Art

Know that although the cat has the advantage of quickness and lack of concern for human life, you have the advantage of strength. Capitalize on that advantage by selecting the battlefield. Don't try to bathe him in an open area where he can force you to chase him. Pick a very small bathroom.

If your bathroom is more than four feet square, I recommend that you get in the tub with the cat and close the sliding glass doors as if you were about to take a shower. (A simple shower curtain will not do. A berserk cat can shred a three-ply rubber shower curtain quicker than a politician can shift positions.)

Know that a cat has claws and will not hesitate to remove all the skin from your body. Your advantage here is that you are smart and know how to dress to protect yourself. I recommend canvas overalls tucked into high-top construction boots, a pair of steel-mesh gloves, an army helmet, a hockey face-mask, and a long-sleeved flak jacket.

Use the element of surprise. Pick up your cat nonchalantly, as if to simply carry him to his supper dish. (Cats will not usually notice your strange attire. They have little or no interest in fashion as a rule.)

Once you are inside the bathroom, speed is essential to survival. In a single liquid motion, shut the bathroom door, step into the tub enclosure, slide the glass door shut, dip the cat in the water and squirt him with shampoo. You have begun one of the wildest 45 seconds of your life.

Cats have no handles. Add the fact that he now has soapy fur, and the problem is radically compounded. Do not expect to hold on to him for more than two or three seconds at a time. When you have him, however, you must remember to give him another squirt of shampoo and rub like crazy.

He'll then spring free and fall back into the water, thereby rinsing himself off. (The national record for cats is three latherings, so don't expect too much.)

Next, the cat must be dried. Novice cat bathers always assume this part will be the most difficult, for humans generally are worn out at this point and the cat is just getting really determined. In fact, the drying is simple compared with what you have just been through.

That's because by now the cat is semi-permanently affixed to your right leg. You simply pop the drain plug with your foot, reach for your towel and wait. (Occasionally, however, the cat will end up clinging to the top of your army helmet. If this happens, the best thing you can do is to shake him loose and to encourage him toward your leg.) After all the water is drained from the tub, it is a simple matter to just reach down and dry the cat.

In a few days the cat will relax enough to be removed from your leg. He will usually have nothing to say for about three weeks and will spend a lot of time sitting with his back to you.

He might even become psychoceramic and develop the fixed stare of a plaster figurine. You will be tempted to assume he is angry. This isn't usually the case. As a rule he is simply plotting ways to get through your defenses and injure you for life the next time you decide to give him a bath.

But at least now he smells a lot better.

[Jeff Rutledge]

Giving my dog ear drops is the hardest thing ever!! :D

I'm very lucky. My dog had an eye infection so we had to give her eye drops twice a day for just over a week. She sat perfectly still and we were able to squeeze out a drop and gently "place" it on her eyeball. It was a gel so it didn't really sting and when she blinked it spread itself out.

It was kind of gross actually. :lol:

[JustinGTP]

See? Thats why Dogs are so much easier, my dog loves his baths!!!

-Justin

And, they never ever hate you!

[PetiteFlower]

Dogs are NOT easier, that's why I don't have a dog even though I like them. Dogs need to be walked, and they need a lot more attention, and more space to run around in, and you have to be home for them. If I stay out overnight or even for a weekend, I don't have to worry about leaving my kitties alone, I just leave them extra food. A dog is too much responsibility for me.

[ctmagnus]

Dogs are NOT easier, that's why I don't have a dog even though I like them. Dogs need to be walked, and they need a lot more attention, and more space to run around in, and you have to be home for them. If I stay out overnight or even for a weekend, I don't have to worry about leaving my kitties alone, I just leave them extra food. A dog is too much responsibility for me.

I concur. Cats are pretty much self-maintaining. Except for the litterbox, that is. :pukeface:

[ctmagnus]

He might even become psychoceramic and develop the fixed stare of a plaster figurine.

One of our cats does that regardless. Especially when company's over.

[PetiteFlower]

I don't mind the litter box all that much. It sucks but I have incentive to clean it because the more often I clean it, the less it smells :) I really hate cleaning up after they throw up, but fortunately that doesn't happen too often, and since I moved to the new house, the only place they've done it is in the basement, which is totally cool because it's not carpeted :) In my old place they would NEVER throw up in the kitchen, ALWAYS only on the carpet, it sucked!

[Kati Compton]

Kati, who is that on your shirt.
Depeche Mode from their most recent tour.

[Kati Compton]

Dogs are NOT easier, that's why I don't have a dog even though I like them. Dogs need to be walked, and they need a lot more attention, and more space to run around in, and you have to be home for them. If I stay out overnight or even for a weekend, I don't have to worry about leaving my kitties alone, I just leave them extra food. A dog is too much responsibility for me.
Heh. Our cats are used to my husband and I being home all the time (both work from home). They get upset when we're gone more than a day, and demand a lot of attention/petting/lap time/neck time.

While the litter box smells some, we do use clumping litter, and do a full change of the litter every couple months. Plus we use the Arm&Hammer litter with baking soda. That really helps to keep the odor minimized. The cats don't have much of a noticeable odor usually. More often than not, they smell like baby powder because of the litter.