My female cat has an undiagnosed disease, most likely neurological disorder.
Beside having balance problems, she has a hard time staying on her legs for long and has stiffness in her spine. And because of that she can't bend to clean up herself.
I comb her diligently but it is time to give her fur a deep cleaning.
I want to order some dry shampoo from the US.
Does anyone know what would be super safe for a cat that has a tendency to allergy?
I remember to have read that you shouldn't bath a cat, but maybe in her case a wet shampoo session may not be a bad thing, provided she let me do it.
Or maybe I should ask an experienced cat groomer for help? Any recommendations in Zurich?
You might also ask on Reddit's r/AskVet , where actual veterinarial stuff might answer your question.
If you could get your cat very slowly used to, say, getting wet from a running water faucet, you'd have a winner in many situations. I always try (not always successfully, though) to get my cats to tolerate being a little wet.
I did ask my vet, but there is not much can can recommend.
I just want to be sure that what I will buy/use is safe.
By the way: When I wrote undiagnosed, it didn't mean I didn't try to get a diagnose - 4 vets, including the head of of Neurology, couldn't find out what she has ...
I have to confess that I had never heard that it is not ok to bath cats till I read this thread. That you don't need to do it on a regular basis, sure, but nothing otherwise.
Mine loved water, so it was kinda easy to do. We got the shampoo recommended by the vet, something that was cat skin friendly and was actually available in any bigger animal store.
It might be worth taking a look in Fressnapf or the likes, I am sure they have shampoos appropriate for felines, and even specifically for delicate skins. Might be easier and even cheaper than ordering from the USA.
When we got our cats, they both had fungal infection. So the vet asked me to bathe them every week with a medicated shampoo. During the week, I wiped them daily with unscented baby wipes from coop (its called "my baby" i think). This was to avoid that this transfers to us humans.
Bathing is stressful for cats. I used to fill the bathroom sink with warm water and quickly bathe the cats. Before the bath, I kept hot water bags ready for the cats and they were placed imediately on the bags after bath while i dried them off. Then I ran the hair dryer at low speed and low heat (simply to have less noise so that they don't freak out) and dried them out. Their fur felt really glossy and clean after that.
If you go that route, one important lesson is to be really slow and keep your calm. If you stress or try to force the cat to do something suddenly, they panic. They are most scared of the hair dryer, but they figured out soon that it is nice and helps them dry out faster.
The medicated shampoo that the vet gave is Malaseb. After 6 weeks of this, the fungus was gone and we were happy to never have to bathe the cats again.
The problem is that she has long hair and it is the part of the hair close to her skin that I have a hard time reaching through combing. Her surface hair feels very soft and I am unsure if she feels any discomfort about her fur.
If I decide to get her fur a deep cleaning, then I would consider getting the help of a groomer, because it would be too much for me to do alone.
But a full bath, I don't know ... I need to avoid putting her in a stressful situation, where she reacts with breathing distress ...
Has she previously shown a stress response to water? Most cats are not fans of baths but some actually like it. Also she might show a bit of stress at first but when she learns the bath helps her feel better afterward she might change her mind.
With my long hair cat, I would bathe him periodically using very diluted baby shampoo and the handheld shower head as opposed to dunking him in the bath. My short hair cats liked to be in the bathroom when I was showering so they could get a "steam" bath, and then they liked to be combed. So maybe that's an idea too?
A groomer is a good idea, but keep in mind that going to the groomer can also be stressful.
What type of comb or brush are you using?
Fingers crossed you're able to find a solution that works.
No I wouldn't bring her to a groomer, I would have someone come to "our" place.
I use many different type of combs, each of them combing a different type of hair. As I wrote, she feels very soft. I am probably the only one noticing that her hair could be softer in the deep layers. She doesn't seem to be suffering though ...