Gus got a bath

September 19, 2013

In my life I've had about 15 or 16 cats. I've never had a cat that liked getting a bath and have been fileted, shredded, chewed up, spit out, ripped to bits, and basically destroy giving them baths. Petco charges $40 to bathe a cat and that's way too much for me, so today I bravely decided I would bathe Gus, our big orange male. He's a big lover.....as long as you let him do everything your way. He can be an asshat when he's done something wrong and you discipline him. He's also very, very smart. He has adopted Mike as his own human and he's forced himself into Mike's heart and Mike's had no choice but to accept his new buddy.

But Gus stunk. Bad.

Today was the day. I changed my will, kissed my loved ones goodbye, filled the tub with about 3 inches of water and animal soap, got the bubbles going, put on my gloves and went to get Gus. Water was warm and the bathroom was quiet, I was thinking that if worst came to worst......Gus would just die. Kidding. I'd just crawl into the tub and sit on him. Until he died.

I closed all the doors and rounded him up. Took him in the bathroom, shut the door, he saw the tub and kind of started to squirm and I hugged him, then lowered him into the tub, expecting to play soccer goalie, catch the kitty, throw the kitty back into the tub, catch the kitty, throw the kitty......

The strangest thing: His feet hit the water and he sank down into the tub gently and lowered himself into the water to get wet, then sat up on his haunches, straight back, and allowed me to wash him. Every inch got lathered up up and rubbed down. Turned him this way--no hassle. Turned him around that way--no squirming. No growling, no hissing, no biting, scratching, latching on. And then he really blew me away.

I turned on the water, expecting him to bolt and get stupid, and as I began pouring water over him, he began PURRING. I have NEVER experienced a cat bath like this. Whoever had him before us washed him often because what I was expecting would be a fight ended up being a treat for him. The running water didn't freak him out, he let me rinse him thoroughly, and kept purring until I turned off the water and took him out of the tub.

I dried him off, thanked him for being a good boy. He turned around, glared at me and hissed. He HISSED at me. After all that. Turd.