How often do your cats clean themselves?

[Palomino21]

How often do your cats clean themselves? What is normal?

[lvpets2002]

mmmm well what is normal = thats hard to tell.. My girls bath & groom most of the time when we are all in bed at night or on my days off while taking afternoon naps..

[JenBKR]

Sometimes it seems like mine groom all the time. They're not awake very often though, so I guess they just groom when they are awake. I'm not exactly sure what is normal, but I think it's probably ok if your cat grooms a lot.

[Glacier]

Ivy grooms herself all day. We can keep her occupied for hours just by rubbing her paws--hoomin germs, yanno!?

When she's done with her own paws she moves on to me. Apparently my hands and cheeks are very dirty!

[Edwina's Secretary]

According to this article....Cat Grooming cats spend about 15% of the time grooming. Interesting to read of all the reasons they groom. (btw....15% would be close to 4 hours a day!)

[JenBKR]

Originally posted by Edwina's Secretary
According to this article....Cat Grooming cats spend about 15% of the time grooming. Interesting to read of all the reasons they groom. (btw....15% would be close to 4 hours a day!)

4 hours a day sounds about right. Add one hour playing and eating, the rest is for sleeping! LOL Ahh, to be a cat...in a PTers home of course!

[Randy_K]

My old kitty did his grooming during the day. In the evenings he only washed his face after eating or freshened up after a litterbox run. He was always slick, fresh and clean so I know he did bathe but just not in front of me.

[catmandu]

IT SEEMS,AS THOUGH,THE FOUND CATS,ARE FURRR EVER GROOMING THEMMSELVES,OR EACH OTHER.I WOULD SAY,AT LEAST TWO HOURS,A DAY.
LITTLE SCRAPPY 2,WILL GROOM,THE OLDER CATS,WHETHER,THEY WANT THE GROOMING,OR NOT.
HA HA HOHO,FURR EVER GROOMING,THE OLD MAN,MADE A FUNNY!!!
FURR EVER GROOMING! HEE HEE!

[janelle]

I also read they do this instinctivey cause out in the wild they need to keep their scent from being smelled by preditors and their saliva has an deorderant in it. They do it after they eat to get any scent of the kill off themselves.

[momcat]

That was a really interesting attachment! Four hours give or take sounds about right for Groucho. I've noticed that he'll groom after one of our lovebug sessions and he "grooms" me right after a shower... rubbing, licking, and the kitty sniff test (could it be the soap?). But I've also noticed he'll do the grooming thing if I catch him doing something he knows he's not supposed to do (he's convinced my hearing aid is a great new toy I'm not giving him). He also does it when he tumbles off the couch.

[barncat]

There is a wonderful book by Paul Gallico titled The Abandoned and in it a cat named Jenny teaches a boy transformed into a cat the rules of cathood. Rule #1 is "When in doubt, wash!"

My cats groom themselves, each other, me and occassionally the dogs.... When I come home my youngest Belladonna will immediately try to lick any spots touched by a stranger...

[Palomino21]

Star seems to groom herself all the time. In the middle of a play session, especially before falling asleep and now that its been pointed out, after we pet her or going outside too.

[NoahsMommy]

I'm not too sure how long or how often, but they all do it.

They all seem pretty clean, so I guess how ever long/often, is enough.

They always clean after eating or drinking...and after snuggling up with me.

[Lightning SuperCat]

Lightning cleans himself quite often-what if the president dropped by??