I did something today that I’d never done before at the cats-only boarding facility. It was a feat of Olympian proportions: I bathed four cats.
Not all at the same time, mind you — that would be a recipe for disaster for sure.
We’re approaching full capacity at the boarding facility this weekend; as I type this, we have forty-eight guests. (Between Christmas and New Year’s, we hit sixty-five guests.) So it’s not surprising that we have many guests who have signed up for extras — special treats or grooming services. Generally, we try to schedule a bath for at least three days before the cat is due to go home. That way, if things are extra busy one day, we still have the cushion of another day or two to handle the grooming work.
The big wipe-off board of grooming services is pretty full this weekend. Three cats were due for baths today and a fourth had been on the list for yesterday (the folks working didn’t get to it). I was feeling brave (or stupid) and volunteered to do the grooming work while my coworkers tackled the chore of feeding forty-eight cats.
One of the cats on the list was the one who used me as a scratching post last week. She was surprisingly good about having her bath — after a few attempts to get out of the sink, she sat there and let me do my work. Her big brother (and I do mean big — he weighs close to twenty pounds) was easy as pie. He just sat there and purred while I scrubbed him and rinsed him. After the bath, he even let me trim his toenails. What a good natured guy!
Since we only have two dryers, I had to take a break before tackling the last two baths. I should have saved the big guy for last, because he was so easy. Bath number three was very vocal about his displeasure. YOW! WOW! YOW! I tried to make it quick for both our sakes. The last bath was pretty typical of my bathing experiences with cats. She tried to get away a few times and we both ended up soaked.
Four baths in one day (plus I managed to do two toenail trims without a helper, too). Not bad! I don’t think I’m going to want to try to beat my record any time soon.