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Are cats actually clean?

No, they're probably not very clean. Then again, neither is most of the world.

I got a pretty good immune system, so I prefer not worrying about every little germ.
 
I wish more cat owners would bathe their cats.

"they clean themselves!"

your cat fucking stinks

I washed my cat when I had one years back. My mom was adamant that if we owned the cat I had to wash it every month. The first few months were a hassle but once he realized he had no chance to get away he just stopped fighting me so it would be over quickly. Her second rule was no kitty litter and the cat had to do its business outside.
 
Where do ya'll prepare food if not on the counter top? Seriously, that's what it's there for.

Cutting boards, cooking mats, plates, and all those good things. Only thing we make on the countertop is pizza and that sucker gets a good scrub before hand.

Even if the cats didn't tread on it with their shit-hooves the hair that gets kicked up when they rough house pretty much gets everywhere.
 
I don't care that much they're lovable little shits
 
I'd like to think my cats are clean but I've seen how they run around the house after using their litter box. Quite a bit of time will pass before they start bothering to clean their paws...or their buttholes.
 
Cutting boards, cooking mats, plates, and all those good things. Only thing we make on the countertop is pizza and that sucker gets a good scrub before hand.

Even if the cats didn't tread on it with their shit-hooves the hair that gets kicked up when they rough house pretty much gets everywhere.
You put the cutting board on the counter?
 
I don’t care if I gave my animal a full scrub down. They ain’t gonna be on my countertops.

Also you gotta bathe your cat every once and a while. Their tongues can’t do all the work, not even close. Be brave, the claws can be a bitch but it’ll be okay.
 
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Cheesing.
 
When you think about it, nothing is clean, everything is really dirty. Cats are no exceptions in that regard, no matter how many times I see one lick itself.
 
Are cats clean?

Couldn't tell you mate!

But I do...

sniff my cat's breath like it was a bag of glue and I was a thirld world country street kid!

I get a weird buzz off of it!

I don't know wtf is wrong with me!
 
All I know is this: seeing a cat lick its little paw and then rub its little paw up and down its little cheek to clean it is adorable.
 
after burying its shit in the litter box, though, I can't help but wonder how sanitary that is. Isn't the cat just walking with shit-paws everywhere, all the time?

As crazy as it looks, and it's probably also huge a pain in the ass thing to train cats to do. But honestly, this line of thinking could really sell me on the whole toilet training cats thing. No litter piss and shit paws walking around a house.
 
No cats aren't clean. They lick their filthy feet and arsehole and proceed to transfer it all over their body, at least the bits they can reach. How clean would you be if you licked your shoes and arse and proceeded to apply saliva all over your body?

But that's fine, we don't live in a sterile world, nothing is clean.
 
Things don't really need to be all that clean in everyday life. We have immune systems which are pretty efficient at dealing with day to day dirtiness. There's even the argument that many childhood allergies arise from parents keeping their children in overly-sterile conditions.

Cats can carry some serious zoonoses though, toxoplasmosis being the most likely to transfer from clean, well kept cats, but this is easily avoided by not touching cat poop, something that I believe we all aspire to. Although this is only really contracted by the cat if it's an "outdoor" cat. Those who never let their cats out are unlikely to ever have an issue with toxoplasma.
 
I would say this, yeah. My parents have two cats that both know not to go there (or the dinner table).

my cat gets shit thrown at him if he gets on surfaces.

Cats are really really stupid though. My cat knows he will get punted clear across the room if he scratches the couch and his scratching post is right next to the fucking couch, but the dumbass walks right to the couch, looks at me and puts his ears back in 'i'm gonna get spanked' and starts scratching the fucking couch.

you cannot train a cat, their brains are too small. Tried everything with the little shit, reward based training, fear based training, water pistols. I think my cat is a fucking troll dressed like a cat. He also prefers to shit directly in the middle of our back yard on the new astroturf. Doesn't even shit in the dirt garden. MOTHERFUCKER

edit: that's him in my avatar. smug asshole.
 
My cat absolutely hates water and the last time she was given a bath my mother was bleeding from dozens of cuts all over her arms because my cat goes crazy and claws with all her might to get out. No matter how slow you try or how much you try to calm her during the process it doesn't help and the amount of stress it seems to put on my cat feels like it's torturing her. I am lucky to have a great cat though and she never jumps on anywhere she's not supposed to. Plus she's a senior cat now and the less stress I put my fuzzy through the better.

I have literal scars on my body from trying to wash one of my cats. Better to avoid.
 
Probably not. However they are such a joy to have.

They might be stupid animals, but their personalities are so special. I miss my cat :(
 
one of our two cats is just crazy for everything food related; so we have to keep him out of the kitchen during cooking. but they go everywhere, so cleaning the counter is a daily task. Kinda sucks but the cats are great so I can live with that.
 
Cats don't belong on kitchen counters. As far as animals go in general, they're pretty clean.

I don't bathe mine, but I sometimes leave my bathwater in the tub and then she accidentally jumps into it. That way I don't get wolverine'd.
 
Why did i click this thread. Some of y'alls logic is weird too.

If i lick a dirty rock all day, doesnt make that bitch clean.
 
Dogs and other animals have buttholes that slightly prolapse when they take a dump, cleanly pinching off the turd while keeping the butt clean with no wiping required

Cats don't do that though they just manually lick the poo out of their own butt

Clearly you have never seen my dog taking a shit because it'd dismiss any such notion of nicely prolapsing assholes that cleanly pinch off turds. I spent the majority of the first year of his life wiping his ass because his butthole lopped off the turd only for it to be stuck there clinging to his ass for dear life. I do think he must have been doing kegels when I wasn't looking because his turd cutter is cutting more efficiently now but it still fucks up every once in a while.
 
i had 3 cats that lived to 15, 19, 21.

i can't say how clean they were exactly but they never looked dirty/unclean or smelled bad. they were house cats and never were outside unless visiting the vet. they always groomed themselves and one in particular was obsessed with washing himself.

yeah definitely when they visit the litter tray their legs/paws get covered in toilet but they would always wash themselves. unless they had just visited the litter tray we didn't mind them jumping up on any surfaces. they clean themselves and we clean the house. in the kitchen they were allowed to sit on the work top beside the fridge which was never used to prepare food or they could sit in the sink to get a drink of water. sometimes they'd chance their luck by jumping up on the other worktops but when we caught them they were brought down and the worktop washed.

it wasn't until they started becoming older and ill that they began to neglect their hygiene. their fur got matted but we'd try keep on top of it as much as possible even getting them shaved if it was really bad. one of them had trouble when visiting the litter tray and sometimes would get bits of pee on their leg or poop stuck in their butt so we'd give them a wash since they weren't able to do it themselves.

all that said, i would never let my cats lick me. one of them loved licking your hands and it was kinda cute but i always made sure to wash my hands after.
 
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