Bath Time

Alex is off work today, so he and I just gave the girls a bath. Saying that they didn't like it is an understatement.

We opted to bathe Marina first, since she was the smaller one and we were hoping that she would be a little weaker and therefore, a little easier to handle.

It didn't take long for Mimi (as I call her at times) to let us know without a doubt, that she was NOT in favor of the morning activities. She had that pathetic "meow" going on, and that look that said, "what are you DOING to me?!?!" We finally got her in the sink with the warm water and got started on her. Things were going....okay...not great, but okay. Then Alex said he was going to get the towel out of the dryer. (Yes, we warm up the towels for them so that they don't freeze when they're out of the water.)

As soon as that extra pair of hands was gone, BAM! She sprang out of the kitchen sink, over the bar, onto the chair in the living room, then OFF! Alex was laughing so hard he could hardly go get her, but he finally got her. She started in again with her pathetic "meow" and I just held on to her as tightly as I could considering she was soapy and slippery. After Alex got the towel and laid it out, we rinsed her off and got her out of the water. She was all wrapped up like a newborn baby and Alex held her for a little while in the chair. She didn't move a muscle then.

About 10 minutes later, she escaped the towel hold and went off to groom herself (in layman's terms, she was licking herself to beat the band). Pepina must have felt sorry for her because she showed up and was also licking Marina.

Pepina is very smart. Not only is she bilingual (English AND Spanish), but she can also tell time (at 4:45 each day she will come around and start "hinting" that it's just about chow time). She is also smart enough to realize that if Marina just had a bath and we still had the bath things out....then SHE would be next!

BINGO.

Pepina's "meow" is even more pathetic sounding. Of course she's had more opportunities to perfect the exact sound that will tug on our heart strings. I think she needs to be nominated for an Academy Award.

We got her in the water, with the continual "meows" and she was clearly not happy. I was holding her while Alex was trying to wash her. Suddenly she LEAPED out of the sink, over the bar, onto the floor, behind the couch, through the living room, and into our bedroom. And this all took place in the span of exactly 2.2 seconds. Again, Alex was laughing so hard he could hardly go after her. I just looked at all the water over the bar and all over yesterday's mail that was still there, along with a catalog I had been looking at and just wondered why I hadn't moved any of that stuff, since "P" has a HISTORY of jumping out of the sink and over the bar.

Alex retrieved Pepina and back in the water she went. Mr. Giggles was laughing so hard he could hardly do his part, which by this time was just holding her while I washed her. We finally got her done and Alex held her up while I wrapped her in another warm towel and sat with her for a little bit and dried her off. She eventually had had enough and planned her escape. By this time, I was ready to let her go, so she was down on the floor, doing her little "Hokey Pokey" dance.

Whew.

Many people wonder why we bathe our cats. Pepina had to have many baths when she was young because she had ringworm. After that we realized that the baths helped reduce her shedding somewhat, so every once in a while, we would bathe her and Marina just joined in the mix. Bathing them also helps when they start to have a certain...how can I say this delicately... a certain....aroma. Yeah, that's it, it's an aroma.

I wanted to take a few pictures of today's bath experience, but it just wasn't possible. So I've gone through my files and found a few from earlier this year.