# rat shampoo



## justmudtrout (Aug 28, 2007)

What do you use?

I had been, per recommendation of a rat site (forget which now), been using a gentle kitten shampoo (and never had any problems). I have run out, however, and have not been able to find anymore (in any brand :?), so I am looking for an alternative.

Is puppy shampoo relatively the same as kitten shampoo?
Is a gentle, mild human shampoo acceptable?
What properties or ingredients should I look for in an acceptable rat shampoo?

Thanks in advance for input.


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## JennieLove (Jan 2, 2007)

I like to use baby shampoo.


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## rattikins (Jun 12, 2007)

I agree with JennieLove - baby shampoo.

BTW Jennie, what does your signature mean? I've been curious for a few hours now :lol:


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## JennieLove (Jan 2, 2007)

1.2.3 (lets say "Rats")<----means that I have 1 male rat, 2 female rats and 3 rats whom I dont know the gender of.


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## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

wasn't this already a thread not too long ago? Anyway I use baby shampoo as well


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## chrisstrikeagain (Apr 10, 2007)

I also use baby shampoo. I also use Earthbath for my dogs and cat, and that should be safe for rats too.


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## taralyncouture (Aug 23, 2007)

I use a small animal shampoo i got ina pet store. and it makes fiona smell like baby powder. which is nice lol


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

i use johnsons baby shampoo. its gentle and gets them clean pretty well. the best thing is its cheap and found everywhere.


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## Matt (Jun 14, 2007)

I use Johnsons Baby Shampoo for my dogs. One time I used a Strawberry shampoo and conditioner on them and they smelt good for a long time.


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## renay (May 30, 2007)

isn't too much bathing bad for rats? and any rodent in fact? From what I've heard over bathing your rats can cause them to produce more oils in their skins and can actually make them smell. Anyway, what about ferret shampoo how would that fare?


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

i'm wary of using things are designed for one animal over the other unless its very very mild. i know that if your use even puppy flea shampoo on your cat you can seriously harm or even kill your cat. i did a lot of looking into the baby shampoo and discussed it with at least 2 vets before using it on the rats. the consenus was that baby shampoo (and johnson's especailly) is excessively mild (mostly water in fact) and that if a baby isn't going to get sick ingesting it and rats nutrional needs are similar to a humans and their digestive tract so much better then humans it should be ok. but still i watered it down a lot when i first tried it. eventually i became confindent enough that it wouldn't harm them in any way that i don't water it down anymore. 

over bathing any animal (even yourself) can be harmful, especailly if you use a strong or the wrong type of shampoo for you. but once a month or even once a week (though you probably won't need to do it that often and you probably won't want to anyway with how much scratching you'll get) for your rat should be fine if you use a very mild soap, and make sure to rinse all the soap off completely.


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## cjshrader (Feb 15, 2007)

I'm throwing in a vote for baby shampoo.

And yes Renay, you shouldn't bathe them too much. I think it will dry out their skin or something. I rarely bathe my rats, maybe once every couple months. They also hate it.


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## Matt (Jun 14, 2007)

Ive yet to bathe the boys.


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

some people don't bathe their rats. 

i have rather messy girls who would seem that they would rather bathe in their food or paint their cage with it instead of eat it so much. that and i'm allergic to the buck grease on intact males so stewart would get bathed a bit more often (went in for his neuter this morning though, so soon he won't have to get as many baths). 

i think it depends on the rats and the cage set-up and how often and well you keep the cage clean too; as well as personal tastes and issues as to whether the rats needs baths. i don't like it when my white girls turn pink either so even if they weren't so messy they would still get baths


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## taralyncouture (Aug 23, 2007)

I give fiona a bath if we're going out somewhere and she's going with me, like to the mall or my moms house or something. but other than that she gets bathed once every two weeks. and it seems to work. minus the nail "stabs" not scratches STABS


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## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

I bathe my boys about once a month because they are messy. When they get their left overs (especially spaghetti) they don't bother taking the food out of the bowl they just jump in the bowl and eat there. It is funny cause the sauce tinits iriquoid orange for a while LoL


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## mopydream44 (Jun 10, 2007)

ya might say their saucy......... uhhh yeah i know that was terrible lol


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## rattikins (Jun 12, 2007)

MopyDream44 said:


> ya might say their saucy......... uhhh yeah i know that was terrible lol


:lol:

Very funny, Mopy!!


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## rattikins (Jun 12, 2007)

JennieLove said:


> 1.2.3 (lets say "Rats")<----means that I have 1 male rat, 2 female rats and 3 rats whom I dont know the gender of.


15 kitties? My goodness!! 8O 

Do you live in a rural area?


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## Kbomblives (Jul 30, 2007)

Out of my 5 rats I have bathed only two. I minimally bathed Bernie after he suffered his injury and although Milla gets really stressed I have bathed her several times because she always winds up with mysterious stuff all over her. I use "Squeaky Clean Critter Shampoo" which you can find in pretty much any pet store. It's tearless and it's supposed to smell like baby powder.. I don't think it really smells like baby powder, but it smells clean.


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## Sparker (Jun 17, 2007)

I only bathe them when they get into something (like vaseline, it happened a couple weeks ago) or something like that. But not on a regular basis. 

I also use baby shampoo.


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## mopydream44 (Jun 10, 2007)

I can't help myself sometimes lol


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## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

That was hilarious mostly because my son used to pronounce sorry as saucey LoL


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## justmudtrout (Aug 28, 2007)

*slaps forehead* Baby shampoo should have been obvious to me but for some reason it was not lol. Thanks for all of the input. Just for the record, I bathe my rats once in a while according to whether or not they need it - ususally it's buck grease build up that I give them baths for.


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## rattikins (Jun 12, 2007)

Okay so again I'm asking this - I don't bathe my girls at all, but is it beneficial to them, even if they don't look dirty? Thanks!


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## Forensic (Apr 12, 2007)

Providing they aren't dirty and they clean themselves just fine and you aren't reacting to them (allergies, etc), then there's really no need to subject them to bathing.


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