How to Bathe a Rat

When most people think of rats they think of dirty, smelly creatures. Rats are in fact very clean animals, frequently cleaning themselves or each other. If you have a pet rat it's usually not necessary to bathe him, but in case you must you can make bathing your pet rat easier on both of you if you follow a few steps.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Kitchen sink
• Two towels
• Pet shampoo
• Rat treat

1. Hold your rat in one arm while you use the other to turn on the tap water. Use gently running, lukewarm water.

2. Place your rat in the stream of water. Hold him gently yet firmly and make sure no water gets on his head, in his eyes or in his ears.

3. Remove your rat from the water.

4. Add a small amount of pet shampoo to your hand and rub it into the rat's fur, again avoiding the head area.

5. Put your rat back under the gently running water and rinse all of the soap out.

6. Wrap a towel around him and gently rub him dry.

7. Give your pet rat a treat to reward him for tolerating the bath and to teach him that bath time can be a good thing.

Tips & Warnings

• If you bathe your pet rat in the winter make sure you dry him well so he doesn't get chilled.
• Your rat may not like getting his bath. When you bathe your pet rat make sure you have a gentle and firm hold on him during the bathing process so he doesn't escape.

[prettyevil]

on 5/7/2009 Soap is uneccessary when bathing a rat. You can just use warm water by itself to clean them up. Using soap can cause skin irritation and itching.

[orick8]

on 3/9/2009 My vet told us to use cat shampoo as this was the least harmful one at retail stores. We also use a real hair little brush. We brush them backwards as we blow dry them in winter. As long as you hold your fingers over their ears they will allow you to do this. Of course do not keep the blower in one spot as this will burn anyone. I hope this is helpful.