A few months back, we got a new kitten.

Like anything new brought into my home, I wanted to make sure she was nice and clean. With dishes, I do this so I can eat off of them without worrying, but with a kitten it’s more of a “I want to rub my face in her fur without imagining her sleeping in or near her shelter litter box.”

I had to wait until I was sure she’d healed from spaying, as her stitches were water-soluble, and while I waited I looked around for some cat shampoo that wasn’t flea and tick.

I couldn’t find any at our grocery store or home improvement store (both of which had pet aisles). I’m sure we could have hunted up a pet store or ordered some online, but I only wanted to give her one bath, so I decided to look up whether or not it’s okay to bathe your cat with human shampoo.

Some people said that they did so, and mentioned the brand they used. Johnson’s Baby Shampoo seemed like a favorite, though one woman with a show cat swore by something fancier. Others said to only use cat shampoo because cat skin is more delicate than human skin, and some even hinted that it would make you an Irresponsible Kitty Parent if you used human shampoo. Still others said you never have to wash your cat because they take care of it themselves.

This is what I know: it did not bother my three month old kitten at all to resort to human shampoo (Herbal Essences Clarifying, apple-scented). Just be sure your water is lukewarm, that your cat doesn’t have a preexisting skin condition (if they seem to, contact your vet instead of trying to wash it away), be sure that the shampoo is mild (no chemicals for special hair types), be sure to rinse the soap out of their fur until you see no more soap bubbles (I helped at a zoo once and you don’t leave any sort of soap traces anywhere near animals), and monitor your cat for a day or two afterward to make sure the bath didn’t dry out or irritate it’s skin (to be safe).

If you’re like me and you do stupid things like slather Neosporin on your cheek where your kitten scratched you and then press that cheek against her fur in three places before realizing what you just did, you will occasionally need to wash your cat. But unless you have a cat who cannot wash him or her self, this shouldn’t need to happen except whenever your cat gets smelly or extra-dirty (ceiling renovation, anyone?). If you can find cat shampoo easily, it’s nice to have that waiting in a cupboard for emergencies (I’d found some by the time of Alice’s Neosporin bath). If you can’t find cat shampoo in your normal pet aisles, I haven’t found that a mild human shampoo hurts anything.

I’m not a cat purist by any means. I can’t live without them (in college, when I couldn’t have them in my apartment, I went to pet stores to get my “fix”), but I think of our living arrangements as a trade-off. They get all their medical needs, food, shelter, litter box, locator chips, and legal papers. They’re also inside cats, which is more work for us but will give them longer lifespans. In return, I demand a few . . . conveniences. Such as declawing, cuddles, and baths when I think they need them.

I might be a bad kitty-mama to some people, but my cats seem perfectly happy and it’s their opinion that matters to me. Not those of random strangers.

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Addendum: This is based on my own experience and is not a professional opinion. Consulting a vet is always better than asking random people what they think. If you are at all worried about human shampoo harming your pet, buy the appropriate pet shampoo (if for no other reason than to set your mind at ease).