When your Tigra gets so dirty that the stripes start blending with everything else, that’s the first sign that it needs a wash. The first thing to remember when starting to wash your Tigra is: the tail should be the last thing you wet. This is necessary because when you rub the Tigra’s back or scratch behind its soapy ear, it will wag its long, soft tail in pleasure, or maybe rub it against your hands in gratitude. But if the tail is wet, it becomes so heavy that it may unintentionally strike, and then the Tigra will have to finish washing itself. After all, the tail always outweighs.
A sign of a good Tigra is that during bath time it quietly sits at the bottom of the bathtub or pool and arches its back. If the Tigra doesn’t arch its back, then it’s a bad, unworthy Tigra.
You should wash the Tigra for at least 10 minutes, but no more than 30 minutes. If you wash the Tigra for less than 10 minutes, the stripes won’t have enough contrast with everything else. Additionally, you should remember that around the 15-minute mark of the bath, the Tigra will start to purr loudly, which brings pleasure to both you and it. Don’t deprive the Tigra of such wonderful moments because after the wash, it will repay you with tenderness and love. Before starting the process, you need to check the temperature of the water you’re going to wash and rinse the Tigra with. The water should be warm but not hot. If the water is hot, the Tigra’s fur may shrink, causing your Tigra to shrink in size, as happened to Donald Bisset’s Tigra. If you don’t want your Tigra to fit in a small boat after washing, don’t wash it with hot water. But cold water is also not suitable. First, in cold water, the Tigra’s fur begins to mat, making it thin and sad. You also can’t forget that Tigras can’t tolerate water colder than 20°C, because with colder water, the Tigra hides in a warm corner near the stove and sneezes for a long time. (If you’ve never seen a sneezing Tigra, don’t test your patience or your neighbors’ patience. A Tigra sneezes so loudly and pitifully that the whole house might rush to check if someone is dying).
The best water temperature for washing Tigras is between +39 and +40°C. At this temperature, the Tigra relaxes, quietly sits at the bottom of the pool or bathtub, sometimes arches its back (if it’s a good Tigra), and gently waves its soft tail.
You should be very gentle when lathering the Tigra. Don’t rub the stripes too hard because some of them might fall off completely. Never wash the Tigra with a washcloth, only with your hands or, in extreme cases, with a sponge. It’s better to wash the Tigra with your hands because the Tigra is very soft to the touch, and when you wash it with your hands, you can immediately feel where to add more Tigra shampoo and where to just gently stroke the fur. Plus, when you wash the Tigra with your hands, it will never forget that pleasure and will be grateful for it for several more days (until the next wash).
Start washing the Tigra from the head. With a clean head, the Tigra understands much better what’s being done to it and not only doesn’t resist but also helps you wash itself by presenting the unwashed areas. After washing the head, move on to the chest. Don’t rub the fluffy Tigra chest persistently, just gently stroke it, rubbing the fur with shampoo. But the back should be washed more vigorously: by scratching and massaging it carefully. The Tigra will start purring loudly if it hasn’t already. There’s a little secret here for giving your Tigra a gift: first, move soapy hands along the Tigra’s back as if you’re petting it, and then, when the Tigra relaxes and almost lies down at the bottom of the bath or pool, begin scratching the fur, massaging the skin with your fingers. The pleasure from this might make the Tigra jump up to the ceiling, and don’t worry if it knocks over a shelf with creams or drops a mirror. The Tigra will enjoy this scratching so much that the next day it might bring you three mirrors and a small cart of creams, if, of course, it still has acorns from the last harvest.
It’s easy to tell if the Tigra is already clean: rinse it off with a shower, and if the water is clear, it means the Tigra is well-washed. But if the water turns light orange, it means you either didn’t wash the Tigra properly or thoroughly enough. Or maybe you got too carried away with the Tigra’s pleasure and didn’t notice what got dirty. If you didn’t wash the Tigra properly, repeat the washing process, but try to finish within 5 minutes, because a washed but not properly cleaned Tigra becomes sad during the re-wash if it happens on the same day.
After washing the Tigra and making sure you did it well, wrap it in a large striped towel, and for the tail, you need a separate towel so it doesn’t get cold. The wrapped Tigra should be brought or taken (if it’s very big and heavy) to a warm room, preferably near the fireplace, placed in a chair, and the most important thing to do after washing the Tigra is to feed it fresh raspberry jam. If you don’t have jam, that’s very bad. The washed Tigra craves at least a spoonful of raspberry jam. If it doesn’t eat at least a little, it will be sad all evening and definitely won’t purr until morning. The only thing that can save the poor Tigra is a piece of pie with raspberries or at least strawberries. If there’s no pie with strawberries, you can give the Tigra ice cream, but that’s the last resort. The Tigra will cheer up, but it still won’t purr.
If you’ve done everything correctly, after eating the jam, the Tigra will soon begin to nap by the fireplace or just in the chair. The nicest thing about observing washed Tigras is that when a washed Tigra falls asleep, it begins to purr loudly and gently in its sleep. You might want to pet it, but you shouldn’t do that because at this moment the Tigra is having very sweet dreams, and your petting might wake it up and make it forget its dream. It’s better to pet the Tigra in the morning when it wakes up.