Most cats (apart from Turkish van cat)
think thats the one, dont like water.  I
have only bathed mine once ever, and
that was when he got oil on him, and
then I only filled the sink an inch or two deep. My back was full of
scratches, he hated it, but it was an emergency because the oil was
worse for him.

Chris

Next time a bath is absolutely necessary, you might try washing them down
with a wet paper towel, then using a pet 'Handy Wipe,' available at places
like PetsMart. They're scented, pretty effective, and safe for cats. Of
course the cat is less traumatized, too, by being wiped down as opposed to
being set into a basin of water.

I only bathe a cat if (a) s/he's new from the shelter and smells bad; (b)
had fleas (then I use a flea shampoo); or (c) gets into something really
malodorous.

Elle posted a good method of introducing cats to the bath concept.  Soak a
bath towel in water and get the cat thoroughly wet.  There will be
resistance but less than dipping or dunking.  Funny how cats resign
themselves (relatively speaking) to further bathing once they realize they
are soaked to the skin.   Anyway, just do plain warm water towel baths until
you sense the cat offering less resistance to the whole process. This may be
months.  Be patient and always stay out of claws reach.

Nah, you did fine. The Tom cat I have now, He's a big ol cat and I've
bathed him twice. The Tom before him...I actually used the shower on
him. I'd pick him up, put him on my chest...shampoo...and rinse...real
simple...he loved it.
Cried a little...but after they are all wet..they give in.

You male cat is just scared your gonna drown him. He'll be ok.
Best to try and let him stand up...but still keep him in check or he'll
be under a bed somewhere. lol. If you have a tub...maybe put couple
inches of water in the tub...they won't feel so confined in a basin of
water. (less fear)

Unfortunately, dipping is good for chicken nuggets but not for cat bathing.

Start the bath by given them a good combing to remove the loose hair.

Then give them a thorough rinsing with warm water, followed by a
lathering up with a diluted solution of Dawn dishwashing soap and water.
When lathering try to avoid going against the grain of the fur.

Thoroughly rinse that out.

Then use a good animal shampoo such as "Mane 'n Coat" which is also
diluted with water. Lather that up, once again trying to avoid going
against the grain of the fur, and rinse.

If they are really stinky and dirty, they may require a third shampooing
with the "Mane 'n Coat".

That's about it.  Sometimes you have no choice but to bathe the cat.
I always use the bathtub, as the kitchen sink is too small and I don't
have a laundry sink.  Having the water warm but not too hot is
helpful.  Wet cats get chilled easily.  Using the bathroom means you
can turn on the bathroom heater, which I do even in summer.  Another
important rule is to never let go of the cat.  You might not be able
to catch it again.  Some cats tolerate getting wet and others can't
stand it at all.  I had one that would howl at the top of his lungs
with every breath he took, but he wouldn't struggle much.  It sounded
like a cat torture session.  Others were resigned to their fates.
Don't try to use the hair dryer.  Most cats will be terrified and will
hurt you trying to get away from that monster.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

From: 223rem <223rem@sbcglobal.com>

Well, on the rare occasions when a cat needs a bath in our
house, here's how my wife and I do it.

1) Take an old coffee can and wash it out.
2) Put a bar of Ivory soap in the bathtub.
3) With NO water in the tub, put the cat in the tub.
4) Wife fills the coffee can with warn water from bathroom sink.
5) I take the can and rinse the cat (repeat until
we have a soaked kitty)
6) Lather up the cat with the bar of soap (do not
soap up head or face)
7) rinse and repeat.
8) rinse again.
9) Pour a little water in cupped hand and wet
head and face.
!0) remove cat from tub and towel dry while offering
apologies.

Different cats need different tricks.  Old Grey when he was about
5 would get in such a mess that he needed a dunking.  He was the
type of cat the vet always used the leather glove with.  Depending
on what kind of mess he had gotten into, he either got the garden
hose or droped over the shower door unless he was into something
very foul in which case he would sit in the bath tub. This is how
I learned that skunks are good at clearing up a stuffed up nose.

My sisters cat Shadow was a very long haired (3 inch hair) cat that
had been adopted after being beaten.  She would jump in the bath
with my sister.  The only time I gave shadow a bath, the tub was
covered in black fur and she looked like a skiny rat.

My current cat Piper gets a bath every once in a while because I
think it keeps her coat looking far better.  I also think that its
importaint to get wet from time to time since they will get wet in
the wild.  The only cats that don't get wet seem to be indoor cats
and they all seem to have dandruf on their backs.  Most cats will
object to getting wet but calm down once they are soaked.  Just
make sure the water isn't too hot or too cold.  If your not sure
if the water is too warm, use colder, just make shure the cat has
a warm place to dry off.

Different cats deal with different levels of water differently.
Your not going to drown a cat in a deep tub since they are good
swimers but they can get stresssed by not having a way out.  If the
cat is well behaved, a few inches of water works well and you can
rinse them off with the running tap water.  Other cats work better with
the drop them in the tub method when there is no running water.
you just have to figure out whats stressing the cat and minimize
it.  For some the idea of water and the running water and the sight
of the tub and the prostes of other cats is just too much.  Sometimes
the best thing is full up the tub, wait a 1/2 hour, pick up the cat
and drop it in the tub.  He will then try to jump out and you can
wash the bits that stay dry and its amazing how much of a cat will
stay dry when they swim.

I've found that if you start kittens off with baths, they are much
more accpeting of water later in life.  At 6mo it will be very late,
its time to start giving the boy a bath every week until he figures
out hes not going to die.  6 baths now will make future baths much
easier when he gets bigger and stronger.  I also would bathe him
1st since his sisters cries will upset him.

Be sure to rinse all the soap off the cat since its a posion. It
will take some expiermentation to figure out what works best to dry
the cat off since they won't like towles. Also they may change their
minds about your help a few minutes after they get out of the tub.
Make sure it doesn't get too cold after its been wet.  I tend to
give snacks about a 1/2 hour after the bath.  Don't worry about
blood in the bath water, since it will be yours. Never forget that
unhappy cats tend to have sharp bits at 5 ends.

Piper will now jump in the bath if there is less than an inch of water
just to play but shes not about to go too near the hot tub again.
I guess shes not up for doing laps yet.

-tim
http://web.abnormal.com