hehehe.. I was just reading someone's blog about when they bathed their cat. It reminded me of how much I really hate bathing my pets. I always think I'm going to enjoy it, but I'll get started and part way through think to myself "This sucks! Stupid stinky animal!" (ok, that was really just what I thought when washing the dog)... I guess I've been traumatized about giving pets a bath. I had a cat from the time I was a sophmore in highschool until the second year I was married. She was a chubby orange tabby with a bad temper and vendictive nature... God I loved that cat. She was declawed, (she never scratched anyway... she climbed that's why she got declawed), she bit.. hard... drew blood most times... she wasn't fucking around if she didn't like you... and... well she didn't like hardly anyone except me. Anyway, the first time I had to bathe the cat she was about a year old and was already declawed. She needed a bath and I didn't want to pay for the vet to do something I could do. My mother agreed that she would help me, after all it was just a 14 lb cat and the two of us... I got everything ready in a basin in the tub and mom sat to the side with towels. I had the cat firmly by the scruff of the neck with one hand and by her back feet with the other and started lowering her into the basin of water. She was unhappy but didn't really do much... until... the first drop of water touched her fur. The cat transformed... I am not lieing.. this chubby 14 lb cat suddenly had the strength of a bull... She let out an unGodly howl that gives me chills up my spine even now thinking about it. Sinnamon started contorting her body and grabbing onto the side of the tub to get out. I still had her by the scruff of the neck - much tighter now... My mother joined in to help me get her into the water, we got her doused, then wresled some more, then soap, some more dousing.. by this time, mom and I were exhausted, soaked and bleeding. We moved back and moved clear of the tub.. that cat shot out of the tub and down the stairs so fast I only saw an orange blur. Sinnamon had managed to bite the hand I had on the back of her neck, not once but three times, I had scratches from my wrist to my elbow of both arms (she still had back claws) I had another bite on my other hand, right between the thumb and index finger (she bit so hard there I had a bruise for a week), mom had 3 bites and various scratches also.. All this took place is less than 5 minutes... Took us half an hour to patch up our wounds with band aids and Neosporin and clean up the bathroom.... from then on I paid the vet to bathe her once a year... except one year.. (I must have lost my mind) After I was married, Sinnamon needed a bath but I didn't have the time to take her to the vet. By this time I knew the cat needed to be sedated to be bathed (a rather nasty event at the vets office left her chart marked 'will not handle cat unless sedated'), a friend I worked with had some kitty tranquilizers for when she travled with her cats, she gave me two.. these were strong enough to knock her 20 lb cat out cold for a 4 hour car trip. I gave the pills to my cat and waited for her to take a nap. After an hour she was pretty damn looped. Could barely stay on her feet. Hubby and I filled a basin in the tub and brough the limp cat into the bathroom. The rest of the events are mostly a blur but I'll try to fill them in as best as I can. We got the cat over the basin much like before, and much as before, as soon as the first drop of water penetrated her fur, all hell broke loose. She jumped straight up into the air! Landing back in the tub.. in the water... hubby and I both grabbed the cat, me at the scruff of the neck, him on her back feet... I swear that cat transformed at that moment.. she became 7 foot tall, greyish green with huge leathery wings and red eyes that blazed fire, a mouth full of rasor sharp fangs and 6 inch long talons on each paw! She was a demon! No lie! A Demon! She Made an unholy noise and I remember thinking it was best to just let her go and yelling to hubby to let go of her! Out of the bathroom she shot and we stood there to survey the damage. I had two deep bites - one right through a fingernail (And I had explicitly made sure to keep my hands clear of her mouth), several scratches and a very bruised ego. Hubby had one deep bite on the wrist(not sure how that happened since he didn't have the biting end) and three long scratches from his wrist to his elbow. the bathroom was covered in water, cat soap and fur. I learned my lesson.. Demons... er.. cats, are not to be bathed...