"Christina Websell" wrote

Any ideas for caring for the coat of a very old cat without distressing us
both by bathing her? I'm not really up for being slashed to pieces which
is definitely on the cards if I attempt to put her in water.

Cats naturally dislike being wet and being forced to do anything, so the
trick to bathing them is to make it pleasurable to them, or at least not
unpleasant. That means, make the way you handle the cat into a show of
affection, and don't scare them with the water.

You might try this... one time only... see how it goes. I think if you're
sensitive and know your kitty well, it just might work. I have been able to
bath almost any reluctant cat this way without being harmed:

First of all you must be in the bathtub *with* the cat... Bring her into the
bathroom with you and close the door. Sit there (outside the tub) with her
while you run about five gallons of warm water into the tub. Hang up your
clothes and put a couple of large bath towels on the floor ready to grab,
then pick up kitty and hold her like a baby as you step into the tub and
slowly sit down. At this stage kitty has no idea there is even water in the
tub. The water needs to be off while you are getting in and sitting down.

Once you are settled into the tub holding kitty, let her tail dangle into
the water a bit. If she doesn't start tearing you to pieces then slowly let
her back feet get wet. Ideally you would be sitting cross-legged in the low
end of the tub with some little bit of water under your legs, and you set
kitty down in that opening in your lap where the warm water is just about
half an inch deep.

If this works out well, then just play it by ear, grab a handful of water in
one hand and hold the scruff of kitty's neck in the other just to steady her
as you gently release a little water on her back and rub it in.

Keep this up until the kitty is wet to the skin all over with warm water. If
you can run more water slowly and quietly into the tub without scaring her,
it helps, to keep the water nice and warm, which cats like. The shampoo will
penetrate better and be easier to spread around if the cat is already
completely wet, too.

Don't go on to the shampooing stage unless you're sure you can keep control
of the cat. It's pretty easy if you've gone really slow up to that stage and
have not let kitty become spooked. If she is a little bit spooked, you can
calm her down by talking softly and gently to her and holding the scruff of
her neck with one hand and rubbing her with the other hand (working in the
shampoo).

The end stage is the hardest, you must drain the tub and then pour fresh
warm water over the kitty to rinse out the soap. Ideally you would have a
couple of one-gallon plastic jugs already filled with warm water and sitting
within easy reach of your free hand.

Finally, after kitty is well rinses, pick her up and stand up in the tub,
squeeze the excess water out of her legs and tail, then set her on one of
the towels, still holding the scruff of her neck, and grab the other towel
and toss it over her back, then rub her dry.