Bathing a buzzsaw

We have one of the cutest cats ever - Ella, a 15-pound female Maine Coon. Think of a long-haired, fluffy, playful, cuddly and chirpy bobcat - only cuter. She's by far the cutest cat I've met, and even at age 4 she's totally a kitten (albeit 15 pounds of muscles, claws, teeth, fur and fluff).

The drawback to long-haired cats is that they may have, well, accidents. Say if they eat something they shouldn't have, and have a problem at the litterbox a day later. When that happens, you have to bathe them.

We were forced to do so tonight. Did I mention that Ella does not like water, and especially doesn't like to be shampooed and bathed? It takes two people, a sink, two bath towels, a lot of patience, and afterwards band aids - so far we've avoided a trip to the emergency room, but only just. Ella took it well this time - we only had to bathe part of her, and her head remained dry; with the towels, lots of attention and brushing, she calmed down and was back to her normal snuggly self within two hours. Let's hope it'll be a few months before we have to do that again.