As I was doing the Blogathon last night, my passel of cats each visited me in the computer chair. They love lying across my arms and impeding my typing, in an effort to insist that I pet them. Each of them has different “bother Mommy” styles: Zadya will walk around on my lap & arms without settling down, she meows to be petted and will only stay for a minute or two, and then only if she gets lots of petting. Hasani will insinuate himself onto my lap, curl his rather large bulk into a catloaf, and sit there indefinitely unless he sees something going on in the other room which looks like more fun. Michiko will walk directly up onto my chest, head-butt my jaw and face, lick any part of my skin she can find, and occasionally curl up to start kneading my neck or chest with her sharp little kitten claws.

Michiko was doing just that last night, when I became aware of an unpleasant odor. It took me a moment to figure out that the nasty stench was coming from our sweet little kitten! So she got evicted from sitting on me until I could give her a bath. Obviously this wasn’t going to happen during the Blogathon — I wasn’t sure how long it would take or how difficult she’d be, since she hasn’t been bathed before.

So Michiko got to be stinky (and not near me) all night. This afternoon, when I awoke after about an 8-hour crash, I had some coffee and a bite to eat, cleaned the kitchen, and got ready to bathe the cat. Since she’s not even 4 months old and weighs perhaps 2 pounds, I decided that I didn’t need a full-scale war preparation like I did with Hasani (a few inches of water in the bathtub, all items cleared from the tub except a plastic pitcher & the baby shampoo, towel at the ready, door closed). I bathed Michiko in the kitchen sink, and just left the water running for ease of rinsing (most adult cats freak out badly if you run the water while bathing them).

It went surprisingly well. She tried half-heartedly to get away a couple of times, but she never scratched or bit me. She didn’t even yowl or meow piteously, like Hasani does when he needs a bath. The whole ordeal was over in 3 minutes, and she was bundled up in a thick & fluffy towel. When we let her loose, Zadya (who normally ignores the kitten most of the time) took charge of the final grooming: