Bathing my 8 month old Sphynx

Question
I recently adopted a Female Sphynx.  She is currently 8 months old.  Being a first-time pet and Sphynx owner, I did much research ahead of time.  I have mastered nail trimming and ear cleaning.  Baths, however are another issue entirely.  I assumed she was used to baths so her first bath (3 weeks after I adopted her) was not too bad.  Her second bath (3 weeks later) went very badly.  She hated it, tried to claw and bite my husband and I and we quickly gave up.  It's been almost a month since then and we've tried baby wipes, wiping down with a towel, etc and nothing works.  She's getting sticky and a little smelly.  She is a completely bald Sphynx.  Someone advised me to give her a little Benadryl and try the bath again, in a different location in the house.  I don't know if this is a good idea.  If it is acceptable, I do not know how much Benadryl to give her.  Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

Answer
Hi Kelly.  A lot of people do use Benadryl as a sedative, but cats are quite resistant to its effects, and I am personally uncomfortable with using medications unless clearly necessary for medical reasons, because of their potential for side effects.  If your kitty saw the vet after you adopted her, I would pass it by them first.  Or they may bill will to provide you with a more appropriate sedative, like acepromazine.

Some people have found that placing a small piece of steel screening at the bottom of the tub helps with bathing a cat.  She'll hook her nails into the screening and then be caught in that for most of the bath, so she can't scratch you.

I think the thing that's going to help you out the most, though, is going to be to cover her eyes.  Seeing what's going on is really a large part of what terrifies her.  And if she can't see, she's really immobilized.  She's not going to know WHERE to scratch or bite at or where to try to run to.  Once I learned to stop trying to hold my cat's bodies and start cuppng one hand over their face, it made bathing a lot easier.  And then I thought of using this:

http://www.entirelypets.com/catmuzsm.html?__utma=1.1650060127.1230139463.1235347...(referral)%7Cutmcsr%3Dentirelypets.com%7Cutmcct%3D%2F%7Cutmcmd%3Dreferral&__utmv=-&__utmk=76880022

The muzzle will cover her eyes and stop her from biting you, but it has a hole for her nose to breathe through.  I use them for all sorts of things from trimming nails to shaving mats when a cat won't cooperate, and while a cat isn't happy about wearing the muzzle, they're a lot happier about that than they are about seeing the electric shaver, etc.

I bathe my baldie about every 10 days and found that she was much more horrible when she had to wait 3 weeks for a bath after she was spayed.  I'm not sure if it was because she got used to not having a bath or if it was because the shampoo had so much grime to cut through that the bath was extra long!  But I wonder if a bath every 2 weeks would be less traumatic for everyone than a bath every three weeks.  Also, remember that their body temperature is about 3 degrees warmer than ours, so we want their bath water to be at least as warm as we'd take our shower.