My kitten pissed all over his own leg the night we bought him because he had just gotten neutered and I guess doing what he usually does to pee was hurting him. Obviously we had to bathe him. He was howling at me the entire time.

I had another cat (he's long since died) that wouldn't struggle during baths, but he sure didn't like it. He was an indoor/outdoor cat, so as you can imagine, he'd come home very dirty at times and need to be properly groomed.

I also once had a longhaired cat. The poor thing would get matted fur all over his belly and it would be hard to brush them out. We'd try to soften the knots with conditioner and then carefully comb them. If they still wouldn't budge, we'd cut off his beautiful fur. He was another one of those "will just sit there and take it" types.

It's very important to only bathe cats when you're positive they can air dry in the environment they're going to be in. Cats dry significantly slower than dogs (not the ones with double layer coats, it's about the same rate with them). So unless you can wait to bathe them around spring/summer time, you have to either crank the heat up in your house to about 80 (just to be safe) or sit them down in front of a fireplace. It's not at all mean unless you're bathing them just to torment them.