You have probably bathed Barney by now, so this may be of little use, but when I needed to bathe a very sick hospice foster with a fiery nature, I used two buckets. I held her back legs in one hand while lowering her back end into the lukewarm water and let her hold onto the edge with her front legs. While there was a period of time when she tried to haul herself out, she gradually relaxed into the water. And the shelter hadn't ever been able to bathe her at all, the poop on her was months old!

Critters - yes, it's Gabapentin, and it works very well on the pain, but it wouldn't matter how it was flavored because just a touch on his mouth causes him to scream and slash his mouth with his paws.