PROCEDURE FOR GETTING THE CAT INTO HER CARRIER.

1. Act nonchalant. But not TOO nonchalant. Normal. As normal as you can manage on the precipice of battle.

2. Lure the cat into the bathroom with food. The bathroom is the only room without furniture under which she can wedge herself into the deepest, darkest corner. She may be suspicious, especially if you have failed at Step 1. Open a tin of wet food if you have to.

3. Once she is in the bathroom, leap out and close the door. The jig is up. You are going to get scratched one way or another now. Might as well make it count.

4. Go get the carrier out of the cupboard.

NOTE: IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU DO NOT EVEN GLANCE AT THE CUPBOARD THE CARRIER IS IN BEFORE THE CAT IS IN THE BATHROOM.

Otherwise it's just you and the broom and the cat clinging to the underside of the guest bed with all 20 claws.

5. Open the door of the carrier and hold it in front of you, opening facing forwards, and advance on the bathroom door like a lion tamer with a chair.

You're going to have to guess whether she'll go low or high. You've got a 50% chance of getting it right. Good luck.

6. Open the door of the bathroom and hope you guessed right. If you've blocked her, she'll back away as fast as possible.

(If you guessed wrong, well it's you and the broom and the guest bed again, I'm afraid).

7. Close the door behind you. At this point, you've already won. She's in the same room as the carrier, and there's nowhere to hide. You know it, and she knows it. You both sigh.

The only question left is what price she will extract for this.

8. At this point you can employ a towel technique (a la @FringeDoctor's suggestion) and pray for mercy, or acknowledge your culpability and go in bare-handed and grab her. A bit of muscle later (you ARE bigger than her, even if she is pointier), and she'll be in.

9. Then you withstand the most withering glare known to humankind while you DO THE THING THAT WILL DEFINITELY HELP HER like take her to the vet, or, for instance, evacuate a huge bushfire.

A final note: this procedure, refined over many years and many battles, still has multiple failure points when being employed by a single human. Where possible, call for backup. And ALWAYS allow an extra half hour to execute said plan when meeting an appointment time.