a dirty cat and nail clipping??

Our cat has this lovely habit of taking naps on top of our water heater, dryer, and on top of the furnace vent. It doesn't bother me, but after a while I notice that even though he cleans himself, he's still dirty. It is beginning to drive me crazy! I goto pet him and after a while I have to go and wash my hands because they getting sticky. I tried to give him a bath a couple weeks ago and well that didn't go well...I tried to rap him up in a towel to dry him and he hissed at me and wouldn't go near me until I gave him a treat. What I'm wondering is, does anyone think it would be too much stress on him to take him to our vets to be groomed? He has feline herpes, so when he gets stressed he breaks out with runny eyes and sneezing...I feel so bad for him when he gets like that. Also, I have to get his nails clipped every couple of weeks, I take him to the vets but when it adds up it's a bit expensive. Does anyone have any advice if I were to clip his nails myself?? I just don't want to hurt him....he's my baby.

Have the vet tech show you how to clip nails and then do it weekly. And maybe you need to try and keep where he's sleeping cleaner or put a towel up there to sleep on.