Best wishes to Michael for getting well soon. It is heartbreaking and so frustrating when they fight being medicated and we're only trying to help them because we love them so.

Best way I've found is a small room with a bench at waist height. For me this is the laundry and I sit Cleo on a towel on the washing machine. She now knows "something happens" when I pick her up and take her there and it's like a routine she understands and complies with. I have to say that now she is older she is less feisty than she used to be and this doesn't work for everyone, therefore. It's worse for cats when it's an occasional short-lived thing rather than a daily ritual they've got used to.