Poor Merlin!

My poor boy Merlin has been sick for about 10 days now. He picked up some kind of viral infection and had a difficult time breathing. Because of his breathing, he swallowed a lot of air and his belly became engorged with gas. In pain, and having an even more difficult time breathing, he stopped eating and drinking. On the second day, I decided that I would start force feeding him water, but fortunately he started drinking on his own. He also wanted to eat desperately, but could only get two or three mouthfuls down before getting a panicked look on his face, running back and forth 3 or 4 times and then running up onto my chest, collapsing and panting hard. He has lost a lot of weight and in order to help him eat and breathe more, the poor guy is on Ciprofloxacin, Cimetadine, Prednisolone, Metoclopramide, and Simethicone. Worst of all, he HATES taking medication and I have to tackle him twice a day, pry his lips open and stick an oral syringe in his mouth and press the plunger. A couple of times, I ended up with his medicine on my lap instead of in his mouth! One time, he let it run out of his mouth and then he dragged his mouth all over my arm and shirt... He is quite the little genius in getting rid of his meds! I will post some pics of the poor little guy later today. He looks so pathetic it makes me want to just hold and rock him all day and all night.