Choking While Eating

[pixiepoo]

I have a little flyer (32g now) who is driving me absolutely nuts with eating. He is shooting milk out his nose (I have used my stethoscope and listened to his chest..it is clear and has been for the last 3 weeks) when he gets about halways done with eating. It isn't every single time I feed him, but enough to become frustrating. He has done this since I got him and I had marked him to distinguish him from the other four just to be certain it was the same squirrel. Well, it is, and it is driving me absolutely mad. I have tried everything I can think of. Different syringes, different nipples, not pushing on the syringe plunger at all, holding the plunger back so he cannot suck on it as quickly, feeding him flat on his belly, feedling him with his legs dangling, feeding him where he looks like he is sitting on his hind legs, angling the nipple at different angles, petting him while he eats, not allowing him to put the entire nipple in his mouth...I swear, everything....and NOTHING and I mean NOTHING fixes it. I am feeding him with a 0.5cc syringe and he even does it with the 3/10cc insulin syringes. He doesn't appear to suck on it any harder or faster than the other 4. As soon as I feel like he is about to break the seal on the syringe I move it from his mouth which helps a little but does not eliminate the problem. I've never had any with a problem like this except for one huge grey but her problem was fixed by keeping her on a smaller syringe than the others.

I think some people may just overlook it if a similar situation happened to them because he doesn't always shoot milk right away. He just makes this weird face and a slight sound that I am now very used to. I bulb out his nose, listen to his chest and carry on.

He is active and healthy otherwise. Cute as a button too. :grin3

The only thing I can think of is maybe a hole in his soft palate? I can't see one but maybe? I've only seen kittens with a similar issue.

EDIT: he is 7 weeks old by the way, approaching 8 weeks on Tue. He will probably be weaned a bit earlier than the others because of this issue

[pixiepoo]

Just thought I would mention that now that he is weaning, he has stopped doing it. So strange.

[Chickenlegs]

Dr. E-- likely the premo squirrel vet around, said to add some baby cereal to formula for little dwarf squirrels who often have a hard time handling formula without choaking or aspirating. It's worked for Punkin and Peanut another little dwarf. Don't know if it will help your darling but maybe try--and go extra slow to make sure that little mouth and throat can handle it.

And weaning will certainly take care of the problem.

[kcassidy]

I've had a squirrel or two come in like that, I gave up on the bulbs and just suck their nose with my mouth, yup you read that right. Way easier and not really gross, I promise. BTW, I'm not the only rehabber to do this either, so don't think I'm unique ;)

Glad it isn't an issue anymore.

[Snow White]

I was glad to find this thread. I have 2 greys. About 7 weeks old. I have had them for 11 days. One eats like a champ. The other does exactly as described in the initial post. I was concerned about aspiration but his lungs are clear and he is active and alert. I will try the baby cereal. They are starting to chew on Henry's high protein blocks so maybe this will decrease.
Thanks!