Squirrel regurgitating foamy liquid since morning but wants to eat and drink

[lostboy105t]

It's an Indian palm squirrel of about one and a half years of age, she has been regurgitating foamy liquid from her mouth(similar to human spit) since morning, but she is willing to drink water and eat food but immediately regurgitates after. Also there are no droppings and urination since afternoon. There are no vets who specialize in wild animals in my area, I contacted an online rehabber and she told me to provide the squirrel with two-three drops of ondansetron liquid. What is the possible course of action that can be done now? I cannot get any physical help in my city, can you please suggest something? Should give my squirrel some antibiotics in liquid form? Can I give her pinch sized amount of baking soda mixed with curd? (I saw this remedy online that a vet suggested to relieve a stray dog suffering from food poisoning).

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

It's an Indian palm squirrel of about one and a half years of age, she has been regurgitating foamy liquid from her mouth(similar to human spit) since morning, but she is willing to drink water and eat food but immediately regurgitates after. Also there are no droppings and urination since afternoon. There are no vets who specialize in wild animals in my area, I contacted an online rehabber and she told me to provide the squirrel with two-three drops of ondansetron liquid. What is the possible course of action that can be done now? I cannot get any physical help in my city, can you please suggest something? Should give my squirrel some antibiotics in liquid form? Can I give her pinch sized amount of baking soda mixed with curd? (I saw this remedy online that a vet suggested to relieve a stray dog suffering from food poisoning).

Hi Lostboy and thank you for finding The Squirrel Board! I am sorry that you Squirrel is having swallowing problems! What is her name?
I know from your comments quoted above that you suspect the possibility of "food poisoning" and while i can tell you that this is not the case; I do suspect another possibility! Is you Squirrel having any problems breathing? With the immediate regurgitation of anything that your Squirrel eats or drinks; I suspect an obstruction in the food tube called the esophagus which connect the throat to the stomach although there may be an obstruction further along such as at the outlet of the stomach or in part of the intestine BUT when an animal immediately regurgitates what she has just swallowed, there is far more likelihood that if there is an obstruction; the site of the obstruction is before the stomach. The obstruction, again, if it does in fact exist may be caused by a mass (a tumor), swelling of the esophagus or throat region or what is far more common; due to a swallowed foreign body such as a relatively large piece of food or something that was not even meant as food such as a button, some of the Squirrels bedding material and the of course the possibilities are endless. IF this is as I suspect and there is a blockage in the swallowing tubes, one very common site is where the food tube (the esophagus joins the stomach as there is a natural restriction there! One reason I asked about apparent breathing problems is that usually, if an obstruction is in the throat, this interferes with breathing as well as swallowing but NOT always! As you cannot look down into the esophagus and the only place that you can actually see with only your eyes and no specialized equipment such as a tiny scope; would be the mouth and throat of your Squirrel and I would suggest that you look immediately but very CAREFULLY into your Squirrels mouth and with the use of a bright enough light source; look as far back as you can see and check for anything that may be something that should not be there. I was once asked to see a Rat with similar problems as you are noticing in your Squirrel (by the way, I am not a veterinarian nor do I possess a specialized scope suitable for use in very small animals) and I looked into the Rat's mouth and did not see anything but toward the far back of the rats throat was a piece of orange material that should not have been there and appeared to be yarn. I gently pulled this out with a hemostat and a small ball of yarn came out with it and this had been swallowed and was blocking the end of the esophagus. I cannot tell you that this would be same with your Squirrel but it would certainly be worth carefully looking.

IF the problems you are seeing with your Squirrel are due to an obstruction, this is truly an Emergency! The reason this is an Emergency is because your Squirrel will be able to take in fluids and will very shortly become dehydrated. Fluids would need to be given Sub-cutaneously (under the skin) which is not difficult but it is not something that you can do without at least some basic training! If your efforts at looking in her mouth and throat do not reveal anything suspicious, I would recommend having our Squirrel seen immediately by a Veterinarian preferably experienced with Squirrels or at least experienced with Rodents. It may be necessary for them to sedate your Squirrel and gently check for an obstruction past the area that you can see with your unassisted eyes. Do you have a safe Veterinarian available?

Please let us know how things are going!
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[lostboy105t]

Hi Lostboy and thank you for finding The Squirrel Board! I am sorry that you Squirrel is having swallowing problems! What is her name?
I know from your comments quoted above that you suspect the possibility of "food poisoning" and while i can tell you that this is not the case; I do suspect another possibility! Is you Squirrel having any problems breathing? With the immediate regurgitation of anything that your Squirrel eats or drinks; I suspect an obstruction in the food tube called the esophagus which connect the throat to the stomach although there may be an obstruction further along such as at the outlet of the stomach or in part of the intestine BUT when an animal immediately regurgitates what she has just swallowed, there is far more likelihood that if there is an obstruction; the site of the obstruction is before the stomach. The obstruction, again, if it does in fact exist may be caused by a mass (a tumor), swelling of the esophagus or throat region or what is far more common; due to a swallowed foreign body such as a relatively large piece of food or something that was not even meant as food such as a button, some of the Squirrels bedding material and the of course the possibilities are endless. IF this is as I suspect and there is a blockage in the swallowing tubes, one very common site is where the food tube (the esophagus joins the stomach as there is a natural restriction there! One reason I asked about apparent breathing problems is that usually, if an obstruction is in the throat, this interferes with breathing as well as swallowing but NOT always! As you cannot look down into the esophagus and the only place that you can actually see with only your eyes and no specialized equipment such as a tiny scope; would be the mouth and throat of your Squirrel and I would suggest that you look immediately but very CAREFULLY into your Squirrels mouth and with the use of a bright enough light source; look as far back as you can see and check for anything that may be something that should not be there. I was once asked to see a Rat with similar problems as you are noticing in your Squirrel (by the way, I am not a veterinarian nor do I possess a specialized scope suitable for use in very small animals) and I looked into the Rat's mouth and did not see anything but toward the far back of the rats throat was a piece of orange material that should not have been there and appeared to be yarn. I gently pulled this out with a hemostat and a small ball of yarn came out with it and this had been swallowed and was blocking the end of the esophagus. I cannot tell you that this would be same with your Squirrel but it would certainly be worth carefully looking.

IF the problems you are seeing with your Squirrel are due to an obstruction, this is truly an Emergency! The reason this is an Emergency is because your Squirrel will be able to take in fluids and will very shortly become dehydrated. Fluids would need to be given Sub-cutaneously (under the skin) which is not difficult but it is not something that you can do without at least some basic training! If your efforts at looking in her mouth and throat do not reveal anything suspicious, I would recommend having our Squirrel seen immediately by a Veterinarian preferably experienced with Squirrels or at least experienced with Rodents. It may be necessary for them to sedate your Squirrel and gently check for an obstruction past the area that you can see with your unassisted eyes. Do you have a safe Veterinarian available?

Please let us know how things are going!
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

Thanks for the suggestion, right now she has reduced food and water intake and I have not seen her pooping or peeing for the last two days, I gave her an apple slice and water, she nibbles on the apple and drinks water, today morning when she drank water she regurgitated white foam, when I examined it I found a speck of white material, I assume it was a garlic speck. Then after some time time she drank some water and homemade apple juice and nibbled the apple and went to rest. She did not come out of her box until afternoon so I picked her out and feed her with some water and she regurgitated again, the liquid looks more sticky than yesterday (yesterday it was clear liquid with little amount of foam in it but today it is completely foamy, and also, last night I gave her some bland food like a chunk of boiled potato, boiled egg yolk which she ate without throwing up). She looks weak now! There are no vets in my city or in nearby cities who specialize in wild animals, I tried contacting a wild life rehab from a different state, and she suggested me the possible causes with her which I have mentioned in the original post. And one more noticeable thing is that, when she regurgitates it looks like she is gagging, doing it forcefully like dogs or cats do when they vomit, I am not going to force feed her anymore because I think she might get a heart attack or organ failure if she pushes her body forcefully like that, it is so very excruciating to watch her doing that. At present, I have kept some apple chunks and a water bowl around her, she occasionally eats and drinks little amount of them. After reading your suggestion, I am more inclined to the obstruction proposition after seeing the garlic type spec in her vomit. According to you what should be the last resort here? As there are no vets available around, she is eating little than usual, looks flimsy and has not pooped or urinated for two days?

[lostboy105t]

Given the condition in hand, I have decided to gently
insert a 3.5 fr feeding tube, into her mouth, upto 3 cm depth, if there is any food blockage, I hope it will be removed and gets into the stomach. Positive signs for me is that she insists on drinking water and eating her food plus she urinated a little bit which is orange in color, which possibly shows dehydration and liver is working. There is no vet around, and I see this as the only option at hand. Please confirm and give your opinion on this.

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

Thanks for the suggestion, right now she has reduced food and water intake and I have not seen her pooping or peeing for the last two days, I gave her an apple slice and water, she nibbles on the apple and drinks water, today morning when she drank water she regurgitated white foam, when I examined it I found a speck of white material, I assume it was a garlic speck. Then after some time time she drank some water and homemade apple juice and nibbled the apple and went to rest. She did not come out of her box until afternoon so I picked her out and feed her with some water and she regurgitated again, the liquid looks more sticky than yesterday (yesterday it was clear liquid with little amount of foam in it but today it is completely foamy, and also, last night I gave her some bland food like a chunk of boiled potato, boiled egg yolk which she ate without throwing up). She looks weak now! There are no vets in my city or in nearby cities who specialize in wild animals, I tried contacting a wild life rehab from a different state, and she suggested me the possible causes with her which I have mentioned in the original post. And one more noticeable thing is that, when she regurgitates it looks like she is gagging, doing it forcefully like dogs or cats do when they vomit, I am not going to force feed her anymore because I think she might get a heart attack or organ failure if she pushes her body forcefully like that, it is so very excruciating to watch her doing that. At present, I have kept some apple chunks and a water bowl around her, she occasionally eats and drinks little amount of them. After reading your suggestion, I am more inclined to the obstruction proposition after seeing the garlic type spec in her vomit. According to you what should be the last resort here? As there are no vets available around, she is eating little than usual, looks flimsy and has not pooped or urinated for two days?


Given the condition in hand, I have decided to gently
insert a 3.5 fr feeding tube, into her mouth, upto 3 cm depth, if there is any food blockage, I hope it will be removed and gets into the stomach. Positive signs for me is that she insists on drinking water and eating her food plus she urinated a little bit which is orange in color, which possibly shows dehydration and liver is working. There is no vet around, and I see this as the only option at hand. Please confirm and give your opinion on this.

Hi Lostboy:
This is all so sad! Again, I do not know for certain that this is an obstruction but it sounds as if it is. When an animal does not get adequate fluids (in the case of an esophageal obstruction the fluids are not in any significantly amount getting past the obstruction and are being regurgitated), protective response of the animal is to conserve existing fluids and urine output is significantly decreased and the urine become quite concentrated. I was going to suggest that there may be some urine output but it was very small and not readily noticed but it sounds from your second post that there has indeed been some noticeable urine output which is encouraging!

Have you looked into your Squirrel's mouth to check on the possibility of a visible foreign body or some foreign material? This in my opinion should be done first!

Another thing you can try is one of the interventions I have used for acute aspiration and that is is to hold you Squirrel securely but NOT tightly upside down in your hand (or with both hands) while the Squirrel is only a couple inches above your soft bed (in case he might become dislodged from your hold of him and fall) and GENTLY swing your arm(s) no more than you would if you were swinging your arms while walking. Use an arc of around 30 degrees. Do this 2-3 times at least at first and then hold him upright. Hopefully, again with the idea that any esophageal or pharyngeal (throat) obstruction may become dislodged and expelled or brought to where you can see it and remove it with the help of the gentle downward force developed by you swinging arm(s).

Passage of a feeding tube has significant potential risks (especially with a stiff tube) including passing the tube into a lung or perforation of the throat, the esophagus or if passed inadvertently down the trachea (the main breathing tube which is located in the neck) instead of the esophagus; perforation of one of the breathing tubes or lungs is also possible! The goal of passing a feeding tube, of course, would be to either break up an obstruction in the esophagus or push it into the stomach where it would hopefully pass eventually and relieve the obstruction in the esophagus. Please look into your Squirrel's mouth first and then try the swinging and leave the feeding tube as a backup. IF you are experienced at using a feeding tube; this is a great advantage!

My additional suggestion would be to avoid any further use of any solid or semi-solid foods as this will tend to simply add more material to original obstruction of course could make hopeful resolution of this condition more difficult!

Please keep on with the updates!

Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[TomahawkFlyers]

I concur with StS. Insertion of a tube might be called for, as a last resort. If there is an obstruction, even if you get the tube inserted without creating damage, you might not dislodge the obstruction; in fact, you might further imbed it. FWIW, I'd follow StS's advice before proceeding to a tube. Prayers and best of luck to both of you.

Jamie

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

Hello again, Lostboy!
There is an additional caution I would like to deliver and that is to be VERY CAREFUL with any attempts at removing anything that may become visible to you in your Squirrel's mouth or throat! There is the possibility of inflicting more harm if the item is sharp and/or hooked such as a fishhook! If there is any resistance to removing an object, it may be because it has already perforated the esophagus or pharynx or about to! This is not a common issue with Squirrels and small rodents but still a possibility although probably relatively remote. Just be careful but of course, there are very few options left to you without the benefit of professional care from a Veterinarian or a trained and adequately equipped Rehabber! Again, I wish the best for your little Squirrel and for you, Lostboy!
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel