Raising baby squirrels is an experience like no other, these cute little animals are ever active, friendly, and fun to be around.
Unfortunately, these animals can become sick very easily, if your baby squirrel is breathing through its mouth, you’d be right to be concerned. This article explores why this happens.
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Baby squirrel breathing through its mouth:
Squirrels breathe quite fast, they breathe 100 times a minute, they breathe much faster than humans do.
These animals may breathe quite fast but we don’t usually notice their breathing, they usually breathe through their nose.
If you do notice a squirrel’s breathing, if it’s breathing through its mouth, then there is something wrong, the animal is likely suffering from aspiration pneumonia
Breathing through the mouth is one of many symptoms of aspiration pneumonia in baby squirrels.
Baby squirrels can be difficult to feed, they latch onto the feeding nipple when they are fed and will try to create a suction to get the food out. This is helpful when they’re feeding on their mother but not when feeding with humans.
These baby animals need to be fed very slowly, a drop of formula at a time. If they take in too much formula at a time, the formula will get into their lungs.
If the formula gets into their lungs, then the animal will develop aspiration pneumonia, an infection of the lungs or the airways
Other signs of aspiration pneumonia in squirrels, other than the animal breathing through its mouth, are: clicking sounds coming from the animal as it inhales and exhales, a runny or congested nose, a loss of appetite, lethargy, and the formula bubbling out of the babies nose while feeding
What to do:
If the baby has just aspirated, (the fluid has just entered into the baby’s nose or lungs), quickly get it out by tipping the animal forward with its head down. This will help the formula run out of the animal
Make sure that you hold the squirrel’s head securely when you do this.
Once you’re sure that the fluid is out, and the baby is calm, you can feed the baby again
If aspiration pneumonia still develops even after you’ve tipped the animal over, and tried to drain the fluid, then you’d need to quickly take the animal to the vet, an exotic vet would be best.
If you can’t get the animal to a vet that takes squirrels, or to an exotic vet, then you can take the animal to a wildlife rehabilitation center.
The professionals at these two places will prescribe antibiotics that will clear the infection.
Your vet may prescribe antibiotics like Cipro, Bactrim, or Baytril. Your vet may prescribe Clavamox or amoxicillin depending on how they feel about prescribing penicillin-based antibiotics to squirrels.
Additional medications will be prescribed to counter the negative effects that antibiotics can cause.
Antibiotics will kill off both the bad and the good bacteria in the squirrel body, if not given additional medications, the animal may develop diarrhea because of this.
Medications that prevent diarrhea include bebebac, probios, or lactobacillus.
The vet, or the professionals at the wildlife rehabilitation center, may also try to suck the fluids out of the squirrel’s lungs using a nasal syringe.
If you’re still waiting for the vet visit, you can steam the animal in the bathroom with the shower running, this will help to open the animal’s airways. Let your squirrel breathe this steamy bathroom air for around 15 minutes.
Why do baby squirrels gasp for air?
If your baby squirrel is gasping for air, while feeding, then you have nothing to worry about. This is called a feeding seizure, other names for this are a milk trance, guppy mouth, or a milk seizure.
This is normal for squirrels and is nothing to worry about, not all squirrels do this but some baby squirrels do. The squirrel will eventually grow out of this as they feed on solid foods and stop feeding on formula.
Read more about feeding seizures here
What to do about it:
Giving your baby squirrel a break from feeding and giving it time to calm down and stop gasping will help.
You can also try tapping the baby squirrels nose to get it out of the milk seizure
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other squirrel related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Baby Squirrel Pneumonia Treatment, Baby Squirrel Has Diarrhea, Dead Squirrel With A Bloody Mouth, Why Does My Baby Squirrel Have Diarrhea?