Aspiration/Syringe feeding

[Ventura]

My cham is currently dealing with a very bad liver infection that required surgery (unfortunately based on how advanced it is, he has likely had it since before we rescued him & has been hiding symptoms until he couldn’t anymore as reptiles do) and he is being syringe fed. I normally give him a couple drops of food and let him swallow, but I accidentally squirted a lot more than I meant to into his mouth today.

To make a long question short: if he aspirated on it, would it be obvious, or are there more subtle signs that I should be looking out for?

He isn’t tilting his head up or anything. He is sitting in his hospital enclosure with his eyes closed but he is also still very weak from surgery

 

[Beman]

In all of the aspiration situations I have seen in the forum you can tell. They not only will tilt their nose up but they struggle to breathe. Even some where they froth because of it. This is the one thing that you have to avoid when force feeding or medicating because it can kill them. You have to aim to the very back of the mouth with very small amounts where the esophagus is. Otherwise aspiration is a very real possibility. See this link same rules apply with force feeding that she discusses about medicating.
http://www.muchadoaboutchameleons.com/2014/05/how-to-give-different-medicines.html

 

[Ventura]

In all of the aspiration situations I have seen in the forum you can tell. They not only will tilt their nose up but they struggle to breathe. Even some where they froth because of it. This is the one thing that you have to avoid when force feeding or medicating because it can kill them. You have to aim to the very back of the mouth with very small amounts where the esophagus is. Otherwise aspiration is a very real possibility. See this link same rules apply with force feeding that she discusses about medicating.
http://www.muchadoaboutchameleons.com/2014/05/how-to-give-different-medicines.html

I generally have been aiming for small drops at the back of the mouth, today my hand slipped and I ended up squirting about 1/3rd an ml of carnivore care onto his tongue.

My main concern is that because he is still lethargic from surgery (only a few days out), he may not have been showing signs of aspirating.