On Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:17:32 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:


wrote in message
.. .
Christina Websell wrote:

"Sjouke Burry" wrote in message

The panda baby suckled by a cat has regrettably died.
He was diagnosed to have choked on milk.....
I know, it sounds weird, but that was the explanation..

I have just posted about this in Nanny's thread.

I wonder if nursing on a cat had its risks? Maybe panda milk doesn't
flow as easily as cat milk, so the panda sucks harder than a kitten
would, and as a result, he got a lot more milk into his mouth at once
than he would've if he'd been suckling on his own mom? Just a wild
guess, I really have no idea.

Well, it's a logical idea, Joyce, but even excess milk should not go into
the There is normally no connection at all between the "food pipe" and the
"wind pipe" Unless milk is forced down too quickly which will not happen if
he is suckling. I suspect human error here, unless as I said there is a
hole in his oesphagus which lines up with a hole in his trachea.

I have reared some orphaned babes myself, years ago. None of them got milk
in their trachea, and all lived to adulthood, which is how I know that a
mistake has been made here.

Tweed

The panda might have had some congenital defect.

Bud