Slight lip injury from syringe feeding -- how serious?

[TevaVidal]

Hi all,

Our little Mr. Max is on a hunger strike and we're syringe feeding him till he gets his appetite back. We're up to two feedings a day. He starts off ok but then about halfway through any given feeding, he fights like the devil. Despite having him swaddled as well as possible to keep him from moving too much (a process which has to be repeated several times per feeding), he still manages to flail about quite a bit.

Last night at Max's second daily feeding, I noticed swollen redness on his bottom lip, at the place where I usually stick the syringe to feed him (right side of the mouth towards the back). The injury was recent, and I don't remember seeing it earlier in the day at his first feeding. It's not teeth or gum issues -- he's recently been checked for that by the vet.

I suspect that either he's bitten himself during the course of the feeding, or I managed to poke him too hard or otherwise irritate his lip with the syringe.

Has this happened to anyone else? How bad is that kind of injury?

Thanks