BRAT Diet - General Questions

[Mouse&Chubs]

Hi all,

When it comes to diarrhea and feeding the BRAT diet for baby squirrels, I had some general questions.

1. On a couple of posts, I saw that if you feed the BRAT diet for too long, then it can cause the opposite effect and the baby can become constipated. How do you know when to stop the BRAT diet? Is there a length of time the baby can be on the diet? If so, how long is the max length of time?

2. When feeding the BRAT diet, how quickly should you see solid poops form?

3. With the success of the BRAT diet and solid poops, do you need to transition the baby off the BRAT diet, i.e., remove the banana, then remove the rice cereal (or vice versa), or can you remove both of those ingredients and feed full strength formula?

4. I don't think poop color is talked a lot when on the BRAT diet, but what is the normal color for poop when on this diet?

Thanks in advance,
M&C

[Mel1959]

I have never seen anyone post about having used the BRAT diet exclusively for a squirrel’s diarrhea. I know folks have used Pepto Bismal for baby squirrels diarrhea and that when it passes through the squirrels system it turns the feces black. It usually only takes a couple of treatments to firm the stool back to normal. With any treatment for diarrhea you are treating the symptom but you must determine the cause and do your best to make the necessary changes to eliminate the possibility of diarrhea returning.

Healthy stool from a formula fed baby is golden yellow in color and firm. A baby squirrels feces while on mothers milk is dark brown/black.

Most times diarrhea in babies is the result of feeding the wrong formula or overfeeding. The correct formula for a baby squirrel is either Esbilac POWDER or Fox Valley 20/50 or a combination of the two. Any other type of powdered or liquid formula is not the same.

Babies are fed 5-7% of their weight at each feeding. This requires weighing the baby every morning and adjusting the formula amount. Babies can gain several grams in one day which will drastically affect their formula intake.

Powdered formula must be refrigerated or put in the freezer once opened. Rancid formula can cause diarrhea.

Parasites are another reason for diarrhea in a baby. If the stool smells bad this could be the reason and the baby will need to be treated with medication.

Some extra hydration with homemade hydration fluid or pedialyte is necessary if the baby has had loose stools for long as the baby can get dehydrated. A dehydrated baby will not want to eat.

Once the diarrhea has stopped resuming normal feedings can take place. To ease the baby back into the formula feedings you can slightly dilute the formula for a couple of feedings but the diluted formula should not be given for too long as the baby will need nourishment.

I know this hasn’t answered your specific questions but I don’t have an answer for them.

What are you feeding? How much at each feeding? What’s the babies weight? How long has the diarrhea been going on?

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

Hi all,

When it comes to diarrhea and feeding the BRAT diet for baby squirrels, I had some general questions.

1. On a couple of posts, I saw that if you feed the BRAT diet for too long, then it can cause the opposite effect and the baby can become constipated. How do you know when to stop the BRAT diet? Is there a length of time the baby can be on the diet? If so, how long is the max length of time?

2. When feeding the BRAT diet, how quickly should you see solid poops form?

3. With the success of the BRAT diet and solid poops, do you need to transition the baby off the BRAT diet, i.e., remove the banana, then remove the rice cereal (or vice versa), or can you remove both of those ingredients and feed full strength formula?

4. I don't think poop color is talked a lot when on the BRAT diet, but what is the normal color for poop when on this diet?

Thanks in advance,
M&C

Hi M&C:
I assume that you are caring for a Squirrel with diarrhea but please describe what is going on in detail (examples of specifics would be loose stool, watery stool, presence of regurgitation, appetite status, weight loss or suboptimal weight gain etc) along with the Squirrel's age, weight, and specific diet and frequency of feeding. Please also specify what you have used, if anything, as treatment.
The BRAT diet is something that has been used in Human Medicine for decades and has NO real evidence to support it's use. I have never heard of this being utilized for Squirrel Care and while I am not a Veterinarian; I have never heard of this being used in general Veterinary Medicine either. BRAT is an acronym for Bananas, Rice, Apples Toast. Specifically, the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend (and I again, I don't know of any recognized medical specialty group who recommends the BRAT diet!) the BRAT diet. For diarrhea, they actually recommend the continuation of a normal age appropriate diet or the resumption of this if interrupted. Along with this should be appropriate rehydrating solution such as Pedialyte.

The reason for the use of some Pedialyte or other electrolyte containing solution with diarrhea is that often, unlike the "garden variety" of dehydration where the loss is mostly plain water; diarrhea usually results in loss of both plain water (in physiology parlance, this is called Free Water) AND Electrolytes. That does NOT mean that all supplemental fluid given during diarrhea should be electrolyte containing solutions such as Pedialyte because while Pedialyte does contain some Free Water, it is still a fairly concentrated electrolyte solution and plain water should also be given and this should be fed noticeably warm (as should the Pedialyte) and the water can be mixed (if necessary) with a very small amount of molasses or syrup for flavoring (please limit to no more than about a 1/4 teaspoon of flavoring to a full cup of water as sugar in the fluids can potentially prolong the diarrhea and that of course would be counterproductive!). Also, do NOT ever mix Pedialyte anything such the Plain Water or formula! If these are mixed with Pedialyte or other electrolyte containing rehydrating solutions, it will change both the Pedialyte and what you have mixed with it!

Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[Mouse&Chubs]

Hi M&C:
I assume that you are caring for a Squirrel with diarrhea but please describe what is going on in detail (examples of specifics would be loose stool, watery stool, presence of regurgitation, appetite status, weight loss or suboptimal weight gain etc) along with the Squirrel's age, weight, and specific diet and frequency of feeding. Please also specify what you have used, if anything, as treatment.
The BRAT diet is something that has been used in Human Medicine for decades and has NO real evidence to support it's use. I have never heard of this being utilized for Squirrel Care and while I am not a Veterinarian; I have never heard of this being used in general Veterinary Medicine either. BRAT is an acronym for Bananas, Rice, Apples Toast. Specifically, the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend (and I again, I don't know of any recognized medical specialty group who recommends the BRAT diet!) the BRAT diet. For diarrhea, they actually recommend the continuation of a normal age appropriate diet or the resumption of this if interrupted. Along with this should be appropriate rehydrating solution such as Pedialyte.

The reason for the use of some Pedialyte or other electrolyte containing solution with diarrhea is that often, unlike the "garden variety" of dehydration where the loss is mostly plain water; diarrhea usually results in loss of both plain water (in physiology parlance, this is called Free Water) AND Electrolytes. That does NOT mean that all supplemental fluid given during diarrhea should be electrolyte containing solutions such as Pedialyte because while Pedialyte does contain some Free Water, it is still a fairly concentrated electrolyte solution and plain water should also be given and this should be fed noticeably warm (as should the Pedialyte) and the water can be mixed (if necessary) with a very small amount of molasses or syrup for flavoring (please limit to no more than about a 1/4 teaspoon of flavoring to a full cup of water as sugar in the fluids can potentially prolong the diarrhea and that of course would be counterproductive!). Also, do NOT ever mix Pedialyte anything such the Plain Water or formula! If these are mixed with Pedialyte or other electrolyte containing rehydrating solutions, it will change both the Pedialyte and what you have mixed with it!

Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

Well, it doesn't look like my response got posted. I have two babies that were on a 1:1 ratio of Wombaroo Squirrel Milk Replacer (we don't have to discuss Wombaroo, as this formula was discussed in a separate thread and what others thought of it) and FV 20/50. While transitioning to FV 20/50 (over a few days), everything was fine until the day after they had transitioned to full strength FV; both babies had diarrhea. One recovered, but I ended up putting both on the BRAT diet with pepto, stopped the pepto, and continued with the banana and rice cereal for 4 days and things finally turned around. I was just asking general questions about the BRAT diet and what was normal vs not normal, etc., since this was my first time doing it. I do my formula transitions over 4 days, and don't usually have problems, but with these squirrels, I did - trying to resolve diarrhea is hard sometimes, so I'm trying to learn. Thanks!