• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Diabetes

  • Thread starter Thread starter Becky
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
B

Becky

I started a topic about a week ago about how Lilly is losing weight and i was asking for any advise as to why. Anyway i took her to the vets today and the only thing she could think of was diabetes.

Anyway she said there isn't much point testing for it as there is nothing which can be done. I was just wondering if anyone had had a guinea pig with diabetes and want did they do? I just want to help Lilly as much as possible, don't get me wrong she is happy in herself i just want to do anything i can.
 
Awww no poor Lilly :-\ Just give her lots of fresh food and veg and sorry i havent had a piggy with diabetes so cant really explain it :)
 
Sometimes diabetis will go into remission on ites own.

Gps can have insulin therapy for diabetis,but you need to have a blood test done to establish whether it is diabetiis.


Chronic renal failure is another cause of unexplained weight loss.The piggies can live for quite a while with this condition.There is no cure.

I have not had a piggy of my own with diabetis,but I know my vets have had success in maintaing diabetic pigs on drug therapy.

The symptoms of diabietis are excess drinking, and of course peeing a lot.
]]
 
Thank 4 the help

She has all the symptoms. I don't want to us insulin on her because i no it is very hard to regulate in a gp and it can ill them. So i don't know if there is anything else i can do. I no it isn't renal failure. ? ? ?
 
It would be best to have a blood test done,then you will know whether you are dealing with diabetes or not.

If your vet is open minded enough to talk to another vet,I can give you contact details of my vets.The insulin therapy they use is very safe.
 
Another cause for excessive drinking and peeing and weight loss could be a urine infection. I definitely would take her to the vet, if it is a urine infection it can be treated with antibiotics.

If its Chronic Renal Failure, I have a cat that has CRF, she's is doing well for the moment on the treatment, but I would have no idea about how to treat it in GP's.

The diet for CRF is low Protien and phosphate, which in a good diet for GP's the low phosphate could well be achieved. The biggest problem would be keeping the GP's blood pressure low so as not to put too much pressure on the kidney's. Which again, with heart meds that are safe for GP's, might well be achieved. The other things is, CRF causes dehydration, they cant take enough fluids in to keep up with the amount they pee out. They can also suffer from anorexia, which is a side effect of CRF, and you have to be really careful with it, because it when the body doesn't have nutrients the liver begins to produce Ketones which can cause even more problems, and it can cause a misdiagnosis of Diabetes instead of CRF.

Whatever the diagnosis, a vet visit is really necessary its the only way to make a true diagnosis.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that your GP will be ok.
 
We know its not a urine infection as she was put on Baytril to see if it was at the start of this and her urine is fine. We went to he vet yesterday at it was her who said there isn't much point testing as there isn't much that could be done.

Done you think i should try another vets?
 
I think I would go to a different vet as well. This one doesnt seem to want to help much. How long was your GP put on antibiotics for?

Tests can be done, a simple urine strip can tell you if there is an infection. Also,testing for diabetes can be done with strips as well. If you can find somewhere that sells ketodiastix for both ketones and glucose, which cost about £7 for a bottle. I used to keep dwarf hamsters, and Campbells are renowned for being diabetics, and I used to test each one with them.
 
Don't forget to take all colourings out of the diet when testing for diabetes.
 
karenrgpr said:
Don't forget to take all colourings out of the diet when testing for diabetes.
Click to expand...

Hi Karen, taking colourings out of the diet wont make any difference. Your testing for the presence of Glucose (by products of simple carbohydrates) and Ketones (which are the breakdown of fats for energy) which doesnt have anything to do with colourings.. Its also best to test the animals as is, so that you can get a true reading. if you change the diet in any way, or not feed them, it could reflect on the results.
 
Its been shown that in guineas the colourings in food will give a false positive reading for diabetes. Colourings shouldn't be in the diet anyway but its individual choice.

The diet needs to be changed ie omit colourings for one week or so then test guinea. For more advice re this phone Vedra at CCT or contact Belinda at Galens Garden who has also written about this.
 
That's really interesting, I've been dealing with diabetic animals and people for a while, and not heard of the false positive effects of colourings in the diet before. I would be interested to read about that.
 
Chrissie @ Gorgeous Guineas wrote a case study on it one year for BAR (or CCT I forget which), Vedra is very familiar with this and can give you info on it and there is a bit on Galens Garden (who I consider to be someone that well researches her stuff) about it if you want to read about it. I'll try and find Chrissie's article, but it was some years ago now I think and its likely to be on a disc somewhere ::)

A friend of mine used to breed the Cambells Hammys and managed to selectively breed a strain that were not diabetic/prone to diabetes. To be honest I didn't take much notice of it as we were discussing something else at the time and she used this as a comparison.


I'd change vet too, this one doesn't seem very interested from what you say Becky :)
 
If ytou could find the article I would be really interested in reading it, thank you.

John.
 
Well, I've been trying to find out about the food, and the effects it has on testing for diabetes. The food they seemed to have problems with was Gerty GP food. I'm still waiting for a few bits to come back, but from what I have been able to work out, the problems occurred a while back, and started giving some GP's symptoms of excessive urinated and drinking and tiredness. When tested it showed 'positive for diabetes'. Unfortunately, I havent been able to find out what testing they did, if it was blood or the urine sticks, and neither was I able to find out if there was both Glucose and keytones recorded. They realised that it was the food. Once they had changed the food the symptoms disappeared. They contacted the manufacturers and told them about it, and since, with the information I have had come back, the incidence of these symptoms has been reduced, with people still feeding Gerty GP food.

They still cant be certain it wasnt just a one off thing, where somebody in the manufactures made some mistake in the production of that particular batch. They nobody was able to find out.

I still first of all think you need to go to the vets, as these symptoms could be from something else, but if you are going to test yourself, I would still suggest testing, as is right now, without the change of diet, as a marker. If the readings are high, and you need to record both glucose and Keytone levels, then you could change the diet. One diet recommended was colourant free coarse goat mix or Russell Rabbit food, or something else without colouring, and if the symptoms disappear, then you know its the food.

My only problem with that is, it could take a while for the symptoms to go, and if it is something else like a urine infection, or even Kidney problems, you have waited too long for treatment.

If I get more information through I'll pass it on.

John.
 
Years ago I had a high incidence of cystitis in my pigs,and when I read about the independant tests that had been done on Gerty Guinea pig,I stopped using this product.The incidence of urinary infections has dropped ,and the last case of cystitis I had ws nearly 2 years ago,.

At the time I spoke to the dietician at Premier Foods who make Gerty. She was not very helpful and said the reason they put the bright colours in the mix was a selling point. She did say tho,that they would consider making an alternitive mix with no colours.I have never seen this food on the market.

I now use Chudley Rabbit Royale which does not have any colourants.

I may be wrong,but I beleive Russel Rabbit does have colourant.
 
Russell Rabbit doesn't have colourant Mary :) It will have too much Vit D though which is why I wouldn't use it as a regular feed. The goat mix contains Locust Beans I think, parts of which can get stuck in molars causing problems (from what I remember that is why they're no longer recommended in guinea food. But its been a while LOL!

I sometimes get a sack of Chudleys but for the most part use Cavy Cuisine and Cavy Performance. Mine eat more Readigrass than dry food.

I can't find this article so will ask directly :)
 
Hi, the information I got so far was from Belinda at Galens Gardens she wsa the one that recommended the food. I am waiting for more from Vedra, but havent been able to contact the person from Gorgeous Guineas.

John.
 
Vedra at CCT is the original source of this. Its certainly where I first heard it.
 
I have contacted her as well, hopefully I should hear from her soon. :)

John.
 
Hi, just got a quick message back from Vedra as she is off away tomorow until October.

She says that with some Guinea Pigs, any foods that have additives, it can show these signs, and test high for glucose.

Do a test now, if the test comes back positive for just high Glucose, then change the food over. She says she uses Waggs Guinea Pig crunch and the natural food companys Guinea Pig fruit and fibre.

If it comes back with high Ketones as well, I would suggest that there is something more wrong, it could diabetes, or it could be some like Renal Failure as that can give similar readings, but a vets visit is really important. If you dont have any glucose or ketones in the results then it could be a urine infection.

Hope that helps.

John.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top