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Diabetes In A Guinea Pig - Approx 4 Years Old

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PingandChipy

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Hi everyone,

I haven't been on the forum for soooo long. I've been so busy!
Anyways, I have a guinea pig that drinks excessive amounts of water. She will drink almost an entire bottle of water a day. It is the largest size bottle I could find so its huge. This has been going on for months and months. Her cage is soaked all the time and now she is losing weight.

She went to the vets today and had a panel of bloodwork done and an urinalysis. I won't get the results back for a couple days. We are thinking diabetes.

Does anyone have any experience with diabetes? Can she have insulin? How would I monitor her blood sugar levels?

Thank you :)
 
Hello,

I don't have experience with diabetes in guinea pigs, but just wanted to say that we had a sow who displayed similar signs recently - she drank a lot of water and the vet also suspected diabetes, however it turned out that she had kidney stones.

Unfortunately in our case the stones were detected too late. The blood tests we had done for diabetes showed an above average sugar level, but the vet wasn't 100% convinced and gave her an antibiotic (Convenia) to get rid of any potential infections which then led to a chain reaction due to the kidney stones and she sadly passed away.

It might be worth x-raying her to see if she has stones, especially if the tests are not conclusive.
 
I don't have any experience either but agree with the xray recommendation.
 
I would also recomend an xray, take her to the vet just in case. It's worth spending money than just leaving her to be more sick!
 
Whilst diabetes is not unknown in guinea pigs (I believe Glynis's piggie Velvet was diagnosed with diabetes and it was managed by diet), the most common cause of excessive drinking/weight loss is urinary issues - i.e. stones.

Of the 10 excessive drinkers (LOL!) I have had over the years - all have been found on Xray to have stones - either in kidney, bladder or elsewhere in the urinary system. Whilst the bloods will point the way to whether there is a possibility of diabetes or kidney malfunction - I agree with the other posters that a firm diagnosis cannot be made without an Xray to check for stones (specifically in the kidney itself - sorry)

Just a couple of other "practical" points to consider re the water consumption/wet cage:
As well as weeing more, she could be dribbling a lot when she drinks - This would not unusual in a stone pig - as they are in pain from the stones, they eat less so drink more to fill their tummies and ultimately start ever so slowly to develop elongated teeth which prevents them from drinking from a water bottle spout so easily.

A "drip tray" directly underneath the water bottle filled with absorbent material (eg megasorb. shavings etc) may help to identify how much wetness in the cage is actually from the water bottle itself owing to "messy drinking"

A bowl of water at the moment may be easier to drink from for the pig, enable you to monitor actual consumption and also keep the cage drier

HTH
x
 
Thank you all for your recommendations. I also had a guinea pig that had stones but he displayed slightly different symptoms. Because of that I didn't even think of stones. The blood work is coming back today or tomorrow and I will ask to get an xray for her.

Gizi, not sure why you assume I would just leave her to be sick. I already spent a ton of money at the Vets yesterday and I have no issues paying for an xray for her. I hope I am reading your post incorrectly. It was a bit offensive.
 
So Sadie's blood work came back normal. Her urinanalysis came back that her urine is very diluted which makes sense since she is drinking so much water. I had to monitor her water intake for 24 hours. She consumed just over 3 cups of water. I had to separate her from her sister during this time. Her sister, Bunty, was NOT impressed. But now they are back together again.

Sadie is having an xray on Wednesday, that is the earliest that she can have it done, the Vet also thinks stones. Poor Sadie. :(
 
Hi,

I had written previous about how I thought my guinea pig had diabetes as she is drinking excessively and losing weight. She had complete blood work done plus urinanalysis and it is normal. She has had her teeth checked - normal. Xrays - normal.

The Vet is now researching what could it be and will call me in a couple days. Does anyone have any thoughts?
 
Glad the xray is clear, I am unsure at the moment but I will have a think and get back to you. My first thought would maybe be renal failure.
 
It could be a thyroid problem as these are quite problematic to diagnose as not all vets are agreed on the 'normal' levels of thyroxine for a guinea pig and this is not checked for in routine blood tests as far as I'm aware (I had to pay extra for this to be checked when Cash had his bloods done). Does your pig have bouts of increased activity?
@jenniferanneharris posted here about the diagnosis of her Haven with hyperthyroidism:
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/haven-goes-to-the-vets-next-friday.107780/

Good luck getting a diagnosis! You can try help keep the weight up by feeding oats and high calorie veg like baby corn
 
Hi again, thanks for the replies. I asked about renal failure but her blood work came back normal. I took her back to the Vets and we did another urine test. This one is a culture and sensitivity to see if she has an infection. There are other possiblities but they are rare such as, Cushings disease. I should hear back about the urine test so I will update then. Such a mystery!
 
Sorry if this sounds a bit picky - but I'm going to ask the mods to merge your threads- it' much easier for the H & I bods to comment if all the information is in one place.
x
 
Hi, so Sadie's culture and sensitivity urine test came back totally normal but now they are looking into Diabetes Insipidus (sp?). Also I noticed her urine was very sweet smelling today compared to the guinea pigs in the other cage. The Vet said she would get back to me in a couple days to see about doing a water deprivation test.
 
So Sadie is going to the Vets on Saturday for a water deprivation test to see if she has Diabetes Insipidus. I will let you all know what the results are.... just wondering if anyone is reading this?
 
Sorry, I don't have much experience in diabetes so had nothing constructive to say but I have been reading. Good luck with the test.
 
Hi there, just wanted to say that I've been keeping an eye on your thread too :-) , but just didn't have anything constructive to contribute.

Good news about the stones! If the water deprivation test is inconclusive too, I wonder if it could have something to do with hormones or if it's just simply age-related, i.e. organs? Just a thought... I'm really not sure.

With Pauline, who was the unfortunate piggy I mentioned above, we initially had an xray done too (same reasons as yours), which came back fine. The stones only formed several months after - and we only detected them in a second xray. I'm not saying I'd continuously xray her, but if the vet can't find anything else, I'd keep a close eye on her...

Hope you'll find the cause & keep us in the loop!
 
The Vet doesn't think she has diabetes insipidus but now are leaning towards hyperthyroidism. So she is investigating the proper test to give Sadie. It will be a blood test. She has also posted Sadie's symptoms and tests on an exotic Vet board and waiting to hear back. They are wondering too about tumors or cancer. So she is getting me a price on an ultrasound. They had to stop the Water Deprivation Test early due to Sadie's loosing too much weight. Oh yes they also mentioned about stones but that they could be more like sand and so they didn't show up on the xrays.

Thanks again for all your replies and info. The Mysterious Illness continues but I should have more info by Wednesday. :)
 
Yes my girl Haven had hyperthyroidism. If any help my vet is : John Chitty @ Anton vets, Andover. Feel free to contact him and mention Haven's case, I really hope you find out what's up with Sadie x
Haven was loosing loads of weight, drunk excessive amounts- over a bottle a day and a soaked cage, she had bouts of energy, and a lump on her throat. Once the cyst/lump was shrunk via drugs and removed it seemed to help her symptoms and helped her gain the weight back and send her levels back to normal....Dose Sadie have a cyst/Goyter on her throat area?
 
HI there, I can't find a goyter on her at all. She is having her blood drawn tomorrow at the vets and then they have to test it at the lab for hyperthyroidism. I should know by early next week what the results are. If it is negative she is going to get an ultrasound done.
I live in Canada so my Vet isn't really able to call over to the UK, unfortuanately. I'll update when I know more :) thanks again!
 
My 5 1/2 year old boar Varo has diabetes and has had this for about 2 years. He doesn't have to have insulin or any meds he just has a high fibre diet and and regular check ups . He is also blind from the diabetes but that doesn't stop him one bit and loves charging around the house after the cat lol
 

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Hi, I'm sorry I never updated. It turns out that Sadie has hyper thyroidism and she is now on the proper medication. :) She had a cyst on her thyroid gland.
 
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