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diabetic

  • Thread starter Thread starter tawny
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tawny

was just reading one of the threads and i think it was Mary said that diabetes was treatable, could you give me some info? my old vets told me it was but they wouldn't take a sample of urine and kept trying to get me to catch some ;D

my new vets who i mentioned squeak to said that they could get a sample but it's not very nice for the pig but they also told me there is nothing that can really be done if it turned out she was diabetic.

squeak is 14 months old abt.... she has developed cataracts in one eye and the other is following. she does drink alot of water and has a little cough. she was checked and had no infection and nothing in her throat. she's had this cough for months now but with no reason.

she eats well and seems happy
 
The presence of food colourings can make guins test 'false' positive for diabetes so leave them off the colourings for a good week before hand. :)
 
We have had pigs in before that have the vet has managed to get a sample, not to sure if its treatable. You can mange a diabetic but not cure one. Not to sure about treating a guinea pig best bet is to ring CCT. The treatment for dogs now is getting better as we have a few at the vets but most of them have weight and eye sight problems.
 
I've never had a diabetic guinea pig, but have heard of people who have and attempted treatment. I think here the best first contact may be the CCT, listen to what they say then take it from there. If it is diabetes, then you are going to need a good guinea vet to supervise treatment.

I'd start by attempting a urine sample, sit her on your knee in a clean dish. Make sure there has been nothing Sweet in there as it could give a false positive when dipped. If this doesn't work, your vet can sell you, may give you under the circumstances a special cat litter which isn't really litter as it doesn't absorb anything! You could place her in a very small cage or carry box on this, then hopefully drain off urine passed.

Vets can sometimes express urine by compressing the bladder, passing a catheter or via a syringe and needle. The latter two would not be attempted unless really nec. due to the risk of infection/trauma to piggy.

If you can get a sample a vet can test for glucose and ketones, which will indeed point to diabetes.

What other than cataracts makes you think it may be diabetes? Other signs could be weight loss, increased thirst and consequent urinary output, urine infections, irritation "down below"...

Barbara
 
it was my old vets that sujested she had it. i did the litter tray thing took an hour before she would do a wee, when i took it back they said it was high and seemed to have blood in it but sent me away to try again...... wasn't impressed >:(

my new vets are the ones that said they can get a sample but there isn't a treatment.

now you see why i'm confused :-\

the old vets thought she had it because she was drinking alot and had developed cataracts, i took her to the vets bacause of the cough ;)

her weight seems fine to me
 
I am sure it is treatable...not sure to what extent.

A fasting blood sugar should help with diagnosis, but you'd need a vet who knew what he/she was doing and what normal levels were ::)

Barbara
 
nope........ apart from this little cough and the drinking she really is a happy pig.

she was one of the reasons i have moved on from my old vets, main reason was they told me gizmo was fine and yet he had pneumonia and the other was that they couldn't help baby and would only refer me on if i paid for the paper work and then they would refer me to an exotic vet.

the other vets in the clinic were ok but i kept getting this one who just didn't seem to know a thing about piggies and wasn't interested in finding out.

they left me with no idea of what was wrong with squeak. I'm planning an outing to my new vets with a few of my piggies that i want checking out, squeak and baby being 2 of them........ ;D they did ask me not to bring all 30 in at once ;D i don't see the problem ;D
 
they did ask me not to bring all 30 in at once ;D i don't see the problem ;D
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I wonder why 2funny 2funny 2funny 2funny

Good luck i hope all is well, sending piggie kisses for her :-* :-*
 
Diabetis is treatable with insulin.If your vet is openminded enough to take advice from another vet.my vets Anne or Andy would be happy to give dosage etc. The surgery telephone number is: 02083936049. Mary
 
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