Diabetes diet

adorolecavie

Post   » Wed Jul 12, 2017 8:43 am


I think my 5 year old Dory might have diabetes. I just noticed a significant drop in weight even though she's still eating like crazy, and her teeth are fine. She might be drinking more often, I can't say for sure since she shares a water bottle with her cage mate, but she has had a wet bum on a few occasions which is not normal for her.

I live in Italy and have done some research - it doesn't look like the same medicines to treat diabetes in guinea pigs (glucotrol, etc.) are available here. But I also read that with the right diet many times you can reverse or at least alleviate some of the symptoms of diabetes. I thought she was eating pretty healthily - lots of hay, a few pellets, and a variety of veggies - but I just googled "sugary vegetables" to see what besides the carrots I could cut out, and many of the staples I give them are all on the list of the 15 top sugary veggies - who knew!?!? I feel terrible - I mean I knew carrots and cherry tomatoes were meant to be given more rarely (they're a once or twice a week thing here), but I regularly give fennel, bell pepper, radicchio (red cabbage) and zucchini to my girls and those are all on the list of top 15!!! Plus every so often a sliver of apple or a piece of watermelon or kiwi, and it seems I've been sugar loading my girls without knowing it.

So of course I'm looking into changing what I feed them asap - but wanted to know what, besides red and green leaf lettuce which is easy to find here and I already feed almost daily, can I give her? Most common kinds of leafy greens in Italy are escarole, chard, and Italian kale (and of course romaine, iceberg, butter lettuce, but I know those aren't the greatest for guineas).

Would vitamin C drops (brand Cebion from the pharmacy) via syringe be a better solution than giving bell pepper for her daily vitamin C? I've done this in the past when she's was going through a picky phase and wasn't eating her pepper. She's easy to syringe.

Any advice you can share would be greatly appreciated, I feel horrible but I honestly thought that the varied mix of veggies was good for her. :(

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PooksiedAnimals
Supporting my GL Habit

Post   » Wed Jul 12, 2017 9:05 am


I would not assume diabetes unless you had it diagnosed. The symptoms you describe sound a lot like hyperthyroidism.

adorolecavie

Post   » Wed Jul 12, 2017 9:09 am


Okay - thank you so much! I am taking her to the vet today but after checking her teeth which were fine, my first thought was diabetes.

Do you have any links to info about hyperthyroidism in guineas? Is it treatable?

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Jul 12, 2017 10:44 am


Carrots are NOT a sugary food! This is a falsehood that keeps getting repeated. See:
chart.html

And ditto PooksiedAnimals.

Your guinea pig may also have stones:
stones.html

What do you mean by a significant drop in weight? Can you be more specific? How frequently are you weighing?
I would also be weighing daily right now.
weigh.html

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Wed Jul 12, 2017 6:23 pm


Bell pepper and zucchini are not sugary either. Butter lettuce is fine. Your diet does not sound poor at all; it actually sounds great.

Ditto the advice you have received. Many things other than diabetes can cause what you're describing. Hyperthyroidism can be treated with a simple (and fairly cheap) med called Tapazole (methimazole).

adorolecavie

Post   » Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:04 pm


Thank you all for your help! It is good to hear that I've been feeding them ok, I had done so much reading and also didn't think it was a particularly sugary diet (rare fruits as treats) but I googled "vegetables with most sugar" and came up with that list - that will teach me about believing everythin google says :-/

I took Dory to the vet last evening and she actually suspects renal issues, given that she is losing weight but still has a good apetite and is not overactive. We sent her urine out for labwork and will know more tomorrow and decide what to do from the lab results. For now til then (tomorrow), Critical Care and encouraging her to drink water. Eventually if the labwork is inconclusive, we will do an eco.

Thank you all for your helpful advice.

To answer Lynx - approximately 150g total lost in a month's time... every summer she usually drops 50-60 grams so I wasn't initially too concerned but then in the last 1-2 weeks she really started dropping. Edited to add: I was weighing once every week (or so) - sometimes I am not exactly precise so it may have been more like once every week and a half. Now I am weighing twice a day ..

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:57 pm


Twice a day will ... drive you nuts. ;-) Cavies' weight varies throughout the day, just like humans' does.

Weigh every day or every other day, **at about the same time of day**. Look for trends, not so much day-to-day variations.

You're doing the right things. Best to her and please keep us posted.

adorolecavie

Post   » Sun Jul 16, 2017 4:54 am


Hi there -

So the results of the lab work are back and inconclusive. Not sure if anyone here knows how to read it, but my vet went through it with me and said that the only thing that was out of the ordinary was a fairly decent amount of sediment in the urine. Her kidneys are just within the limits of normal, so she doesn't think that renal disease is causing the weight loss, and it's not diabetes as there was no glucose found in the urine.

REAZIONE (ph) 8,5
PESO SPECIFICO 1,008
PROTEINE (mg/dl) 1
GLUCOSIO (mg/dl) Assente (not found)
CHETONI (mg/dl) Assenti (not found)
EMOGLOBINA Assente (not found)
BILIRUBINA (mg/dl) Assente (not found)
NITRITI Assenti (not found)
SEDIMENTO Abbondante materiale amorfo (Abundant amorphous material)
Rapporto prot/crea urinarie 0,19

She recommends an ultrasound which we'll do next week.

I'm supplementing with Critical Care a few times a day and her weight has stabilized at around 770/80 grams depending on the time of day I weigh her. She has fluctuated anywhere between 830 grams and 990 grams over the years (she was 950 grams this spring after she had her stroke, and that was her start weight at the beginning of summer) so she's dropped a good 170/180 grams. She usually drops 50-60 grams during the summer, so somewhere in the mid-800s would be fine for me, but 770 is definitely too low!

I'll let you know after the next tests, what we find/don't find. Any tips in the mean time for palliative care and weight-boosting are much appreciated!

adorolecavie

Post   » Sun Jul 16, 2017 5:11 am


I wanted to ask - since she is eating hay and veggies, how much Critical Care should I aim for in a day? i read 6g of dry powder per 100g of body weight (for a pig not eating at all), but that seems like a TON! I can get her to take about 8-10mls of thickish Critical Care per sitting, 4-5 times a day (I haven't tried more often). Any thoughts on how much I should be giving to boost her weight? Thanks!

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PooksiedAnimals
Supporting my GL Habit

Post   » Sun Jul 16, 2017 7:30 am


None of those test the thyroid. If she's eating on her own, I'd give her unlimited pellets and see how much of that she eats a day. If you can get her to eat those on her own, it will save you hand feeding her. Critical Care says 50ml of mixed slurry a day per 1kg of pig. But that's for a pig that's really not eating on it's own. For you, I'd feed her what she'll eat.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Jul 16, 2017 11:43 am


You go by weight to determine if she is eating enough or needs to be hand fed.
handfeeding.html

This may help you:
norms.html

And here's an article on hyperthyroidism in a guinea pig:
https://www.guinealynx.info/records/view ... f=23&t=151

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daveandtiff

Post   » Mon Jul 17, 2017 12:39 am


Did your vet check neck for nodule (thyroid)? Is she more active than the others, tending to be alert more often?

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